A Tale of Two Cookbooks
A Tale of Two Cookbooks
The Italian Cookbook set it all up for me, or rather my mom did. She gave me copy of this classic cookbook, complete with my grandmother’s scribbled revisions to the strufoli recipe. I thought this was a complete collection of recipes for everything I would need to know how to cook. Sure, I helped my mom and grandma cook and bake in their kitchens, but breaking out on my own was definitely different. Written by the Staff Home Economists of the Culinary Arts Institute in 1954, this book became a guidebook for our family, given as a gift for graduations, showers or any rite of passage that might require future cooking.
Everything I grew up eating is here, from minestrone to scallopine, to scampi, and pasta all ‘olio e aglio. Although this book mentions the regionality of Italian food, it is pretty straight up Neopolitan. No mention of pesto, bolognese or black truffles anywhere.
A few years later, ( early 1990s) I picked up Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. And I started traveling to Italy. Wow. Marcella brought home all the risotto, crespelle, Bolognese, and Monte Bianco that was missing from my life. Eating in Italy was a revelation. The rustic eggplant parm in Sicily was lightly fried, topped with blistered cherry tomatoes, generous shavings of parmesan, and no mozzarella in sight. Not exactly the eggplant parm that shows up in stock photos on countless pizza restaurant menus.
All these over-sauced, over-fried versions of Italian specialties send me running into my own kitchen and running back to these two favorite books. Both are true and relevant.
Marcella’s complete compilation is everything. You’ll explore and travel through Italy page after page, meal after amazing meal. I return to this book, again and again, yearning for an Italian adventure and dinner inspiration. Her Carbonara Sauce is the absolute ultimate, no peas or cream in sight. ( page 202, your welcome). This book feels like a trip to Italy.
I do revisit The Italian Cookbook, often, comforted by it’s sauce splattered pages . And for a quick refresher on the exact ratio of flour to potato in my gnocchi ( 1 pound to 3/4 cups) It’s especially handy when you can’t call your Mom or grandma for advice. This book feels like a trip home .