new cookbook: "the silver spoon"

[aslant]

last weekend i finally bought phaidon's new cookbook the silver spoon. it is a translation of il cucchiaio d'argento, allegedly the most famous cookbook in italy, though i can't say i ever once saw a kitchen with a cookbook in it while i was there. even so, it is a remarkable book:



last night we made a simple fettuccine alla vodka which was delicious, a rich and complex flavor, and even better than previous homemade versions i have had of vodka sauce (and now i do not think we will ever buy it in a jar again). for lunch yesterday, we made very decadent mozzarella in carozza sandwiches, thick slices of mozzarella on crustless bread, dipped in egg and fried in a bit of butter until golden brown. simply amazing. on the menu for the coming week: meatballs, chicken and pancetta roulades, broccoletti.

it is also a heavy, gorgeous beastie of a book, hardcover and 1,200+ pages, many photos included. recipes and indices are in both english and italian, and helpful comparisons of italian vs american butcher diagrams are included, as are descriptions of obscure vegetables and their (occasional) domestic equivalents. it is grouped by sections corresponding to traditional course order -- soups and pastas, meats and egg dishes, cheeses and dolci, etc.; each section also has basic information, such as techniques for shirring or coddling or soft-boiling in the egg section, and general time-per-pound guidelines for meats. it is a weighty captain's atlas to the classic italian cooking's weekend travelogue (bought several weeks ago), if you will.

i am very excited to have it in my kitchen. i don't know of any tv italian chefs hawking trustworthy books, and many general italian cookbooks i've seen have been heavily weighted to a particular region, or are either overly fussy or overly americanized. so now, i can stop looking, because i think i've found the perfect italian cookbook.

Comments

[beamishgirl.livejournal.com]

I think NPR was giving this book away if you contributed money to maintaining their programs. It sounds fabulous! bon appetite!

[aslant.livejournal.com]

oh, neat. i did get it on sale, but that's not quite as good as free :)

it is indeed fabulous! i would recommend it to anyone!

[thistle.livejournal.com]

I want that!

[aslant.livejournal.com]

it's calling your name!

[triesticity.livejournal.com]

ooh, neat. i've read good reviews of this book, but a personal recommendation is far more exciting!

do you make homemade pasta? it's one of those things i want to try but it seems a bit daunting in our tiny apartment kitchen. we don't even have a rolling pin! (my grandparents had a pasta machine and would make their own fettucine and manicotti and ravioli and i'd watch them and it seemed like the most exciting thing ever. and, of course, it totally spoiled me: i don't ever order manicotti out, and i tend only to like restaurant-made ravioli that's something other than the basic ricotta + tomato sauce.)

[aslant.livejournal.com]

i was surprised to see a so-so review on amazon, actually, apparently there are occasional errors in the text? but then, i hardly think anyone with experience would have a problem...it's not like we're making delicate confections!

we have a hand-crank pasta maker that i love. it makes the most amazing pasta! it is so simple, but it does take two people to feed in the dough and keep it moving at the same time :) kirk and i were going to make some this weekend, but we didn't...we have to do it soon, though, before the weather turns too far toward spring!

late night lj comments make me sound dumb, but here goes anyway....

[weetziefae.livejournal.com]

a beastie of a book? Oh, exciting!

I love big big cookbooks. Something about being a bit like a large spell book from a nightime fantasy story or something...

Would you share the vodka sauce recipe? I want to make some! It's so good tasting, but i've never purchased a jar.

(is it wrong that this totally gets me excited about visiting italy, too?)

/end not very smart post

what are you talking about? you don't sound dumb! at all!

[aslant.livejournal.com]

it is totally like a big spell book! ha. i'd never thought of that before.

to make the vodka sauce:

1/4 cup butter
1 thick slice of cured ham or pancetta (optional)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp chopped italian parsley (flat leaf)
5 tbsp heavy cream
1/4 cup vodka

melt the butter in a pan, and add the ham chopped into little pieces, the tomato paste and the parsley, and season with salt and pepper. cook over medium heat for about ten minutes and stir occasionally, just making sure the paste doesn't stick to the pan. then stir in the cream and vodka and cook until the alcohol has evaporated off, maybe another 3-5 minutes. i ended up adding a little extra cream at this stage, to stretch the sauce a little further. pour it over the pasta and voila! i recommend a good, thin fettuccine that looks homemade in the package, though the recipe in the book calls for penne rigate.

you should be excited about italy! though cooking in the veneto is very different. it is fish-heavy....i went to venice several times and it was hard to find decent food because the tourist crowds are just intense. but what all the guidebooks say is totally true...just get lost wandering through the back alleys, staying away from the crowds, and you'll have a much, much better time.

ohhhh i am excited in advance to see your photos!

(i am such a geek)

[mutable-earth.livejournal.com]

[ oh! i got this last year, and every time i look at it, i always think of you. my having it is somewhat idiotic, given all my food problems, but i love cooking for other people from it. in terms of television chefs and italian cookbooks -- jamie oliver's italian cookbook is really, really good. it was published to go along with the television series, "jamie's italy," where he set off on a journey throughout the country, wanting to experience and learn about all the regional variations in italian cookery, which he admits it, very much, the basis for his entire food philosophy. i also like watching lidia's shows. i've made quite a lot of her recipes and they were all excellent. antonio carluccio and giorgio locatelli are also great and worth checking out. ]

xo.

Re: (i am such a geek)

[aslant.livejournal.com]

i have to say, i do have jamie oliver's first cookbook, but i'm not 100% in love with his style. i do go back constantly to his fruit crumble recipe and his focaccia recipe, but his ingredients and recipes are sometimes poorly adapted for american markets...i haven't seen any of his newer books, though. but i have to say, just his tv personality is a turnoff for me. to be honest, i have a totally irrational bias against lidia bastianich, as well! (i am awful, i know.) for some reason lately i am just biased against cook-driven books, and i think that's why the silver spoon is so perfect -- encyclopedic and theoretically objective, maybe?

[thefallingplace.livejournal.com]

(im feeling like vodka sauce, this evening. I was hoping to have it in venice, but alas.....

this is erin fae, too)

[aslant.livejournal.com]

all i remember of venetian food was a displeasingly fishy dish. little osteria-type restaurants in venezia just were not as interesting as little restaurants i went to elsewhere. though two gondola rides were certainly magic, and the gondola-boatmen were suitably mysterious -- one refused to sing for us, he claimed it would rain if he sang. i did love to hear their mysterious dialect chatter when two boatmen would pass each other in the narrower canali...

if venice was not magic, i am desperate to show you my pictures. of when i was there. & near there.