Italian Cookbooks – The Best Of

[malcolmjolley]

Marcella is fantastic.

[mikeycook]

I can already feel my collection expanding.

[Basilgirl]

Lynn Rosetto Kasper's The Italian Country Table and The Splendid Table (Emilia-Romagna)

Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking

[Bill Klapp]

Any of Marcella's books, for sure. I will step up and confirm her "authenticity". In addition to the Plotkin tome on Friuli, Recipes from Paradise, his Ligurian cookbook, is probably the best that ever WILL be written. Liguria was (is?) Plotkin's home turf in Italia, and, among other things, he gives you about 50 uniquely different recipes for pesto. I am also a big fan of Biba Caggiano's Biba's Taste of Italy for Emilia-Romagna. I can't speak to authenticity there, but I can tell you that her recipes deliver results that you cannot find in many restaurants in the U.S. Lastly, I have a real soft spot for Matt Kramer's Passion for Piedmont. It is out of print now, but it is around and you should be able to find a copy. Some of his recipes have been adapted for American ingredients, but most work marvelously. I would tackle all of the above before considering anything from regions further south in Italy. Craig, is there a Lombardia cookbook on a quality level with the above? There are certainly some fine dishes to be considered. (I think Biba cops a classic risotto Milanese recipe, but you should also direct mikeycook to your own excellent mini-treatise on risotto.)

[slkinsey]

I am rather of the opinion that Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking is the one essential book no kitchen should be without. After that, it varies depending on taste and the regional cooking that interests you. As far as I know, there is no book that goes through all the regions comprehensively explaining why the cooking has evolved the way it has (what the agriculture and resources are like, levels of affluence, etc.) and giving representative examples of the most classic recipes from each region. The few books that I have seen which do claim to make such a comprehensive survey still focus the vast majority of their material on the few best-known regions at the expense of others. I have spent a lot of time in Le Marche, so it is always a dead give-away when a cookbook lumps Le Marche together with Umbria and Toscana or Abruzzi. If anyone is aware of a book (in English or translated into English) that actually does a good job of this, I would be interested to know about it.

[MatthewB]

Any opinions on Elizabeth David's "Italian Food"?

Edited August 14, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Adam Balic]

Any opinions on Elizabeth David's "Italian Food"?

Original editions had excellent Guttuso illustrations. Recipes are fine and she is does her usual trick of taking you to the place she is talking about.

[MatthewB]

Thanks, Adam. Would you consider David's book as worthwhile on a shortlist for books in English per the theme of this thread?

Also (and open to everyone) . . .

Any opinions on Patience Gray's "Honey from a Weed" in context of this thread?

[docsconz]

Ana Tasca Lanza's books are a good introduction to Sicilian cooking.

[Adam Balic]

Thanks, Adam.  Would you consider David's book as worthwhile on a shortlist for books in English per the theme of this thread?

Also (and open to everyone) . . .

Any opinions on Patience Gray's "Honey from a Weed" in context of this thread?

It is slightly dated and some of the recipes are compromises, but yes I would by it to read and cook from. 'Honey from a weed' is a lovely book (not all Italian though) and I would recommend it in general.

[MatthewB]

Any opinions on Nancy Harmon Jenkins' "Flavors of Puglia" & "Flavors of Tuscany"?

Edited August 14, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[trillium]

Another Marcella fan here. For regional cooking, I really like La Cucina Siciliana di Gangivecchio and Cooking the Roman Way : Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks and Trattorias of Rome. I'm really, really infatuated with Cooking the Roman Way right now. I really love the enthusiasm and care he's brought to the book. I remembered him from an article he did on roasting suckling lamb at Easter in Rome for Saveur and I was delighted that he'd written a cookbook.

regards,

trillium

Edited August 14, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[russ parsons]

i'll second (in some cases, third) the nominations of fred and matt's books on ligurian, friuliano and piemontese cooking (full disclosure, they're both good friends). i also love to cook from biba's books ... more because the food tastes so great than because i feel they're perfectly accurate regionally. anna del conte is, i think, really underrated in the us. i'd also chip in faith willinger's red whites and greens (repeat disclosure here). and honey from a weed is one of the half-dozen books i regularly return to for inspiration. curious that one name seems to be remarkable by its absence: giuliano bugialli. i do like his techniques book. if you read italian, i'd also try to find an unabridged "piccolo talismano" and the spectacular "grande enciclopedia illustrata della gastronomia" ... i've seen several editions published by readers digest, of all people.

[weinoo]

Marcella for certain. I doubt you can go wrong with any of her books.

I often return to Bugialli's Fine Art of Italian Cooking to see if I'm "doing it right."

One of the first Italian books I used was/is Carlo Middione's The Food of Southern Italy.

[madziast]

lidia's first two books: "la cucina di lidia" and "lidia's italian table"

rogers & gray's river cafe cookbooks

arthur schwartz's "naples at table"-- mainly one of the quickest and easiest recipes, delicious, eat it at least once a week--pasta with canned tuna, peperoncino and fresh tomatoes; also good basic tomato sauce

faith willinger's "red, white and greens" (i prefer interestingly prepared vegetables to just about everything)

also have "passion for piedmont" by matt kramer, "ultimate pasta" by julia della croce, nancy harmon jenkins' "flavors of tuscany" but i find i hardly use them.

surprisingly, i've used "recipes and memories" by sophia loren, it was a gift and turned out to be a good one. just got the valentino cookbook (piero selvaggio) so the jury is still out, i absolutely love the restaurant...

i don't cook fish or meat (canned tuna notwithstanding) though so my picks are veg/starch oriented

[TuWanda]

Lynn Rosetto Kasper's The Italian Country Table and The Splendid Table (Emilia-Romagna)

Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking

I second these choices, especially "Essentials of Italian Cooking". Probably in my top five of most used cookbooks, along with Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni.

I think Marcella Hazan's books should be on everyones bookshelf.

[mikeycook]

Fred Plotkin's La Terra Fortunata is highly regarded, and seems very authentic for Friuli-Venezia Giulia. He has another book on Liguria.

Stopped by my local used bookstore tonight (Mercer St. Books, NYC) and they had a copy of La Terra Fortunata. I am enjoying it immensely (can't wait to try some recipes.)

Definitely will be keeping my eye out for Marcella.

Thanks to all so far.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[tanabutler]

I know it's blasphemy, but my most-used Italian cookbook is from Patricia Wells.

Patricia Wells' Trattoria: Simple and Robust Fare Inspired by the Small Family Restaurants of Italy

I reviewed it there on the Amazon link, and later learned that Patricia Wells posted my love letter to her on her website.

Also beloved is my Lynn Rosetto Kasper's Italian Country Table

Of my fifty (I know, I'm not worthy) cookbooks, a dozen are Italian. Patricia Wells' is my easy favorite. Easy and so good.

Edited August 14, 2003 by Jason Perlow (log)

[Jason Perlow]

Mario Batali's Babbo Cookbook

Here's eGullet's review:

http://www.egullet.com/?pg=ARTICLE-babbobook

edit: ah, I see you looked at it already.

[bastien]

There are a lot of top chefs who have their own cook books. I know there are cook books from restaurants like Sadler, Dal Pescatore, La Pergola, etc. Are you also interested in these kind of Italian cook books?

[MobyP]

I'm quite surprised by some of the choices here. With one or two exceptions, many of them seem a bit, well, recent.

The greatest Italian general cookbook I've come across is 'Italian Regional Cooking' by Ada Boni (hardback, Bonanza) - written originally in Italian (surprise), I have a version from the 70's with fantastic bleached colour photographs. The recipes - for breadth and depth - are phenomenal. It goes region to region. Alongside all of the usual classics you find everywhere else, she includes everything from roast suckling pig, to old Roman-esque sauces, to one fresh pasta recipe which incorporates pureed chicken livers and sausage meat into the pasta dough before rolling it out!

My understanding is that she preceeded Hazan - who I think is very good if you're already an experienced cook, but all the beginners I know who try her recipes come up with something a little bland.

For the old testament of Italian cookery, you have to go to Pelegrino Artusi. Some truly bizzare methods - it makes you realise how much shorthand - and how many short cuts - we use today.

The Rogers and Grey 'The River Cafe' cookbooks are wonderful. They do simple things to simple ingredients with immaculate taste.

Bugialli always seems overly fussy to me - in that Zen master "when you truly sniff the porcini like an Italian, and stuff it up your left nostril after turning three times counter-clockwise while keeping your ass pointing towards Rome" kind of way. But whenever I take the trouble to follow his recipes, the results are always worthwhile (not to mention that I like my ass pointing Roma-wards).

Best of luck.

[IrishCream]

Just some comments about the comments. Marcella's earlier books are great. I haven't found her book "Marcella's Cucina" to be as useful.

While Patricia Well's French Bistro cookbook has many excellent recipes that I have enjoyed, I was disappointed by her "Trattoria" cookbook. The recipes I tried were uninspired. Just didn't live up to her Bistro book.

Patience Grey's "Honey from a Weed" is one of my favorite books about food. It deserves a place in every foodies library. But to call it an Italian cookbook seems a misnomer. More a book about how to survive the reality of life on undeveloped Greco/Roman islands where starvation looms if one doesn't learn to make the best of nature's give and take. Her account of surviving and her recipes are inspirational.

[Pongi]

For those of you who can read Italian, the true bible of Italian regional cooking is "LE RICETTE REGIONALI ITALIANE" by Anna Gosetti della Salda, ed. Solares.

This book is famous in Italy, and has been reprinted many times from its first edition, about 30 years ago. I can't understand why it has never been translated in English, considering that it's likely to be the very best overview about Italian regional food ever written both for number of recipes (over 2000) and for the accuracy of their description. In any case, it can be purchased online at a very reasonable price.

Pongi

Edited August 14, 2003 by Pongi (log)

[Bill Klapp]

Sorry, Andy, and so fire me, Jason. Mario Batali is a phenomenon, but does not deserve to be mentioned in the same thread with many of the names above. His style is best described as "nouvelle Italian-American", and it is anything but authentic. His greatest contribution is adapting (albeit loosely) Italian ideas to American ingredients, in an attempt to address the problem that authentic Italian cooking is not really possible in the U.S., due to the inability to procure old world quality ingredients. Among other things, his schtick is lording rarified Italian ingredients, like "cheeks", shanks and entrails of everything that walks or swims, over us dumbass, know-nothing Americani. While he can cook (when he can be bothered to) and his restaurants do have their following, the recipes in his cookbooks have the highest failure rate I have ever experienced. A friend of ours who can cook and is a huge Mario fan has NEVER had a complete success with his recipes. While I'm at it, his wine book with Joe Bastianich is a horribly shallow and amateurish effort, and sometimes just flat wrong. Their section on Piemontese wines is laughably bad. In short, I favor MENO (less), rather than Molto, Mario!

[Jason Perlow]

Mario Batali did a wine book? surely youre not referring to David Lynch's book with Joe B., right?

Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy

This book is the bible on Italian wine, in my opinion...