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Title: Regional Foods of Southern Italy by Marlena De Blasi ISBN: 0-670-88384-0 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: August, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN AN ITALIAN COOKBOOK!
Comment: What a wonderful book! The stories associated with the recipes are just amazing. Especially the story of Elisabetta, the seventy year old restaurateur--who began her career at the age of sixty-one--that told the author she has just come into her stride. The Polenta with Braised Pork and Roasted Red Peppers recipe that was included with this story was great.
If you have an opportunity to purchase this book, and you have the time and patience to allow some of these recipes to develop you and whoever you serve will be richly rewarded. There are recipes of seafood, pasta, pork and lamb. Some of the recipes are quick and simple, with simple ingredients. Some of the recipes require more ingredients, as well as time. However, my book is marked with post-it-notes on many recipes that I cannot wait to present to my family.
Rating: 5
Summary: Connecting with the spirit of Southern Italian cooking
Comment: This is an extraordinary book. I have never had a "cookbook" like this one and have come to treasure Marlena De Blasi's work. Like the other reviewers, I would agree that this is not a simple, "learn the basics of Italian cooking" cookbook. It is, however, well worth the time spent learning about these recipes and their cultural context. Ms De Blasi succeeds in connecting the reader with the spirit, with the essence, with the history and the context of cooking in Southern Italy. Each recipe, or group of recipes, is preceeded by wonderful descriptions of where, when and how the dish was made over the centuries. It give the reader a feel for the people who developed these recipes over time, and the forces that led them to create. I have read the cookbook cover to cover and found it delightful. Surprisingly open but a great pleasure as you get to know Marlena and her husband. I have also cooked about 2 dozen of the recipes. Some are somewhat complicated but nearly all turned out wonderfully. Some of the greatest successes are the seafood (particularly mussels done several different ways and a roasted rockfish/sea bass) and the many (often simple) pastas. Regional Foods of Southern Italy is a rare, and invaluable, find.
Rating: 3
Summary: Exclusively for those already familiar with Italian cooking
Comment: The recipes that I have tried from Regional Foods of Southern Italy were magnificent. Of course, they were not the simple foods prevalent in the South of Italy today, yet they revealed a different era of complex flavors. I felt like stepping back in time. Yet, the caveat is in order. This book is not for novices, because the recipes tend to be demanding in both time and skill. I would not necessarily consider this feature of the book as a flaw, however, if one is looking for material introducing one to the Italian cuisine, one should start with Marcella Hazan, a maven of Italian cooking. What made me give this book three stars was the style in which it was written. It is too pompous and overwrought to make Regional Foods an arm-chair travel book. Marlena De Blasi really tried too hard to sound lyrical and profound. If you disregard the stylistical flaws I am sure you would enjoy cooking from this book as I did. Try the caponata, it is truly wonderful.
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Title: Regional Foods of Northern Italy : Recipes and Remembrances by Marlena de Blasi ISBN: 0761512314 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 24 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: A Thousand Days in Venice by Marlena de Blasi ISBN: 0345457641 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Food of Southern Italy by Carlo Middione, Dolores R. Santoliguido, Chris Shorten ISBN: 0688050425 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: October, 1987 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Extra Virgin: A Young Woman Discovers the Italian Riviera, Where Every Month Is Enchanted by Annie Hawes ISBN: 0060958111 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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