Heather Cooks Italian

[hjshorter]

Remembered this old thread last weekend, when my husband was forced to check out The Babbo Cookbook from the library (for a recipe for pork cheeks), and after our long discussion in the The Daily Gullet about the dominance of French food. Three years later, I've added several French cookbooks to my collection, but still haven't managed to buy a single Italian cookbook.

I have checked out Mario's Molto Italiano, but only got through one recipe before being completely turned off. The Spaghetti Carbonara is the most unbalanced version of that old chestnut we've ever tried - so rich it made me a little queasy after a few bites.

So, here I am, still in the hunt. I'll go back through the thread and check out some of the suggestions again. And if anyone has any new suggestions, I'm all ears.

[Pontormo]

Heather, your original request may be the oldest of its nature here, but there was a fairly recent one on the topic. Try the new forum devoted to cookbooks.

However, the punchline is this:

Marcella Hazan's, Essentials of Italian Cooking. It remains the classic in English, a wonderful overview of some of the most important dishes, though many unfamiliar when first published are probably standards in a household where a pig's head gets sawed through in the kitchen sink.

The major glaring flaw in the revised single-volume text is that it does not respond to an important recent trend that NYC Mike mentions in a Cooking thread on Essentials. That is, Hazan is good about mentioning regional origins of many of the dishes. However, she does not dwell on the original context in which certain recipes were first created, their connection to that part of the country, and so forth. Sometimes the information is overlooked even though the dish is not as "universal" as a simple tomato sauce. The index doesn't provide further assistance.

More recently, a number of very good publications have been devoted to single regions of Italy. Lynne Rossetto Kasper sets the standard with The Splendid Table and Emilia-Romagna. David Downie's Cooking the Roman Way is something many of us in the Italian forum appreciate. However, they are more specialized, so they won't suit your purposes.

I also like Lidia Matticchio Bastianich who writes well not only about her own Friulian roots. Jamie Oliver's new book, tied to a television series, seems closer to a "real" Italian cookbook than Molto Mario might appear to be. Unlike Hazan's classic survey, it's copiously illustrated, dwells on regionality and is governed by a different kind of authorial voice. (See what Maggie says up thread about Marcella who is known as a gruff chain-smoker; I've never found it off-putting, though.) He's not really worried about what you can and cannot get in the UK or US or Oz, I don't think. I'm making only a slightly informed judgment having looked through the book once, thoroughly. I know Foodman likes it, and his opinion is one I trust. I own MM and like it, but authentic dishes are intersperced with Mario's fabrications and in some cases, the recipes can be rather sloppy.

You'll hear quite a few voices of admiration raised for The Silver Spoon, however, the English edition is not a direct translation from the Italian. The original cookbook is kind of a Betty Crocker/Joy of Cooking, a compilation of recipes published to give to women when get married. The recipes are brief and also lacking in much information, let alone instruction, based on the supposition that the bride--or husband--grew up eating such food. There is little if any attention paid to regionality, and as implied, the English edition is less than authentic, altered to appeal to the general American public in a misguided, at times patronizing fashion. It therefore fails for many serious home cooks.

I still think Marcella Hazan would serve you best.

You'll find more lenghthy discussion and perhaps further sources of inspiration in the Italian forum. Kevin72, the specialist for the region, has a year-long thread for 2005 with both an index and bibliography. He moves from region to region in Italy over the course of the year, cooking dishes specific to each, and mentioning the sources of published recipes as he goes.

During 2006, a number of us began cooking dishes from specific regions, one month at a time. Those threads begin, "The Cooking and Cuisine of..." and continue with "Piemonte" or "Siciliy"... This month, as we continue, we're rather uninspired by Trentino Alto-Adige, but you may be interested in some of the earlier ones and might find a place to ask additional questions there.

P.S. Read what we have to say about carbonara in the cooking thread on Lazio. I think I paraphrase David Downie's recipe--or somebody does. It will convert you for life.

Edited January 19, 2007 by Pontormo (log)

[hjshorter]

Heather, your original request may be the oldest of its nature here, but there was a fairly recent one on the topic.  Try the new forum devoted to cookbooks.

I was surprised that this thread wasn't already there.

Thanks for all of the information. I, uh, confess to not following any of the Italian regional cooking threads at all. Time to go back and read.