Secondly, the book is a long overdue portrait of the real Mario Batali and of the real Marco Pierre White--two complicated and brilliant chefs whose coverage in the press--while appropriately fawning--has never described them in their fully debauched, delightful glory. Buford has--for the first time--managed to explain White's peculiar--almost freakish brilliance--while humanizing a man known for terrorizing cooks, customers (and Batali). As for Mario--he is finally revealed for the Falstaffian, larger than life, mercurial, frighteningly intelligent chef/enterpreneur he really is. No small accomplishment. Other cooks, chefs, butchers, artisans and restaurant lifers are described with similar insight.
Thirdly, Heat reveals a dead-on understanding--rare among non-chef writers--of the pleasures of "making" food; the real human cost, the real requirements and the real adrenelin-rush-inducing pleasures of cranking out hundreds of high quality meals. One is left with a truly unique appreciation of not only what is truly good about food--but as importantly, who cooks--and why. I can't think of another book which takes such an unsparing, uncompromising and ultimately thrilling look at the quest for culinary excellence. Heat brims with fascinating observations on cooking, incredible characters, useful discourse and argument-ending arcania. I read my copy and immediately started reading it again. It's going right in between Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London and Zola's The Belly of Paris on my bookshelf. --Anthony Bourdain
Book Description
Bill Buford—author of the highly acclaimed best-selling Among the Thugs—had long thought of himself as a reasonably comfortable cook when in 2002 he finally decided to answer a question that had nagged him every time he prepared a meal: What kind of cook could he be if he worked in a professional kitchen? When the opportunity arose to train in the kitchen of Mario Batali’s three-star New York restaurant, Babbo, Buford grabbed it. Heat is the chronicle—sharp, funny, wonderfully exuberant—of his time spent as Batali’s “slave” and of his far-flung apprenticeships with culinary masters in Italy.
In a fast-paced, candid narrative, Buford describes the frenetic experience of working in Babbo’s kitchen: the trials and errors (and more errors), humiliations and hopes, disappointments and triumphs as he worked his way up the ladder from slave to cook. He talks about his relationships with his kitchen colleagues and with the larger-than-life, hard-living Batali, whose story he learns as their friendship grows through (and sometimes despite) kitchen encounters and after-work all-nighters.
Buford takes us to the restaurant in a remote Appennine village where Batali first apprenticed in Italy and where Buford learns the intricacies of handmade pasta . . . the hill town in Chianti where he is tutored in the art of butchery by Italy’s most famous butcher, a man who insists that his meat is an expression of the Italian soul . . . to London, where he is instructed in the preparation of game by Marco Pierre White, one of England’s most celebrated (or perhaps notorious) chefs. And throughout, we follow the thread of Buford’s fascinating reflections on food as a bearer of culture, on the history and development of a few special dishes (Is the shape of tortellini really based on a woman’s navel? And just what is a short rib?), and on the what and why of the foods we eat today.
Heat is a marvelous hybrid: a richly evocative memoir of Buford’s kitchen adventure, the story of Batali’s amazing rise to culinary (and extra-culinary) fame, a dazzling behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a famous restaurant, and an illuminating exploration of why food matters.
It is a book to delight in—and to savor.
Customer Reviews:
Fun, fun fun in the bowels of the kitchen.......2007-10-12
I read Bourdain's book and loved it. I also liked this one. Raw, honest talk from someone who has been there.
The autobiography part was fascinating (can such characters really populate elite restaurants!?) and the lowdown on furiously making food night after night was priceless. The last section was too blah blah about Mario Batali, although the scenes of Italy were intriguing. A must read for real food lovers.
A humorous read that made me hungry!.......2007-10-07
Who wouldn't want to go on Buford's journey? He's a great tour guide on his gasto-tour of the kitchens of the Mario Batali and Pierre Marco White. He shows that kitchens can be places that are filled with potential dangers and loads of passion. It took me awhile to get through this book, in part because I kept getting hungry and had to go make something to eat! I'm ready to go clamp the pasta machine to the counter and whip up some fresh pasta.
It's a pretty dense book to get through, and the author wanders away from the main story often. Most of the time, it's to an interesting place, but sometimes, it's just a tangent. But aside from a few of those as a distraction, I thought this was a great book.
Interesting but not what I thought it was going to be.......2007-09-19
I got this book because my husband heard an interview on the radio and thought I would like it since I love to cook. It was interesting but spent too much time, for me, on the politics of working in a restaurant kitchen and not enough on the workings of food in a restaurant. I bored with the personalities and gave up trying to figure out who was who.
I think I made the pages soggy..........2007-09-17
This guy, Bill Buford, is pretty amazing. Despite the danger of slicing off his hands entirely (an accident that he somehow manages to repeat) under various huge, sharp, professional knives, he insisted going (back again and again) to Italy to learn about things so obscure even professional chefs wouldn't have much idea about.
If you're looking for a book about Batali, this isn't the most comprehensive one, but it's scathingly honest and if you really live and breathe food, you'll gain a whole lot more than goss about the inner workings of Batali's businesses. It gets a bit soppy at times - a bit too "Tuscany is beautiful, and Provence is the ultimate foodie heaven", but only fleetingly, and all can be forgiven once you read about the author's hilarious effort to cook a whole pig...
ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......2007-09-11
The chapters on Mario Batali and the dynamics of his kitchen were really interesting and engaging. I was intrigud by the sections on Marco Pierre White as I had just read Gordon Ramsey's autobiography in which his tempestuous relationship with White plays a significant role. The rest of Buford's book is just too tediously, self-indulgently written to the point where it killed my interest in the underlying subjects of pasta making and butchery (I ended up skimming page after page as I just couldn't take it). It reminded me of a computer spitting forth every bit of information in its memory regardless of relevance or interest. Just too many tedious, boorish details.
Average customer rating:
- A really nice book - some of the criticisms are off.
- A culinary masterpiece
- Excellent, Italian Betty Crocker on Speed,Extrememly comprehensive ... but...
- Great collection - a few quibbles
- Easy to use, even for dieters!
|
The Silver Spoon
Phaidon Press
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
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ASIN: 0714845310 |
Amazon.com
First published in 1950 and revised over time, Italy's bestselling culinary "bible," Il Cucchiaio d'argento, is now available in English. The Silver Spoon boasts over 2,000 recipes and arrives in a handsome (and weighty) photo-illustrated edition complete with two ribbon markers. Its chapters make every menu stop from sauces and antipasti through cheese dishes and sweets, with many standout dishes like Genoese Pesto Minestrone, Eggplant and Ricotta Lasagna, Pork Shoulder with Prunes, and Chocolate and Pear Tart; the book also includes a number of "eccentricities," like sections on patty shells and bean sprouts, surely not an Italian dining staple. Meant to be inclusive, the book also offers a wide range of non-Italian, mostly French formulas, supplemented by a few "exotic" and other non-traditional entries.
Though the recipe range is vast, it must be said that American readers, anxious to cook this authentic fare, will encounter problems. Translating a cookbook from one language to another requires cultural recasting as well as word substitution, and in this the book's editors have been lax. The problems include non-idiomatic usages, for example, calling for "pans" when "pots" is needed; awkward conversions from the metric system, resulting in requirements like eleven ounces of zite; and the inclusion of ingredients like cavolo nero (Tuscan cabbage), tope (a Mediterranean fish), and pancetta copatta (ham-stuffed pancetta) that are unavailable here and for which no alternatives are suggested. In addition, the recipes themselves are often insufficiently specific or detailed--even seasoned bakers will pause before cake recipes that don't specify pan size--and can also lack yields. Space considerations have also meant printing recipes in single, one-column paragraphs, which can make place-finding while cooking difficult, and there are typos and other goofs (one recipe for four specifies six cups of sliced scallions; another requires that a marinade be "stirred frequently for five to twelve hours").
All this said, many cooks--casual and serious alike--as well as cookbook collectors, will want The Silver Spoon. It's an essential document of the Italian table and as such a classic. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a complete cookbook library without the book--a welcome evocation of a much-beloved repertoire by those who know it best. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
First published in 1950 and revised over time, Italy's bestselling culinary "bible," Il Cucchiaio d'argento, is now available in English. The Silver Spoon boasts over 2,000 recipes and arrives in a handsome (and weighty) photo-illustrated edition complete with two ribbon markers. Its chapters make every menu stop from sauces and antipasti through cheese dishes and sweets, with many standout dishes like Genoese Pesto Minestrone, Eggplant and Ricotta Lasagna, Pork Shoulder with Prunes, and Chocolate and Pear Tart; the book also includes a number of "eccentricities," likesections on patty shells and bean sprouts, surely not an Italian dining staple.Meant to be inclusive, the book also offers a wide range of non-Italian, mostly French formulas, supplemented by a few "exotic" and other non-traditional entries.Though the recipe range is vast, it must be said that American readers, anxious to cook this authentic fare, will encounter problems. Translating a cookbook from one language to another requires cultural recasting as well as word substitution, and in this the book's editors have been lax. The problems include non-idiomatic usages, for example, calling for "pans" when "pots" is needed; awkward conversions from the metric system, resulting in requirements like eleven ounces of zite; and the inclusion of ingredients like cavolo nero (Tuscan cabbage), tope (a Mediterranean fish), andpancetta copatta (ham-stuffed pancetta) that are unavailable here and for which no alternatives are suggested. In addition, the recipes themselves are often insufficiently specific or detailed--even seasoned bakers will pause before cake recipes that don't specify pan size--and can also lack yields. Space considerations have also meant printing recipes in single, one-column paragraphs, which can make place-finding while cooking difficult, and there are typos and other goofs (one recipe for four specifies six cups of sliced scallions; another requires that a marinade be "stirred frequently for five to twelve hours").All this said, many cooks--casual and serious alike--as well as cookbook collectors, will want The Silver Spoon. It's an essential document of the Italian table and as such a classic. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a complete cookbook library without the book--a welcome evocation of a much-beloved repertoire by those who know it best. --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
A really nice book - some of the criticisms are off........2007-10-10
A few people criticized the book in earlier reviews for not providing enough detailed information about how to cook certain recipes. I wanted to point out that this was probably a cultural difference, one that Americans should just get used to if they really want to understand Italian cooking. To show that it really is a cultural difference, i point to two pieces of evidence.
(1) The book itself discusses how they had to increase detail in recipe-presentation for American tastes. That said, you shouldn't complain that its too vague - because this is just how Italians do recipes. (Chances are, they allow for a lot more variation in the outcome than Americans do, btw... if you watch Mario Batali, he notes that every Italian mother has her own version of each dish). The extreme specification of every last detail is a desire of American home cooks.
(2) If you look at the recipes by famous chefs at the end of the book, you'll notice a really funny difference. All of the chefs who are FROM ITALY provide directions for recipes that take up only 1/2 a page each. All of the chefs who are NOT FROM ITALY provide directions for recipes that take up the whole page. (The ones from the U.S. - Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali are the best examples of this). This should be a good sign to everyone that it's a cultural difference that you should try and co-opt rather than reject, if you're trying to understand Italian cooking as a whole.
A culinary masterpiece.......2007-08-28
This book is a treasure trove of delicious treats. The overwhelming number of recipes is countered by an efficient cataloging system, making it simple to find precisely what you wanted. The addition of famous chefs' sample menus is an added bonus that makes this book truly unique. I highly recommend The Silver Spoon to anyone who wants to explore the delights of the kitchen: from novice to pro, this book takes the cake.
Excellent, Italian Betty Crocker on Speed,Extrememly comprehensive ... but..........2007-07-18
Great book, really excellent recipes applicable to the beginner up to advanced cooks. However, the book really doesnt describe techniques for preparing the food which are really needed in the american market. As an example there are several recipes for squid and cuttlefish but no cleaning techniques which can complicated. I highly reccomend this book as a standard part of your cooking library, it is truly a goldmine of recipes, sort of an Italian Betty Crocker cookbook on speed.
Great collection - a few quibbles.......2007-07-01
This is a mammoth collection and many recipes sound terrific. A few problems, though.
What REGION claims the recipe? Italians are tied to their family regions. This information belongs in the recipes.
AMERICAN VERSION OF ITALIAN INGREDIENTS. What type chilies or lettuce, for example, would make the recipes as close to authentic as possible?
PICTURES. There are beautiful pictures of prepared recipes. There are no captions for the pictures, and sometimes, the reader can't guess which recipe on the facing page is pictured.
I'm enjoying using and reading this book, but I wish the publishers had done a little more editing for the U. S. market.
Easy to use, even for dieters!.......2007-06-16
Needless to say, I LOVE Italian food. When I went on the SouthBeach Diet, I was terrified - a limitation on carbs meant no more pasta! However, this book provides SO MUCH outside the range of normal pastas that I can still enjoy great Italian food without compromising my diet. A definite winner!
Amazon.com
Sure to excite lovers of the best Italian cooking, Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages reenvisions classic home cucina with enticing results. Batali, known to fans as "Molto Mario" from his Television Food Network shows, and as chef-owner of Manhattan's much-loved Po and Babbo restaurants, presents nearly 250 of his favorite recipes, traditional and innovative, for delectable salads, pastas, grilled specialties, ragus, and desserts, among others. The collection, inspired by the cooking of Borgo Cappene, a hillside village in northern Italy, and Greenwich Village, where Batali culls exemplary ingredients for his restaurants, reflects Batali's commitment to simple cooking--impeccable ingredients sensibly combined and properly prepared. Cooks seeking deeply flavored, smartly presented dishes will embrace Batali's recipes for everyday meals and for entertaining.
Arranged by courses, antipasti through formaggi and dolci (cheese and sweets), the uncomplicated dishes include White Bean Bruschetta with Grilled Radicchio Salad, Baked Lasagna with Asparagus and Pesto, and Roasted Porgy with Peas, Garlic, Scallions and Mint. Gorgonzola with Spiced Walnuts and Port Wine Syrup with fresh fruit would make a lovely conclusion to any dinner. Throughout, Batali provides advice on dish preparation; there are 32 pages of color photos and dozens of black-and-white shots of life in Batali's two villages. Batali's reliance on the best ingredients simply prepared, rather than on fussy restaurant techniques, places his dishes squarely in the realm of home cooks. They'll find his book a keeper. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Perfectly pristine ingredients, combined sensibly and cooked properly, are the unmistakable hallmarks of the best Italian food. Chef Mario Batali, known to fans far and wide as "Molto Mario" from his appearances on television's Food Network and as chef of New York's much-loved Pó restaurant, has elevated these simple principles to fine art, creating innovative new fare that pays tribute to traditional Italian home cooking in a distinctly modern way. Now, for the first time, more than 200 of his irresistible recipes for fresh pastas, sprightly salads, grilled dishes, savory ragus, and many others are gathered in
Simple Italian Food, a celebration of the flavors and spirit of Italy.
Mario draws inspiration for his distinctive dishes from the two "villages" that have left their stamps on his cuisine: Borgo Capanne, the tiny hillside village in Northern Italy where he lived and cooked for several years, and New York's Greenwich Village, where he has ready access to bountiful produce and outstanding artisan-made products; his full-flavored, smartly presented fare combines the best of both worlds. Chapters covering antipasti, pasta and risotto, fish, meat and poultry, contorni (side dishes), and cheese and sweets offer classic dishes such as Baked Lasagne with Asparagus and Pesto and pork loin cooked in caramelized onions and milk alongside Batali's own enticing improvisations--Penne with Spicy Goat Cheese and Hazelnut Pesto or Tuna Carpaccio with Cucumbers, Sweet Potatoes, and Saffron Vinaigrette. And because his recipes succeed on the strength of their ingredients rather than on virtuoso techniques, home cooks can easily duplicate the clear, clean flavors and lively presentations that are Mario's signature. Thirty-two pages of color photographs showcase Chef Batali's colorful and approachable recipes.
Traditionalists as well as those who thrill to the new will want to make dozens of these crowd-pleasing dishes a permanent part of their repertoire and embrace Mario Batali'sphilosophy of
Simple Italian Food.
Customer Reviews:
great book.......2007-04-05
excellent cook book for beginners or pros...love it and love shopping on amazon
Impossible Cookbook.......2006-12-10
Mario Batali's cookbook is most disappointing. I looked it over carefully, and I found absolutely nothing of interest to me. His recipes are incredibly complicated, with ingredients available only in restaurants and the households of professional cooks, northern Italian ones at that. There had to be standby pestos, tapenades, sauces and vinaigrettes. Impossible, really. This is a most unattractive cook book. I won't even give it away.
One of my favorite cookbooks.......2006-04-12
Batali's "Simple Italian Food" is an excellent cookbook for people who actually like to cook, and for those who accept that Italian cooking covers a vast range of subjects and styles, far more than just pasta.
The title is apt: none of these dishes are overly complicated for anyone with a decently equipped kitchen and access to good, fresh ingredients. Unlike more complex styles, French cuisine for example, there is very little combining of several different cooking techniques to produce one recipe. At it's most complicated, the book calls for use of staple ingredients that can be prepared ahead of time, and which Batali also provides recipes for, with sauces for example.
One of the great pleasures of the book is discovering the unexpected tang and heartiness of his dishes. His pasta con vongole is a good example: the recipe calls for pancetta, and the result is a tangy clam sauce in a beautiful, brownish broth which is delicious and hearty without being overly rich. Comprate, cucinate e buon appetito!
Simple recipes not simple ingredients.......2005-03-24
Seems like many great recipes, but many ingredients that aren't found in the regular supermarket, especially if you live in a rural area like I do...so I haven't been able to try many of them.
Great recipes, awful binding.......2005-03-04
I've reviewed this cookbook before from the point of view of the contents, for which I gave it 5 stars. I use this cookbook all the time and absolutely love it. Unfortunately, I use this cookbook all the time and the cheap glued binding has not held up. About half the pages have detached and I'm a few chapters away from having to pull the whole thing apart and put it in a three-ring binder. Interestingly, the same publisher used a sewn binding for the Babbo Cookbook, so I guess the gourmet recipes get the quality treatment. I would still recommend purchasing the cookbook for the wonderful preparations, but shame on the publisher for using such poor components on a book designed to be repeatedly opened and laid flat.
Amazon.com
Marlena de Blasi's life-long love affair with cooking began at age 9 on a beach along the coast of Liguria, Italy. There she met an elderly woman roasting potatoes coated with rosemary, olive oil, and salt over an open fire. "It was then," de Blasi writes, "that I began to understand that the way people eat and drink is more a measure of them than all the other measurements...." In her book, Regional Foods of Northern Italy, de Blasi finds that her adopted homeland is filled with tastes, smells, and textures that evoke far more than great meals--they are the stuff of memory and dreams.
Regional Foods of Northern Italy focuses on 10 "gastronomic regions," areas in which the author has worked, lived, and cooked: Tuscana, Umbria, Romagna, Emilia, Veneto, Lombardia, Piemonte, Val D'Aosta, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Marche. The recipes in this book are, as de Blasi explains, only "interpretations" of these regional cuisines, since it would be nearly impossible to replicate the exact qualities of the local ingredients--the sweet white butter of the Romagnans or the chile peppers of La Marche. Still, wherever it's cooked, Pasta di Alberto Bettini, with its lacing of basalmic vinegar, is a loving expression of its native Emilia, while so simple a meal as olive oil drizzled over bread and eaten with a glass of red wine evokes the ageless hills of Tuscany. Whether you live in Stockholm or San Diego, Marlena de Blasi's fine collection of recipes can transport you--for the length of a meal, at least--on an extraordinary journey through Northern Italy. So Buon viaggio--e Buon appetito!
Book Description
This is a cookbook like no other. It evokes the essence of Northern Italy's traditional foods in a beautifully wrought amalgam of recipe and narrative. It beckons you across the wet stone of Venice's Rialto bridge into a candlelit fifteenth-century cantina. It invites you down a forest road in Umbria, where grappa-fortified fishermen toss trout onto a wood fire and stage a sunset feast. It proffers nearly two hundred recipes from the heart and soul of Italy's North, including:
• Risotto allo Zafferano Milanese • Arista! Arista! •
• Pasta delle Sfogliatrici • Pesce in Saor •
• La Salsiccia alla Moda di Lucrezia Borgia • Fegato alla Veneziana •
• Carbonada d'Enfer Arvier • Pesto di Mandorle e Noci Ferraresi •
• Pollo alla Marengo • Cialzons della Famiglia de Galateo •
• Pagnotta di Patate • Pasta e Fagioli •
• Sogliole in Gratella • Caffe alla Valdostana • Tiramisu •
This remarkable world within a book reflects the honest, authentic tastes of a people for whom food is a cardinal passion. With it in hand, you will perfume your home with the ancient and divine scents of glorious food, calling forth the ineffable essence of this land and its bounty. Let the adventure begin.
About the Author
Marlena de Blasi is an American living in Venice with her husband, Fernando. She has traveled extensively in her adopted country, stopping to savor each region's abundance. A food and wine journalist and culinary historian, her articles on food and travel have appeared in The International Herald Tribune, The St. Louis Riverfront Times, and Sacramento magazine. She is presently writing this volume's sequel, Regional Foods of Southern Italy.
Customer Reviews:
A good effort, but too lost in the romance of the place.......2006-05-01
I like the recipes in this book. They give a nice cross-section of Northern Italian cooking, and are picked as much for being interesting as typical. Also, the stories and remniscences are those of a first-rate memoirist. The problem is that the two of them combined together make for a somewhat overly flowery reading.
I struggled with the star rating on this one -- it really is a worthwhile book to have, but it has serious flaws, the most glaring being the deliberate omissions of the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Liguria; the author's logic is that Trentino food is largely Austrian and that of Liguria more southern Italian in style, not helping the reader to know northern Italy, but that seems to me to be an overly romantic way of looking at it. I don't really like it when cookbook authors pare down their work for reasons of accessibility or percieved consistency, because the book loses a segment of the whole picture.
It's a pity, really, because it probably is one of the better books for understanding the food of northern Italy. The flowery tone of the book that I do not particularly enjoy actually does appeal to some, and the personal stories do give a context to the book that more technical cookbooks lack. If it was a more expensive book, I probably wouldn't recommend it, but it's a little like the idea of a film reviewer saying "wait for the DVD" -- it's not that pricey, so grab a copy and see what you think. (And I do like the Modenese pancetta-and-egg scramble in the book -- very tasty.)
DESERVES TO BE IN THE KITCHEN OF EVERY SERIOUS COOK.......2000-07-20
As I write this review, the book is out-of-stock. I want to share this book with everyone, so I am hoping that my review will change things around. First of all, the recipes in this book are complex -- but -- there are books that are much more challenging. Haute Mexican and Japanese cuisine are more difficult, the first because it grew out of a class culture where the food was cooked by maids the second because it is so unlike western food. There are things in this book that are exotic, even to Bostonians where "the Italian North End" was made such an imprint on the city. There is a pasta based on yeast raised dough that is wonderful on a winter's night when snow is falling. There are superb chicken dishes and magnificent desserts. This one of only two cookbooks that I have wanted to go through, page by page, recipe by recipe, and cook everything.
Book Description
It’s Like Getting 5 Cookbooks in 1
- 179 Pastas and Sauces
- 241 Meat, Poultry, and Fish Entrees
- 158 Vegetable Dishes
- 179 Desserts
- And Much More!
CELEBRATE ITALIAN COOKING with this authoritative and engaging tribute. Author Michele Scicolone offers simple recipes for delicious classics such as lasagne, minestrone, chicken cutlets, and gelato, plus many more of your favorites; a wealth of modern dishes, such as grilled scallop salad; and a traveler’s odyssey of regional specialties from the northern hills of Piedmont to the sun-drenched islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Whether giving expert advice on making a frittata or risotto, selecting Italian ingredients, or pairing Italian wines with food, Scicolone enlivens each page with rich details of Italian food traditions. This book is a treasury to turn to for any occasion.
Praise for 1,000 Italian Recipes
"Michele Scicolone has written the best all-encompassing Italian cookbook to hit the shelves in years. Her recipes are accessible and beautifully written, and the result is a masterpiece of traditional and nontraditional Italian cookery. This tome is pure inspiration."
–Mario Batali, Chef/Owner of Babbo, Lupa, Esca, Otto, and Casa Mono (New York), and host of Food Network’s Molto Mario
"The broad range of recipes and wealth of information on Italian food found in 1,000 Italian Recipes confirms why Michele Scicolone was the only chef we would go to when we wanted to do our Sopranos Family Cookbook."
–David Chase, Creator/Executive Producer,The Sopranos
"A must-have for any serious Italian cook."
–Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Chef, Restaurateur, Cookbook Author, and Host of PBS’s Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen
Customer Reviews:
This Says it all , if you want to cook Italian Like an Italian.......2007-10-05
I have collected more cook book , and have never had so much pleasure cooking the recipes for this great Italin cook book. All the recipes come from all over Italy and the result is that you learn about the country and it produce. Fresh natural foods that grow in that region, naturally. I like to cook simply with fresh foods,useing as many vegetables as I can find, a different recipe for. THIS IS IT. THIS IS ALL YOU NEED I am thinking of selling all the other books have have searched through for all the good and different recipes , I only found in this ONE BOOK
Want t To Eat Great Food? Buy This Cookbook........2007-09-15
Despite the badly designed paper-over-board cover that resembles a made-for-the-bargain-table reject, this is a wonderful and amazing cookbook!!! Filled with simple, yet delicious recipes, this is a must have for anyone who wants to cook great Italian food at home. If I could have only two cookbooks (or had to recommend only two to the starting at-home chef), it would be this one and Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything. Though I haven't made all 1000 recipes in Scicolone's classic, so far everything I have made has been great - which means I've got a lot of good eating ahead of me. Buy it now. (PS. Wiley you might want to update this with a better cover.)
EXCEPTIONAL RECIPES.......2006-11-16
Many hard to find Italian recipes along with ones that are Americanized but still great eating.I love cookbooks and own over 200, I go back to this one often.
If you love food....get this .......2006-07-04
We just recently bought this book and have done so many recipes from it already. The herbs, the spice combinations, are just so fantastic. We haven't made one single recipe out of this book that wasn't four-star. Read the index to get an idea of the recipes - but if you love intricate, spicy, combinations of food...buy this.
print color.......2006-06-01
I haven't tried the recipes because the print is very hard to read. It is a light green print and if one has bad eyes you will need lots of light. Very disappointed in the book because of the print.
Book Description
More than any other country in the world, it is Italy that we turn to for gastronomic inspiration. 101 Beautiful Towns of Italy: Food and Wine takes readers along on a one-of-a-kind tour through the tantalizing tastes of Italy's varied landscape to explore hilltop and seaside towns, where the flavors of Italy scent the air, a good meal is considered the highest form of art, and a fine bottle of wine is never hard to come by. In Alba, savor the refined taste of the white truffle accompanied by a hearty glass of Barolo. Head to Parma for a sampling of prosciutto di Parma, and don't forget to pick up a wheel of parmigiano-reggiano. Travel to the hills of Tuscany, where a glass of red Vino Nobile di Montepulciano accompanies your meal of filetto d'anatra con tartufo (truffled duck breast) and to Campania, home of Naples, the Amalfi coastline, and, of course, pizza, in its many forms, but almost always topped with mozzarella di bufala. Descriptive sidebars key readers in to the best restaurants in town, where to buy the ingredients to prepare the dishes featured (and where to shop for the wine to accompany them) as well as tips on what to see during a visit. A sprinkling of recipes rounds out this information-packed resource. Included is an appendix with in-depth listings to help travelers plan their culinary journeys: what wine cellars to visit, where to dine, and how to navigate a busy market.Whether you're an armchair traveler or an Italophile planning another trip, this volume provides an excellent guide.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Towns is Italy.......2007-01-10
Wonderful book full of color photos, the only disappointing thing is that there were no recipes provided.
101 Beautiful Towns in Italy: Food and Wine.......2006-11-06
It is a beautiful book with excellent photography. I was disappointed in the fact that there were no recepies associated with the towns. I was anticipating a great cookbook/winebook, but had to settle for a coffee table book instead.
Book Description
In this book, Sally Spector, who is from Chicago and now lives in Venice, takes us on a mouth- watering culinary trip; her historical love affair with food quite literally gives us a taste of Venice.
Customer Reviews:
Priceless book..............2007-02-27
This book is a treasure because all the text is handwritten and the illustrations are fabulous.....there are recipes and a great deal of history & information about Venice. This kind of book will soon be a relic.
A beautiful book of art, history and the character of Venice.......2005-07-24
I purchased this book soon after it came out. I found it at the wonderful Kepler's bookstore in Menlo Park, California in among the cookbooks. Which makes sense, because, in part Venice & Food is a cookbook. But Venice & Food is two other thing as well: a book about Venice and its history and an art book of Ms. Spector's remarkable drawings of Venice. What is also remarkable about this book is that it is not typeset. The book is entirely written in Ms. Spector's hand printed text and the illustrations are annotated with her script.
Ms. Spector is a wonderful artist and her drawings of Venice are beautiful. The drawings illustrate essays on topics ranging from where Venice gets its fresh water to the history of corn in Europe and Venice. Since this is a cookbook, Ms. Spector also writes about the history of food and cooking in Venice, including a few accounts of modern food. In writing about food and cooking through history, Ms. Spector comments that for the vast majority of people through most of human history, the concern was not about the sensuality of food, but simply having a full stomach.
The beautiful artwork, the observations about Venice, its history and its food are what make this book a treasure. I am sad to say that I read the book cover to cover and did not find a recipe that I wanted to make. Although I will not be using this as a cookbook, I will always treasure the book for its beauty.
I concur! This is a wonderful book!.......2003-08-29
If you have ever experienced cichetti in Venice, this book will bring it all back. In addition to the recipes, the illustrations are charming, representative of the real Venice that the average tourist never sees but that those who take the time to learn and love the Serenissima truly cherish.
Beautiful!.......2003-02-14
Just another rave review for this beautiful book. If you love Venice, you will love this book. If you know anyone who loves Venice, get them this book as a gift. Sally Spector knows Venice and obviously loves the city. Her drawings and history of details behind the food and recipes is a joy to read and to look at. If you have been to Venice, this book will take you back and get you looking forward to your next trip. In the meantime, you can savor the delicious recipes and the warmth of Venice and Food....
Venice: Charming The Palate.......2002-08-19
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are" Brillat-Savarin declared. Judging by its cuisine, Venice must surely qualify as the ancient and modern day city of princes and artists. Sally Spector vividly brings to life the importance of Venice as the crucial stepping-stone for cuisine in Italy and Europe in "Venice and Food".
Little did I know that world famous dishes such as risotto, polenta, tiramisu and many other delights originate from Veneto and fair Venice - until I read Sally's superb description of their origins. She elegantly evokes the typical dishes of Venice with such accuracy that I could almost smell the aromas while reading her book - especially her enticing descriptions of the "Cuttlefish stewed in its ink" and "Bacala a la Vicentina". Such descriptions of typical Venetian dishes are beautifully interwoven with their historical origins. Even their essential ingredients are traced back to their roots. Who knew that eggplant, the basis for Melanzane al Funghetto, emanates from China?
An additional bonus and particularly attractive aspect of "Venice and Food" are the illustrations throughout the book. They are done by Sally herself who is a talented artist. Moreover, the whole book is written in her own elegant handwriting - a unique and superbly pleasing feature.
In sum, from the minute I picked up this book, I could not put it down until the next day - the first two days of my visit to Venice. It served as a magnificent introduction to Venice - not only the city of romance but also certainly of history and cuisine.
"Venice and Food" is a must read for any food enthusiast!
Book Description
From the author of The Foods of Italy and The Foods of Tuscany comes a gorgeous book on the fantastic food of Italy's islands-- Sicily and Sardinia and their small neighbors, Elba, Giglio, Capri and Ischia.
Giuliano Bugialli, one of the world's leading Italian food authorities, has turned his attention to these magical places where the food is varied and unlike what is found in any other Italian region. The choices range from the seafood of the rocky coasts to the rich meats from inland, and the fabulous herbs and vegetables, cheeses, breads and desserts that are everywhere. Geography and history are responsible for such exotic accents as saffron-- Sicily's is the finest in the world-- and almonds, jasmine and honey.
Here, then, are recipes for lamb cooked with saffron and artichokes, sweet peas with mint, calamari stuffed with pasta, tuna in a vinegar sauce, and gelato scented with jasmine. Bugialli also offers photo essays on Palermo's tumultuous Vucciria, one of the world's outstanding food markets; local festivals; tuna fishing off the coast of Sicily; and the baking of the ancient bread called carta da musica.
The glorious photography was made on location, with ancient ruins, fishing boats, rugged landscapes, cathedrals, village streets and bustling markets providing the settings for the food. The photographer, John Dominis, also collaborated with the author on the hugely successful Foods of Italy, Foods of Tuscany and Bugialli on Pasta.
Customer Reviews:
Gorgeous Cookbook with Wonderful Recipes.......2005-08-10
This cookbook is stunning. It is done in the oversized format with lots of pictures and details. Mr. Bugialli gives information about the food and the people. I think I went through this book 2-3 times just looking at it and reading it before I even looked at the recipes. Good stuff in here, especially if you like seafood. (What else would people on an island eat?)Some of the items may be difficult, if not impossible to find, but he gives easy substitutions for most of them.
Incredible!.......2002-07-30
If you are familiar with the Sardinian area and the food of the land, you will LOVE this book. It is beautifully written and the pictures will astound you. Take the time to buy and enjoy this book, you'll have it for a long time.
Intense, clean, honest flavors - and almost dairy-free!.......1997-09-04
My household is full of eaters who are allergic to dairy products - but are Italian and love Italian food. Bugialli's book on Sardinian cooking saved the day. This book lets US-based cooks, using common (or easy to find) ingredients, create authentic Italian dishes that taste wonderful and are virtually dairy-free. The desserts section, of course, relies fairly heavily on dairy products. But the flavors provided by the main courses are so intense and clean, you can skip dessert and still be completely satisfied. Grazie, Signor Bugialli
Customer Reviews:
Treasuring Slow Food.......2000-09-04
A wonderful book, written with wit and intelligence about the beauty of Italian food and what is in danger of being lost to the homogeneous world of the EU. I encourage anyone to take the book with you as a guide to Italy and, if possible, to plan your trip around it. It is also a great book to give to the cook that has everything!
Book Description
American chef Marlena de Blasi and her Venetian husband, Fernando, married rather late in life. In search of the rhythms of country living, the couple moves to a barely renovated former stable in Tuscany with no phone, no central heating, and something resembling a playhouse kitchen. They dwell among two hundred villagers, ancient olive groves, and hot Etruscan springs. In this patch of earth where Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio collide, there is much to feed de Blasi's two passions--food and love. We accompany the couple as they harvest grapes, gather chestnuts, forage for wild mushrooms, and climb trees in the cold of December to pick olives, one by one. Their routines are not that different from those of villagers centuries earlier.
They are befriended by the mesmeric Barlozzo, a self-styled village chieftain. His fascinating stories lead de Blasi more deeply inside the soul of Tuscany. Together they visit sacred festivals and taste just-pressed olive oil, drizzled over roasted country bread, and squash blossoms, battered and deep-fried and sprayed with sea-salted water. In a cauldron set over a wood fire, they braise beans in red wine, and a stew of wild boar simmers overnight in the ashes of their hearth. Barlozzo shares his knowledge of Italian farming traditions, ancient health potions, and artisanal food makers, but he has secrets he doesn't share, and one of them concerns the beautiful Floriana, whose illness teaches Marlena that happiness is truly a choice.
Like the pleasurable tastes and textures of a fine meal, A Thousand Days in Tuscany is as satisfying as it is enticing. The author's own recipes are included.
Customer Reviews:
(4.5 stars) A gorgeous tribute to Tuscany and her people..........2007-09-28
A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY is Marlena de Blasi's second memoir recounting her life in Italy, after 2002's A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE. In the book's opening pages, she and her husband and soul mate, Fernando, have left Venice for a dilapidated farmouse deep in the Tuscan countryside. The residents of the idyllic village near their new home welcome them with a meal, which inevitably lasts for hours, ending with a dessert whose cream was just milked from a blue-eyed cow that morning. Subsequently, Marlena and Fernando are befriended by Barlozzo, one of the town's oldest residents, who is eager to share stories about the locals and to introduce them to timeless Tuscan traditions: hunting for truffles, baking bread, picking olives for olive oil, crushing grapes for wine, harvesting chestnuts... But it's not just Tuscany that Marlena and Fernando learn about during their stay in one of the world's most beautiful places; they also learn a lot about each other and about themselves, and a lot about what it means to slow down and enjoy a life free from the hustle and bustle of the modern world.
This was a beautiful, beautiful book, with some of the most stunning writing I've ever come across. De Blasi's descriptions bring Old World Tuscany utterly and completely to life; you can almost taste the olive oil, can almost feel the grapes bursting under your feet, can almost imagine yourself there, in an old Tuscan farmhouse, starting out the window at that marvelous landscape. The pictures de Blasi paints of the townspeople are insightful and vibrant, and the recipes at the end of every chapter are completely succulent, including the recipe for the "one true bruschetta" (no tomatoes, no garlic, no onion or herbs...just fresh-baked toasted bread doused in olive oil and topped with a little bit of sea salt). It's really obvious from her writing that de Blasi loves everything about Italy: her people, her food, her breathtaking vistas and her sun-drenched, relaxed way of life.
I fell in love with Marlena de Blasi's Italy, with her gorgeous writing, her delicious traditional Tuscan recipes, and her vivid portrayals of the people who live in the beauty and romance of Tuscany every day. There were moments when I felt like her writing bordered on pretentious, but mostly I just thought everything about this book was gorgeous. I haven't read A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE, but I'm definitely going to. You can definitely tell how much Fernando and Marlena are in love in this book, but I'm eager to learn how their love story began.
The Tuscan state of mind can best be summed up with the following passage, spoken by one of Marlena's dearest Tuscan friends: "Maybe the only thing that matters is to make our lives last as long as we do. You know, to make a life last until it ends, to make all the parts come out even, like when you rub the last piece of bread in the last drop of oil on your plate and eat it with the last sip of wine in your glass." A THOUSAND DAYS IN TUSCANY is a book for people in love, for people who long for a simpler way of life, for people who go to that idyllic Tuscan countryside every night in their dreams. I loved everything about this book!
Over to quickly!.......2007-05-07
I found myself reading slower as I got near the end of this story. I didn't want it to end. A THOUSAND DAYS IN VENICE was a delightful book but I found this one more captivating. Ms. De Blasi weaves a beautiful, true adventure as if the reader was traveling along with her each step of the way. Her descriptions and characters are so real in her words I thought I might be there. BRAVA, de Blasi!!!!!!!!!
I'm in love with De Blasi's Italy.......2007-05-06
I've read A Thousand Days in Venice, A Thousand Days in Tuscany and The Lady in the Palazzo. Once I started the first, A Thousand Days in Venice, I was hooked. These are love stories about an American woman of a certain age who fell in love with a Venetian man of a certain age, and more. De Blasi loves this blueberry eyed man with a passion not to be duplicated. She also loves the people, the food, the customs the land. She learns to live in Italy, speak the language, read and dream in Italian and she pushes the box each time she reaches out to someone, which is often. Her recipes are wonderfull. I'm trying to figure out if I can find walnut flour in Minnesota.
Read it as a travelog, as a cookbook, as a love story. Just read all of the books.
A Thousand Days in Tuscany.......2007-01-18
It is a good book but rather slow. However, I will have to say I have enjoyed reading about this woman's time living in Tuscany. The recipes that she wrote really sound good. I will be trying some.
She shows her love of Italy through her writings.......2006-11-05
I read her first book A Thousand Days in Venice and enjoyed it very much. It seemed so real like we were sitting over coffee discussing her life. It made me want to walk the same places she walked and see the same markets to bring it to life for me too.
She has a smooth way of writing that is enjoyable. And the recipes are wonderful.
She again brought Tuscany to life for me and I wanted to see the villages and cucina's there. I am looking forward to the 2007 book.
Books:
- Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- Hot Barbecue (Hot Series)
- Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes
- Italy: The Best Travel Writing from the New York Times
- Let's Eat Out!: Your Passport to Living Gluten And Allergy Free (Let's Eat Out!) (Let's Eat Out!)
- Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies
- Little Foods of the Mediterranean: 500 Fabulous Recipes for Antipasti, Tapas, Hors d'Oeuvres, Meze, and More
- Madhur Jaffrey's Quick And Easy Indian Cooking
- Meet Me at the Loveless
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