In her latest cookbook Marcella Hazan attempts to capture the spirit of her famous Italian cooking classes, which began modestly in her New York City apartment during the 1960s and evolved into widely sought out Master Classes in her Venice home. With no-nonsense advice on all aspects of Italian home cooking, Marcella Says… successfully transports the reader…
Here is a cookbook that truly understands how Italians eat. “Italian meals are structured in a way that keeps family and friends at the table,” the introduction tells us. The focus on family and friends eating together is a central theme throughout this book. In addition to being family-centric, the Italian way of eating is…
I must start this review off with an apology. There is no excuse for waiting until mid-August to post a review of The Perfect Scoop. If this is the first you are hearing of this excellent book on all things ice cream, then I have let over two months of prime ice cream making and…
The New York town I grew up in, Mount Vernon, had a several good Italian bakeries, plus it was 15 minutes from Arthur Avenue, the Bronx’s Little Italy. Therefore, I became accustomed to being able to pick up a fresh loaf of delicious Italian bread in minutes. Now I live in Ridgefield, CT a very…
The da Fiore Cookbook – Damiano Martin By Phil Torre Tucked away on a small side street, a few minutes walk from the Rialto Bridge in Venice is Osteria da Fiore, considered by many to be the best Restaurant in Venice. I had the good fortune to dine there on my recent trip to Italy…
When it comes to pizza just about everybody in America has strong feelings about who makes the best (well at least everybody in New York, where I grew up). Some people tend to get very passionate about this issue. Whenever our friend Jason tells my cousin Sal that he likes Frank Pepe’s Pizza in New…
A16 is an acclaimed restaurant in San Francisco, inspired by the food from the Campania region in southern Italy. It is named after the highway that runs through Campania connecting Naples to Puglia. A16: Food and Wine, a cookbook by A16’s executive chef and Wine Director, Nate Applemen and Shelly Lindgren respectively, is an excellent…
I started baking bread about 10 years ago using Carol Field’s The Italian Baker as my reference. That is where I learned about using a starter or biga to improve the flavor of my bread. The next important book in my bread baking education was The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. An essential volume…
 In the cookbook Seafood alla Siciliana: Recipes and Stories from a Living Tradition, author Toni Lydecker takes us with her on a trek through Sicily in which she visits fishermen, fishmongers, restaurant chefs and home cooks all over the Island. The result is a comprehensive and evocative volume on the rich culinary tradition of Sicilian…
