Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking
Author: Marcella Hazan
Publisher: Knopf
Total Pages: 737
Release: 2011-07-20
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0307958302

A beautiful new edition of one of the most beloved cookbooks of all time, from “the Queen of Italian Cooking” (Chicago Tribune). A timeless collection of classic Italian recipes—from Basil Bruschetta to the only tomato sauce you’ll ever need (the secret ingredient: butter)—beautifully illustrated and featuring new forewords by Lidia Bastianich and Victor Hazan “If this were the only cookbook you owned, neither you nor those you cooked for would ever get bored.” —Nigella Lawson Marcella Hazan introduced Americans to a whole new world of Italian food. In this, her magnum opus, she gives us a manual for cooks of every level of expertise—from beginners to accomplished professionals. In these pages, home cooks will discover: • Minestrone alla Romagnola • Tortelli Stuffed with Parsley and Ricotta • Risotto with Clams • Squid and Potatoes, Genoa Style • Chicken Cacciatora • Ossobuco in Bianco • Meatballs and Tomatoes • Artichoke Torta • Crisp-Fried Zucchini blossoms • Sunchoke and Spinach Salad • Chestnuts Boiled in Red Wine, Romagna Style • Polenta Shortcake with Raisins, Dried Figs, and Pine Nuts • Zabaglione • And much more This is the go-to Italian cookbook for students, newlyweds, and master chefs, alike. Beautifully illustrated with line drawings throughout, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking brings together nearly five hundred of the most delicious recipes from the Italian repertoire in one indispensable volume. As the generations of readers who have turned to it over the years know (and as their spattered and worn copies can attest), there is no more passionate and inspiring guide to the cuisine of Italy.

Why Italians Love to Talk About Food

Why Italians Love to Talk About Food
Author: Elena Kostioukovitch
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 477
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1429935596

Italians love to talk about food. The aroma of a simmering ragú, the bouquet of a local wine, the remembrance of a past meal: Italians discuss these details as naturally as we talk about politics or sports, and often with the same flared tempers. In Why Italians Love to Talk About Food, Elena Kostioukovitch explores the phenomenon that first struck her as a newcomer to Italy: the Italian "culinary code," or way of talking about food. Along the way, she captures the fierce local pride that gives Italian cuisine its remarkable diversity. To come to know Italian food is to discover the differences of taste, language, and attitude that separate a Sicilian from a Piedmontese or a Venetian from a Sardinian. Try tasting Piedmontese bagna cauda, then a Lombard cassoela, then lamb ala Romana: each is part of a unique culinary tradition. In this learned, charming, and entertaining narrative, Kostioukovitch takes us on a journey through one of the world's richest and most adored food cultures. Organized according to region and colorfully designed with illustrations, maps, menus, and glossaries, Why Italians Love to Talk About Food will allow any reader to become as versed in the ways of Italian cooking as the most seasoned of chefs. Food lovers, history buffs, and gourmands alike will savor this exceptional celebration of Italy's culinary gifts.

Rustic Italian Food

Rustic Italian Food
Author: Marc Vetri
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Total Pages: 294
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1607740796

From acclaimed Philadelphia chef Marc Vetri comes a celebration of handcrafted, regional Italian cooking that advocates a hands-on, back-to-the-basics approach to cooking. Slow-cooked meats, homemade breads, and flavorful pastas are the traditional comfort-food classics that Italians have been roasting, baking, curing, and making in their own kitchens for generations--dishes that people actually want to cook and eat. Home cooks of every skill level will revel in the 120 recipes, such as sweet Fig and Chestnut Bread, rich Spinach and Ricotta Gnocchi, savory Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder, and fragrant Apple Fritters. But Rustic Italian Food is much more than just a collection of recipes. With detailed, step-by-step instructions for making terrines, dry-cured salami, and cooked sausage; a thorough guide to bread and pasta making; and a primer on classic Italian preserves and sauces, Rustic Italian Food is also an education in kitchen fundamentals. In this book Marc Vetri connects us directly to the essence of Italian food.

Italian Cuisine

Italian Cuisine
Author: Alberto Capatti
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2003-09-17
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0231509049

Italy, the country with a hundred cities and a thousand bell towers, is also the country with a hundred cuisines and a thousand recipes. Its great variety of culinary practices reflects a history long dominated by regionalism and political division, and has led to the common conception of Italian food as a mosaic of regional customs rather than a single tradition. Nonetheless, this magnificent new book demonstrates the development of a distinctive, unified culinary tradition throughout the Italian peninsula. Alberto Capatti and Massimo Montanari uncover a network of culinary customs, food lore, and cooking practices, dating back as far as the Middle Ages, that are identifiably Italian: o Italians used forks 300 years before other Europeans, possibly because they were needed to handle pasta, which is slippery and dangerously hot. o Italians invented the practice of chilling drinks and may have invented ice cream. o Italian culinary practice influenced the rest of Europe to place more emphasis on vegetables and less on meat. o Salad was a distinctive aspect of the Italian meal as early as the sixteenth century. The authors focus on culinary developments in the late medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras, aided by a wealth of cookbooks produced throughout the early modern period. They show how Italy's culinary identities emerged over the course of the centuries through an exchange of information and techniques among geographical regions and social classes. Though temporally, spatially, and socially diverse, these cuisines refer to a common experience that can be described as Italian. Thematically organized around key issues in culinary history and beautifully illustrated, Italian Cuisine is a rich history of the ingredients, dishes, techniques, and social customs behind the Italian food we know and love today.

Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa

Eating Up Italy: Voyages on a Vespa
Author: Matthew Fort
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2010-02-18
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0007365187

Italy’s tumultuous history can be traced through its food. In an epic scooter trip from the Ionian Sea to the far north, distiguished food writer Matthew Fort explores the local gastronomy and culinary culture of a country where regional differences are vibrantly alive.

Food of the Italian South

Food of the Italian South
Author: Katie Parla
Publisher: Clarkson Potter
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2019-03-12
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 1524760471

85 authentic recipes and 100 stunning photographs that capture the cultural and cooking traditions of the Italian South, from the mountains to the coast. In most cultures, exploring food means exploring history—and the Italian south has plenty of both to offer. The pasta-heavy, tomato-forward “Italian food” the world knows and loves does not actually represent the entire country; rather, these beloved and widespread culinary traditions hail from the regional cuisines of the south. Acclaimed author and food journalist Katie Parla takes you on a tour through these vibrant destinations so you can sink your teeth into the secrets of their rustic, romantic dishes. Parla shares rich recipes, both original and reimagined, along with historical and cultural insights that encapsulate the miles of rugged beaches, sheep-dotted mountains, meditatively quiet towns, and, most important, culinary traditions unique to this precious piece of Italy. With just a bite of the Involtini alla Piazzetta from farm-rich Campania, a taste of Giurgiulena from the sugar-happy kitchens of Calabria, a forkful of ’U Pan’ Cuott’ from mountainous Basilicata, a morsel of Focaccia from coastal Puglia, or a mouthful of Pizz e Foje from quaint Molise, you’ll discover what makes the food of the Italian south unique. Praise for Food of the Italian South “Parla clearly crafted every recipe with reverence and restraint, balancing authenticity with accessibility for the modern home cook.”—Fine Cooking “Parla’s knowledge and voice shine in this outstanding meditation on the food of South Italy from the Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata, and Calabria regions. . . . This excellent volume proves that no matter how well-trodden the Italian cookbook path is, an expert with genuine curiosity and a well-developed voice can still find new material.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “There's There’s Italian food, and then there's there’s Italian food. Not just pizza, pasta, and prosciutto, but obscure recipes that have been passed down through generations and are only found in Italy… . . . and in this book.”—Woman’s Day (Best Cookbooks Coming Out in 2019) “[With] Food of the Italian South, Parla wanted to branch out from Rome and celebrate the lower half of the country.”—Punch “Acclaimed culinary journalist Katie Parla takes cookbook readers and home cooks on a culinary journey.”—The Parkersburg News and Sentinel

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

Marcella's Italian Kitchen
Author: Marcella Hazan
Publisher: Knopf
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2024-10-29
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0593802098

An updated edition of the classic cookbook from the “author who changed the way Americans cook Italian food” (The New York Times). With a new foreword by best-selling author Molly Baz. In this, her most personal book, Marcella Hazan welcomes home cooks into her kitchen to discover the intricacies of good Italian cooking—and her rules for getting it right. Across almost 250 timeless recipes, both beloved classics and less well-known regional delicacies, Hazan traverses the country from top to tip, imparting the secrets to replicating the true flavors of Italy at home. Dishes like Risotto with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil, Fettuccine with Lemon, and Venetian Almond Cake, as well as Vegetable Lasagne, Roast Pork Loin with Juniper and Rosemary, and Cappuccino Gelato, showcase the diversity of Italian cuisine. Packed with a lifetime’s wisdom, delivered in Hazan’s inimitable way, Marcella’s Italian Kitchen is a glorious celebration of “simple food that has only one objective: to taste good.”

Red Sauce

Red Sauce
Author: Ian MacAllen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2022-04-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 1538162350

Tells the story of Italian food arriving in the United States and how your favorite red sauce recipes evolved into American staples. In Red Sauce, Ian MacAllentraces the evolution of traditional Italian-American cuisine, often referred to as “red sauce Italian,” from its origins in Italy to its transformation in America into a new, distinct cuisine. It is a fascinating social and culinary history exploring the integration of red sauce food into mainstream America alongside the blending of Italian immigrant otherness into a national American identity. The story follows the small parlor restaurants immigrants launched from their homes to large, popular destinations, and eventually to commodified fast food and casual dining restaurants. Some dishes like fettuccine Alfredo and spaghetti alla Caruso owe their success to celebrities, and Italian-American cuisine generally has benefited from a rich history in popular culture. Drawing on inspiration from Southern Italian cuisine, early Italian immigrants to America developed new recipes and modified old ones. Ethnic Italians invented dishes like lobster fra Diavolo, spaghetti and meatballs, and veal parmigiana, and popularized foods like pizza and baked lasagna that had once been seen as overly foreign. Eventually, the classic red-checkered-table-cloth Italian restaurant would be replaced by a new idea of what it means for food to be Italian, even as ‘red sauce’ became entrenched in American culture. This booklooks at how and why these foods became part of the national American diet, and focuses on the stories, myths, and facts behind classic (and some not so classic) dishes within Italian-American cuisine.

Delizia!

Delizia!
Author: John Dickie
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2008-01-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1416554009

Buon appetito! Everyone loves Italian food. But how did the Italians come to eat so well? The answer lies amid the vibrant beauty of Italy's historic cities. For a thousand years, they have been magnets for everything that makes for great eating: ingredients, talent, money, and power. Italian food is city food. From the bustle of medieval Milan's marketplace to the banqueting halls of Renaissance Ferrara; from street stalls in the putrid alleyways of nineteenth-century Naples to the noisy trattorie of postwar Rome: in rich slices of urban life, historian and master storyteller John Dickie shows how taste, creativity, and civic pride blended with princely arrogance, political violence, and dark intrigue to create the world's favorite cuisine. Delizia! is much more than a history of Italian food. It is a history of Italy told through the flavors and character of its cities. A dynamic chronicle that is full of surprises, Delizia! draws back the curtain on much that was unknown about Italian food and exposes the long-held canards. It interprets the ancient Arabic map that tells of pasta's true origins, and shows that Marco Polo did not introduce spaghetti to the Italians, as is often thought, but did have a big influence on making pasta a part of the American diet. It seeks out the medieval recipes that reveal Italy's long love affair with exotic spices, and introduces the great Renaissance cookery writer who plotted to murder the Pope even as he detailed the aphrodisiac qualities of his ingredients. It moves from the opulent theater of a Renaissance wedding banquet, with its gargantuan ten-course menu comprising hundreds of separate dishes, to the thin soups and bland polentas that would eventually force millions to emigrate to the New World. It shows how early pizzas were disgusting and why Mussolini championed risotto. Most important, it explains the origins and growth of the world's greatest urban food culture. With its delectable mix of vivid storytelling, groundbreaking research, and shrewd analysis, Delizia! is as appetizing as the dishes it describes. This passionate account of Italy's civilization of the table will satisfy foodies, history buffs, Italophiles, travelers, students -- and anyone who loves a well-told tale.

Preserving Italy

Preserving Italy
Author: Domenica Marchetti
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 589
Release: 2016-06-14
Genre: Cooking
ISBN: 0544612353

Capture the flavors of Italy with over 150 recipes for conserves, pickles, sauces, liqueurs, and more in this “engagingly informative” guide (Elizabeth Minchilli, author of Eating Rome). The notion of preserving shouldn’t be limited to American jams and jellies, and in this book, Domenica Marchetti puts the focus on the ever-alluring flavors and ingredients of Italy. There, abundant produce and other Mediterranean ingredients lend themselves particularly well to canning, bottling, and other preserving methods. Think of marinated artichokes in olive oil, classic giardiniera, or, of course, the late-summer tradition of putting up tomato sauce. But in this book we get so much more, from Marchetti’s travels across the regions of Italy to the recipes handed down through her family: sweet and sour peppers, Marsala-spiked apricot jam, lemon-infused olive oil, and her grandmother’s amarene, sour cherries preserved in alcohol. Beyond canning and pickling, the book also includes recipes for making cheese, curing meats, infusing liqueurs, and even a few confections, plus recipes for finished dishes so you can savor each treasured jar all year long. “Pack artichokes, peppers and mushrooms in oil. Make deliciously spicy pickles from melon. Even limoncello, mostarda and confections like torrone can come straight from your kitchen... The techniques may have been passed down by generations of nonnas, but they knew what they were doing.”—Florence Fabricant, The New York Times “Marchetti elevates preserved food from the role of condiment to center stage.”—Publishers Weekly