Please recommend an Italian cookbook

[black chef]

thanks for your recommendations, fam...

i bought "The Silver Spoon" today at costco for $24.99 on sale.

[ChefJune]

Originally Posted by BreezyCooking

And granted, while this is just personal preference, it beats the Hazan cookbooks by more than a mile. She may be considered "Italian cookbook royalty" by some, but that's by "some" only. Personally I find her more than a bit pretentious.

Do you know her?

I do have her son's cookbook, that I do use frequently, but it still doesn't hold even half a candle to The Silver Spoon. The Hazan books are good, but frankly they've obviously been catered to the American-Italian expectation of of Italian cuisine - ala what one gets at upscale Italian restaurants.

But again - that's just my opinion. Cookbooks - like food & recipes - are ALWAYS going to be a matter of personal preference. Just like novels. Just because I love a novel doesn't mean you will; doesn't mean the novel isn't good.

Breezy, Her cooking has NOTHING to do with Italian restaurants in US or Italy, and everything to do with Italian home cooking. The Silver Spoon is an entirely different book than Marcella's... writter FOR an ITALIAN audience.

Marcella's and Bugialli's books were written at a time when just about ALL Americans thought Italian cooking meant spaghetti and meatballs. and they were written to let us know that's not the case. In fact, they had a lot to do with bringing enough interest in Italian cooking to this country to make The Silver Spoon people interested in translating that book into English.

[BreezyCooking]

No, I don't "know" her. But I do remember her tv cooking show, & found her pretentious. Her son's style is infinitely lighter/breezier, which is why I own one of his books, but none of hers. I just don't find them interesting.

Like I said in my previous post - cookbooks are definitely subjective to personal preference, which is as it should be. It's just my opinion that there's no better Italian cookbook than one originally meant for an Italian audience.