5 comments about The Tra Vigne Cookbook: Seasons in the California Wine Country.

1. I have had this book for over a year and have tried several of his recipes which all comes out great. It is one of the few cookboos that I have which I use often. The recipes are easy to follow, simple, and most important of all, delicious. I espcially like the stuffed pepper recipe. It is also a book one can sit down to read for leisure. Plus there are lots of tips, not just recipes.



2. This is a wonderful culinary book. It's more than a cookbook, as it focuses on various vegetables, etc. of the season, then uses those featured ingredients in several great recipes. If you've ever eaten at Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena, you can even picture in your mind Michael in the kitchen, and almost taste the restaurant's just-pressed olive oil. If you know anyone who likes to read culinary books (like my mom, who literally reads cookbooks cover to cover, then goes back to earmark certain recipes), you should give them this book for the holidays. It is a beautiful, coffee table-quality, glossy work.



3. As an individual who is dedicated to eating local, healthy, and tasty food, Michael Chiarello once again creates supreme recipes with delicious flavor and divides the cookbook by season. Each of the recipes has a bit of flare and contain simple and fresh ingredients that should be easily found in any local grocery store, farmers market, or organic store such as Whole Foods, Wild Oats, or Fresh Market. My cooking style is still developing, but all of these recipes are always winners even for the novice cook. The recipes are easy to make and always satisfy. This is a definite recommend for anyone looking for tasty, seasonal cooking.



4. I collect cookbooks. I like this book because the recipes are original and the ingredients aren't too esoteric. I don't like the coffee table size, it's too hard to browse through. I recommend if you are an experienced cook and always searching for new, interesting recipes.



5. We bought this on Amazon after eating in Napa, and are very pleased with the recipes. The recipes are not overly intimidating for a casual weekday meal. In contrast, the Mustards' Grill cookbook gives a number of more advanced recipes, with complex ingredients. This cookbook avoids the need for ingredients from a high, high end grocery store. We were so pleased with this cookbook we checked out another from the same chef (casual cooking), and ended up purchasing this book as well. If you have fresh ingredients available, this is a nice cookbook for a dinner party or a weekday meal. Overall, very pleased with this cookbook.

3 comments about Biba's Italy: Favorite Recipes from the Splendid Cities.

1. `Biba's Italy' by notable restauranteur and cookbook writer, Biba Caggiano succeeds because it has established itself in a tidy little niche at the intersection between Italian travel guide, study of regional Italian cooking, and Italian recipe reference.
   
   From the first influence, Biba gets a breezy, engaging writing style which is far superior to many other highly touted interpreters of Italian cuisine such as Mario Batali or Giada DeLaurentiis. It shares the same virtues as the much less culinarily talented Ina Garten's book `Barefoot in Paris', which gives us a culinary tour of great venues and products from the City of Lights. Since I have been in four out of these five cities myself, I can guarantee that Ms. Caggiano is not exaggerating one wit about the charm and beauty of these five great cities. For anyone who is planning to visit Italy, I would recommend this book before any more pedestrian tourist guide, assuming, of course, that the prospective traveler liked to eat.
   
   From the second influence, most notably represented by Claudia Roden's classic `The Food of Italy', we get a sampling of great dishes from five of Italy's most important cities, Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, and Venice. While journalist Roden is looking to cram as many different dishes as possible into a small book (actually, a series of newspaper articles originally), Ms. Caggiano is simply treating us to the high points. Anyone familiar with Ms. Caggiano's earlier books will know that she did not include Naples or Sicily because Ms. Caggiano is a northern girl, originally from Bologna in Emilia-Romagna, north of both Tuscany (Florence) and Lazio (Rome). What this means is that the book is heavy on the fresh pasta, polenta, and risotto, but light on pizza and other southern specialities.
   
   From the third type of book, the Italian culinary `encyclopedia', we get `classic' versions of the representative dishes. While it is common knowledge that aside from some recent inventions such as Pizza Margarita, there is no one essential recipe for classic dishes, but some recipes come a lot closer (and are a lot more interesting) than others to the ideal.
   
   Based on having reviewed several different cookbooks on the dishes of Rome, for example, I'm convinced that almost all of Biba's recipes in this book are based on the way they actually make it in Rome. And, the choice of recipes stays with all the best-known dishes. If one has been diligent in learning the Italian names of many dishes, you may not immediately recognize this, since Ms. B. always gives the English name first, but it should not be too hard to recognize that `Veal Scaloppine with Prosciutto, Sage, and Wine' is the famous `Saltimbocca alla Romana'. It jumps in your mouth by simply saying the name! I must warn you that the book doesn't have simply every classic Italian dish. It does not, for example, include a recipe for Ragu Bolognaise (although it DOES have `Bistecca alla Fiorentina').
   
   I am pleased that Ms. Caggiano includes a complete list of all recipes on the opening page of her chapters on each of the five cities. Following the recipes for each city are sections on the wines of the region; the city's Restaurants, Trattorie, and Wine Bars; food markets, specialty food stores, bakeries, and cooking schools; caffes, pastry shops, and other speciality shops.
   
   The very last chapter covers `Basic Recipes' for broths, pasta dough, potato gnocchi (Roman style), basic polenta, and basic pie dough. These recipes demonstrate that Ms. Caggiano is a far better cook than the average Italian recipe hack. The description of her techniques lacks a lot of the finer background, but the actual instructions are equal to some of the best from Marcella Hazan.
   
   I would not say this of Ms. Caggiano's other cookbooks, but of this I insist that even if you have a library of Italian recipe books, this one will be more enjoyable to read and a surer and faster source to dozens of classic and authentic Italian dishes than many bigger tomes. It doesn't have pizza and it doesn't have 50 spaghetti sauce recipes, but it's a great addition to the kitchen.
   
   On a personal note, I'm tickled that Ms. B. includes New York City's Di Palo store in Little Italy as a source for Italian specialities (They make their own mozzarella and ricotta daily). I thought I had discovered them myself, until I found they were a darling of the Food Network NY venues and known to every important Italian chef in the business. But, I still consider them my own discovery.
   
   A delightful book all around!



2. This book is fantastic!!! Yes it's full of essays and stories about her travels thoughout Italy, but its also about THE FOOD. Bibba provides the reasons and the history for why Italian food is so wonderful. As the previous reviewer mentioned the Chicken with potatos, pancetta, and herbs is delicious, as are other recipes in the book. I can't recommend this enough.



3. I love how this book is sectioned into 5 Italian cities: Rome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, and Venice. And at the beginning of each section is a 'full' restaurant menu with English translation. This is great to have if you plan to travel to Italy, since not all restaurants have English translation (and you may want restaurants that DON'T). Of course, the recipes for all of the mouth watering menu items then follow, as well as personal anecdotes that make this book so much fun to read. Tons of helpful tips for each recipe. Just reading the menus make me salivate!

1 comments about Italian Ice Cream: Gelato, Sorbetto, Granita and Semifreddi.

1. It is a great edition, not only for the kitchen, but also for a coffee table display! Many recipes for a great Italian gelato, semifreddi, and so on.

No comments about Carmine's Family-Style Cookbook: More Than 100 Classic Italian Dishes to Make at Home.

5 comments about Cucina Di Calabria: Treasured Recipes and Family Traditions from Southern Italy (Cookbooks).

1. This cookbook helps me to reconnect with my father who passed away in 1984, he was from Calabria Italy. He loved every ingredient in this book. I was amazed to see zucchini flowers breaded and fried. My mother and father used to make them and every kid in the neighborhood loved them, I thought my father was crazy to cook those flowers, but now that I saw them in this cookbook it makes me realize how much of his heritage was in them. This cookbook is for anyone who wants a truly authentic cookbook!



2. This is the 4th time I've bought this book Loved it & makes a great gift. Not only good recipes but interesting facts re: Calabria



3. I really like this cookbook because my ancestors are from Calabria and it outlines many of my family's favoriate Italian recipes.



4. I enjoyed a number of the recipes, and for the most part they keep in the spirit of cucina povera, but I was looking for Calabrian dishes that are strictly from Calabria. For example, parmesan and Parma ham are both Northern creations and a description stating that the latter is a Southern creation seems ill-informed.
   Overall I feel a bit guilty having to give this three stars but I felt a bit misled by the other reviews. By all means buy this book for good, authentic modern Italian, but for distinctly Calabrian recipes, I would look elsewhere.



5. Both of my parents came from Calabria. I was surprised and delighted to find so many recipes that my parents made. This cookbook is a treasure to me.

5 comments about Rao's Recipes from the Neighborhood: Frank Pelligrino Cooks Italian with Family and Friends.

1. This book completely revitalized my interest in cooking. I was growing tired of the highly complex, noveau recipes requiring obscure ingredients, and the end result was hardly worth the wait. Instead, these recipes accentuate the essence of Italian cooking - simplicity and quality ingredients. A great meal doesn't have to take all day to prepare and cook, and shouldn't require more than a handful of ingredients. Most of these recipes can be prepared with minimal effort after work and are great for family style cooking all week long, leaving great left-overs that only taste better with each re-heating. Cancel the magazine subscriptions and try this book. You will not be dissapointed with these recipes that haven't fallen short for over 100 years. Even the mediocre recipes are better than most.



2. I love this book! It brings me right back to Brooklyn, and reminds me so much of my roots. In our home there was always cooking, good food and lots of family and friends. These recipes are the same good cooking, simple Italian cooking to enjoy. I also have Rao's other cookbook which I also enjoy. Bought this for my son for Christmas and then had to get one for myself. Get this and enjoy!



3. I second much of B. Marold's comments that this book is a must have for Italian-American cuisine, although I think this book and "The Rao's Cookbook" complements each other quite nicely. From a glance I notice there are not as many overlapping recipes between the two books that others imply - a few more "home" recipes here while "The Rao's Cookbook" tends to offer more traditional "red sauce" fares, and perhaps more recipes that are served in restaurant settings. For example, this book does not offer veal permingino while two Italian-American bread recipes are covered that do not appear on "The Rao's Cookbook".
   
   I have read Lidia Bastianich's "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen", but given that I myself already own The Rao's two cookbooks and a few works at the extreme other end of Italian cuisine such as Mario Batali's works and Giorgio Loctaelli's "Made In Italy" and a couple of others, I think they have pretty much covered the grounds of Bastianich's book.



4. Growing up in East Harlem, I was exposed to the heart of Italian
   American culture with food as the core of it. Rao's was always
   a place one could get a great meal. It still is to this day
   'cept it's a bit more difficult to get a table.
   Was quite pleased to see the "Rao's Cookbook" when it first came out
   and again this one "Rao's Recipes from the Neighborhood" which followed.
   Reading both books brought me back to the old neighborhood.
   Most of it is all gone..just pleasant memories which are
   renewed via the great meals outlined in the books. All simple dishes...easy to prepare...with a taste you'll never forget.
   If you are of Italian descent..the books are keepers. If you aren't
   Italian...you'll feel you are after trying some of the recipes.
   
   Sta te buon,
   Bobby a hun'twelve
   
   [...]



5. This book has every recipe I remember growing up and a few I don't. Very good book for authentic italian cuisine. If you can't get a table, you can at least taste the food!

5 comments about The Arthur Avenue Cookbook: Recipes and Memories from the Real Little Italy.

1. The Arthur Avenue Cookbook is beautifully put together in every way. The recipes, the photographs, the storyline and the quality of the book itself are absolutely first-rate. The people in this book are completely genuine - there is an honesty about their lives and their livelihoods that jumps from the pages. There are no pretenses here: the recipes do not require a lot of complex sauces or fancy ingredients and there isn't a lot of impressive talk about the celebrities who may have visited these businesses, rather it is a book about ordinary people with extraordinary attitudes about what tastes good. It is all as you would want it - cooking that is straight from the heart, straight from the soul. Bellisimo!!



2. The recipes were excellent but the story of the "Real Liitle Italy" was fantastic. I grew up in this neighborhood as a child and was encouraged to find out that many of the merchants and the character of the area are still in place. Great recipies and even better story. I have not been back for many years , but I will now make an effort to visit when I go back East.



3. If you have ever lived near, or on A street in NYC like Arthur Ave.and Little Italy, the pictures and recipes will bring you there again, you can even hear the conversations, and the smell of the neighborhood are so vivid, you want to try to repeat the recipes and be there. They did,nt have super markets, it was a neighborhood ,and shopping for the foods needed for the day ment talking to the veg. man and the sausage maker and then the cheese store. It ment asking how the family in Itly was, and getting the news or a different story from every market. Fresh bread OH How I Miss it. This book is a master of REAL ITALIAN FOODS, and from the REAL ITALIANS



4. I ordered this book after seeing it on Food TV. I have baked 3 cookie recipes and made one pasta sauce from this book and they are all superb. As somebody else said, the "real deal". I grew up next door to a lovely Sicilian woman and the pignoli cookies in the book are exactly as she made them. If you have one Italian cookbook, this should be the one.
   
   Great memories, great recipes. Fun book to look through. A must have if you love true Italian cooking.
   
   It's permanently on the counter right next to my WEEKEND BAKER cookbook.
   
   PS: I have to add a negative. In my opinion, a few of the recipes leave out *just a little bit*. I noticed in the pignoli cookies, for example, I believe the instruction should say "beat the egg whites", it does not tell you to do that. I have found the same in another recipe. Just my opinion, but I think there is a little secret keeping. I still recommend this book, there are truly marvelous recipes to be enjoyed.



5. I was very disappointed in this cook book. It had some great pictures , some not so great , but most of all the recipes were not what I was looking for. They were not what I call "Real Italian Grandma recipes". I was sorry I bought the book.

5 comments about Food To Die For: Secrets From Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen.

1. This is a great cook book and really does make my mouth water just thinking about it. I really enjoyed the Crab cakes and would recommend them to anyone. Most of her recipies are pretty simple and they are all delicious. I say... Dive in!



2. I checked the book out from the library because I am a huge Dr. Scarpetta fan. I was hesitant to make the recipies due to the lengthy list of ingredients in most of them, but the 4 recipies I have tried were amazing! I just made one of them tonight and I am still drooling over it. The fresh pasta is the BEST recipie I have tried (and I have tried a lot), and it makes a HUGE difference! The stew was soooo good, granted, it took a while, but it was worth it!!! I love this book, I plan to buy it. Worth the investment for the cook who loves great recipies!



3. Anything Patricia Cornwell writes is excellent. I have tried most of the recipes in this book and all are fantastic.



4. Havving read all the Patricia Cornwell 'Scarpetta' novels, I was intrigued to find a related cook book. I was delighted to be able to find a copy at Amazon, and with the usual prompt service, it wasn't long before my book arrived.
   I must admit, the food sounded very tempting even though the cases involved in the novels are horrendous!
   The recipes are relatively simple, the only drawback being that in England,some ingredients are unavailable. Improvisation doesn't spoil the end results though and my husband and son are thoroughly enjoying the new menus!
   If you enjoy having fun cooking, I recommend Food To Die For.
   By the way, the Jack Daniels Chocolate Pecan Pie nearly started a riot on New Years Eve...I had to bake two more!



5. This cookbook is great for the Kay Scarpetta fan or even your everyday Italian foodie. Beautiful pictures and amazing receipes.

5 comments about The Italian Country Table: Home Cooking from Italy's Farmhouse Kitchens.

1. This book is as dull and annoying and pretentious as Lynn Rosetta Kasper's voice on the Splendid Table on NPR. Everytime I hear her I want to commit suicide. The recipes are full of things you can't really get, they're kind of dull, and basically nothing to write home about. Did I mention how dull and pretentious her stupid radio program on NPR is? This is NPR to the nth degree. Dull, dull, dull.



2. Let me preface this by saying that I love listening to The Splendid Table and I think Ms. Kasper is fantastic. She obviously loves Italian food and she's done a lot to teach folks how to cook it properly. I enjoy reading the little vignettes which accompany so many of the recipes and all of her recipes sound delicious (at least by looking at the ingredient list).
   
   That being said, I unfortunately found The Italian Country Table to be overly complicated and fussy at times. Sometimes her techniques are legitimate (for example, her technique for polenta -- long but worth it). Many times, however, they are not (in my humble opinion). Every time I want to cook something from this book, I am discouraged by something starting with, "Mince together 1 onion, 1/2 cup of parsley, 4 sages leaves and a slice of pancetta." Even to me, an avid cook, this is too much trouble. I agree that rolling your own pasta is the gold standard but for working stiffs such as myself, how about some reasonable alternatives such as buying fresh pasta and putting it through the machine a few times?
   
   Disclaimers: I have been spoiled by "Red, White and Greens" by Faith Willinger, which was my first primer to Italian food. All of her recipes are easy and almost all of them are delicious. Also - I am vegetarian so I can only comment on the vegetable and grain dishes in this book, which perhaps are not its strong point.
   
   Again, I still want to like this book -- In fact, I am trying the Tuscan Mountain Supper tonight!



3. I have had this book for years, and I have yet to make something out of it that hasn't been delicious. This one is a staple on the cookbook shelf.
   I've lived in Italy for a total of about 1.5 years (off and on), and this book really captures the flavors of "real" Italian food.



4. I have been carrying this book around with me for several days, opening and reading at every opportunity. This is a friendly cookbook. I didn't need another cookbook, I told myself! But I'm delighted to have ignored my own advice. There is so much diversity and variety to absorb in these pages, and it reads with a beautiful flavor. Full of tips and enthusiasm, just like her radio program, Splendid Table. I have used Post-It "flags" in abundance to remind me to try out selected recipes.



5. The Italian Country Table has been one of my all time favorite cookbooks. I love the tender stories and information she included about Italian food, ingredients, food history, and Italian culture. The recipes are not always easy or quick to prepare. But as one who truly enjoys her time in the kitchen, I am not at all intimidated. However, the results are always knock out delicious. Having travelled several times in various regions of Italy, I find Ms. Kasper's knowledge of the very real distinctiveness of the foods peculiar to each region quite interesting. I have purchased this book as a gift, and would recommend it as a fine representative of regional Italian cooking as well as culture.

2 comments about The Best of Gourmet: Sixty-five Years, Sixty-five Favorite Recipes (Best of Gourmet).

1. `The Best of Gourmet 2007' is a 65th Anniversary edition of recipes collected from `Gourmet' of both the last year and from the previous 65 (up to 2005) years. In most ways, it is very similar to `The Best of Gourmet 2006', which means it's an excellent source of menus for entertaining 6 to 8 people at dinner on a regular basis, when you have an aversion to repeating yourself too often.
   
   The book begins with the collection of 65 `favorite' recipes. This collection is not uniformly easy, difficult, or popular. Some, like their versions of cabbage and noodles and Caesar salad, are simple and common while the chocolate souffle cake and the Vietnamese Pho Bo (Hanoi Beef Noodle soup) are complex and exotic. This makes the section good foodie reading, to see what it is which tickles the fancy of the `Gourmet' editors.
   
   As with all `Gourmet' recipes, at least all I've seen over the past four years that I've been reading the magazine, the instructions are detailed and quite precise; however, being true to the magazine's name, they have something about them which makes them more interesting than the average `Joy of Cooking' or even `Good Housekeeping' recipe. The very best thing about the selection of `Gourmet' recipes for me is that they carry lots of recipes for classic types of dishes which are simply a bit beyond the pale of the '30 Minute Meal' crowd. This includes recipes for gratins, tarts, breads, crackers(!), souffles, braises, cakes, pies, and assembled desserts such as a charlotte. The excellent index does, however, provide nifty little clock icons by each recipe that can be done in that famous '30 minutes' or less. This being `Gourmet', I may take this with a grain of salt, and stick with Rachael Ray if you are seriously interested in FAST dishes.
   
   After the '65 Favorite Recipes' comes 18 menus, with each recipe within a menu calibrated to produce the same number of servings, something not everyone with the same objective can seem to pull off. There is no obvious pattern to the choice or arrangement of menus. The overriding criterion was, I'm sure, did it appear in `Gourmet' in the previous 12 months (in 2006, actually). Some are oriented to a location (New Mexico, Naples, Greek Seaside, Provence), some are keyed to a season (summer, winter, fall harvest), some are for a specific meal (breakfast, lunch, supper), and some are for a particular holiday (Lunar New Year, Thanksgiving (2), Christmas cocktail party, Christmas feast). The shotgun selection is less random if you happen to own several of the previous yearly `Gourmet' collections. Put them all together and you have a really fine collection of hundreds of different menus, all with the `Gourmet' imprimatur. This is by far the best auxiliary I know of to a copy of Martha Stewart's classic `Entertaining'. It's even better than anything I've seen from Martha and company. Each menu, even those for breakfast, include one or more wine selections for the menu, and they are very specific, down to the chateau and vintage year! About half of these recipes are showcased in quarter, half, or full-page pics. Unfortunately, the good editors are often not able to put the recipe and pic on the same or facing pages. Pity.
   
   Following the 18 menus, with approximately 100 recipes, is `The Recipe Compendium', with a dozen or more recipes in each of the following categories:
   
   Appetizers
   Breads
   Soups
   Fish and Shellfish
   Meats
   Poultry
   Breakfast, Brunch, and Sandwiches
   Pasta and Grains
   Vegetables
   Salads
   Condiments and sauces
   Desserts
   
   These recipes are not accompanied by photographs. Unlike the menu recipes, they are almost uniformly calibrated to `Serve 4'. This is nice, as it makes it a lot easier to match up recipes to create a menu of your own. All recipes also contain two timings, one is `active' time and the other is `start to finish'.
   
   Where appropriate, each recipe also cites special equipment and references to a `Sources' glossary where the ingredient or equipment is not available at the typical supermarket. I found two quirks in these features. One was the fact that sometimes there were references to `Sources', but the item was nowhere to be found in this glossary. The other was the reference to an `adjustable-blade slicer'. Now in a moment of cognitive befuddlement, I could not for the life of me imagine what that was, until I realized they were talking about a mandoline! This is a case like those in cookbooks translated from the French where `Herbes de Provence' is translated to `French herb collection'. The fact is that anyone who owns three cookbooks and watches the Food Network at least 2 hours a week will know what `mandoline' and `herbes de Provence' mean, and will be befuddled by a `translation'. But so much for that little linguistic rant.
   
   At a list price of $40, these books are just a bit pricy, but there is a great synergy to be had in owning several in the series. If you are really interesting in cooking and have little interest in travel or expensive restaurants, the cost of these books is a far better investment than the cost of 12 issues of `Gourmet'. One can hope that Conde Nast will come out with an index to all these volumes (It may exist, I haven't looked for it yet).
   
   Great resource for entertaining.



2. The Best of Gourmet 2007 is a collection of popular recipes featured in Gourmet Magazine. It is also a must-have for anyone who wishes to produce a meal or dessert that is out of the ordinary. If you want to dazzle your guests or surprise the green-bean casserole lot at the next potluck, use one of the recipes in this book.
   
   I was recently asked to prepare some desserts for a Christmas-themed cocktail party. Besides a fruit tarte, cheesecake, and small assortment of pastries, the hostess asked if I would make a red velvet cake. I wanted to do something different, something unexpected, because a red velvet cake is really just a chocolate cake with a lot of food coloring.
   
   Anyway, I used a white chocolate cream cheese frosting and decorated the cake with a recipe I found in The Best of Gourmet. The recipe calls for rice noodles, soaked in water, dried, deep fried, and sprinkled with sugar. In the book, these resemble great white coral leaves and are placed on top of a mound of mango sorbet. I did a little twist. I shaped the noodles to resemble snowflakes, then sprinkled them with sparkling/silver sugar. I had these sticking out of the top and sides of the cake and it looked amazing. It was easy, spectacular, and completely unexpected.
   
   The recipes can be complicated but are well worth the effort.
   
   The unique recipes, fabulous layout, and clever "menu" concept make this a book that is easy for me to recommend.