favourite books? Italian food & cooking

[lamington]

So if you could only have one or two books from which to learn or teach about Italian food & cooking, which would you choose? Does it provide a good detailed overview of regional foods and recipes, or does it have other good characteristics?

--lamington

[hedder]

HI !
I love Italian food, and have alot of Italian cookbooks. I don't seem to get books that do alot of discussing about things, because I just love to get in there and do it, make my own mistakes and learn and add and take away from the recipe. I just like to keep it simple. Below I listed some of my favorites:

The Robert Rose book of Classic Pasta
The Pasta Bible
The Italian- Amercian cookbook
The complete book of mediterranen cooking ( love this one, except it's just not italian )

[mudbug]

Hi lamington, and welcome to ChefTalk hedder.

You may be interested in browsing some previous threads regarding Italian Cookbooks. Some of these are tangents but well worth browsing and learning.

[lamington]

Hmm, that was sloppy of me. Tsktsk. I'd browsed the last 100 days (forgetting that that is not the same as "ages and ages")... I shall browse more thoroughly and return if necessary. Thanks to hedder and mudbug for replying!

--lamington

[phoebe]

Hi Lamington,

Marcella Hazan is my ultimate source. I'll use her recipes as they are--and they are delicious --but I'll also use them as jumping-off points, basic approaches, and then experiment with different in-season ingredients.

[Mezzaluna]

I've made some of Lidia Bastianich's recipes from Lidia's Italian Table and liked them: gnocchi, fricos, linguini.

[Isa]

Definitly Marcella Hazan. My second book would be Bugialli on Pasta.

[Pongi]

Hi Lamington!

I know I'm boring as I always mention the same book when someone asks for a good Italian cooking source, but "LE RICETTE REGIONALI ITALIANE" by Anna Gosetti Della Salda, Ed. Solares, is the true bible. It provides a wide overview of every italian region, and all the recipes are perfect. I LOVE that book!
You can also find it in some online shops, but with a small defect...there is no English translation. If you can deal with some italian it's well worth the expense (very reasonable, in any case)

Pongi

BTW, probably it sounds like a nonsense considering how big it is, but I have relatives living in Melbourne. She is Italian (of course) and her husband is Scottish. They work, as a chemist and a biologist, in a great cancer research institute which name I can't remember. Any chance you know them?

[lamington]

Hi Pongi! Thanks for that suggestion (and to others for theirs as well). I'm wondering if "LE RICETTE REGIONALI ITALIANE" contains any commentary about regional foods and tradiitons, or is it primarily a compendium of recipes? I'm not scared of having a book in Italian, so that's ok.

I'm afraid in a city of 3+ million, the chances of me knowing your relatives were a little small though odd coincidences can happen! I can guess which institute they'd be at -- Peter Macallum?

--lamington

[Pongi]

Lamington,

Three days ago I sent you a private message, but according to message tracking you haven't read it yet. Could you let me know if you have received it?

Thanks,

Pongi

[lamington]

Hi Pongi, a reply has now been sent! I think there was a slight delay in receiving.

[Karen Page]

For the chapter on Italy in our forthcoming book THE NEW AMERICAN CHEF, we asked the very same question to cookbook maven Nach Waxman of Kitchen Arts & Letters in NYC. A few he recommended to us:

* CUCINA ESSENZIALE by Stefano Cavallini

* THE CLASSIC ITALIAN COOKBOOK and MORE CLASSIC ITALIAN COOKING by Marcella Hazan

* THE FINE ART OF ITALIAN COOKING by Giuliano Bugialli

* THE SPLENDID TABLE by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

* FLAVORS OF THE RIVIERA by Colman Andrews

* THE FOOD OF SOUTHERN ITALY by Carlo Middione

Happy reading -- and eating!

Andrew & Karen

[hedder]

Thanks for the info on the books... Headed for Italy on Monday can't wait.. Hope to pick-up some great books while I'm there... hedder

[Plum]

Hi Lamington,

you might want to look out for a book called Dear Francesca. It was published in the UK by a Scottish-Italian woman who is part of a dynasty of food purveyors in Edinburgh. The book features her family recipes, and as such includes the kind of simple foods that Italians actually eat at home, such as pasta with lemon and butter etc, as well as the more usual classics. The format of the book is to pass on the cooking knowledge to her student daughter, so it's a nice book to have if you're getting your head round the classic processes of Italian cookery. The store is called Valvona & Crolla, their website is attached which shows the book. http://www.valvonacrolla.co.uk/. Maybe one day it will find its way to the States!

I would also highly recommend Marcella Hazan, she really gives you the details of the process that make all the difference.

happy cooking

Plum

[lamington]

Great suggestion, Plum. I've read about this one, though not yet seen it. Sounds great. I'm waiting impatiently for a copy of Pongi's recommendation Le ricette regionali italiane to arrive from Europe, but there appears to be a supply problem. Can't wait to compare some of the English-language books with this one.

--lamington