Delicious, Delicious, Delicious
Rating:
5 / 5
This is it: The single indispensable cookbook -- not just for Italian food, but for good food. Marcella's (sometimes acerbic) commentary on ingredients and recipes is wonderful, but the reason to buy this book is for the dishes. Almost everything I've made from this book has been an absolute treat, from the succulent mushroom and ham pasta sauce to the delectable stuffed tomatoes. And with the size of this compendium, you'll never run out of new tastes to try.My one quibble? The desserts don't seem to measure up to the rest of the dishes. The two I've tried -- lemon almond cookies and the farm wive's pear tart -- were disappointing. The cookies tasted great, but had the texture of cardboard, while the "tart" was more like a clafouti; although I baked it far longer than the recipe called for, it remained doughy and wet. With all that ripe pear in the batter, though, it certainly tasted acceptable! With two disappointments out of the 30-or-so fabulous recipes I've tried, this is still single finest book I've ever cooked from. (and much better than her recent huge success Marcella Cucina). Oh, the soups! Oh, the pastas! Oh, the vegetables! Oh, Marcella!
Where's the mouth-watering photos!
Rating:
4 / 5
This book is well written and entertaining. The recipes are easy to follow and tasty. But, what I found to be most useful are the tips and tricks to Italian cooking. It clearly describes how to use olive oil, basil, and other herbs and spices. It tells you the origin and uses of Italian ingredients, as well as how and when to select them. The skills you will learn from this book will go a long way! The only thing this book lacks is photos. If you are like me and thouroghly enjoy seeing what your creation should end up looking like, then compliment this book with another. My best X-mas gift was "The Complete Italian Cookbook" by Carlo Bernasconi and Christian Teubner ISBN:1-898250-85-5. This is a 1999 book and not yet available through Amazon. Plan on spending a bundle, but it's dynamite! And for the photo lovers like me, it has 440 pages of recipes with at least one photo per recipe. Many photos are taken to show the step-by-step process. ALL photos in this book are HIGH quality color. You will find more photos in this book than your local-corner photo lab!
One of the best cookbooks ever
Rating:
5 / 5
I have been using this cookbook for more than 10 years. Marcella Hazan writes about food and cooking with absolute authority, and the results are always delicious. I don't just refer to this book when I want to cook "Italian food." I'll often use it for ideas when it's close to dinner time and I'm not sure what to do with a bunch of broccoli, or a fish filet. The book is also beautifully made and printed. You can't go wrong with this one.
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