Italian Food

I picked this book up at a remainder sale- you know- "crown books" kind of thing- about 15 or 20 years ago. It was in the bin that was being almost given away because there was water damage, so I grabbed it and searched for a clean copy. Couldnt' find one so I bought it- really for the illustrations. It's full of details of kitchens, cooking, scullery maids etc by painters from the 1500's (Pieter Aertsen), 18th centurey (Groewenbroth & Carlo Magini), 14th (Tacuinum Sanitatis), 15th (Abulcasis) and on and on including some gems like Jocapo Ligozzi "Mouse and Walnut" which also depicts a mole, Vincenzo Campi's "The Kitchen" showing a decidedly NOT cuddly cat with entrails from a bird or eel scratching a little setter who is hoping to steal the bits- one that makes the book worthwhile if there was nothing else I liked. Luckily for my overflowing shelf of cookbooks (that are underutilised due to cries of "Mom, I don't want duck wings!", etc) the book is handy too. The recipes are more like guidelines than recipes- sort of the anti-recipe to those who need full-color illustrations of each and every item in a cookbook in order to consider purchasing the book. The illustrations show what food looked like when the cooks knew what part of the animal it came from. The guidelines are designed for people who were accustomed to using what they had on hand and judging how the food was cooking by how it looked and smelled, not by the clock or timer. Yes, I love this book- as a cook who substitutes and guesses and makes things up as I go along and make pretty darned good food, despite what my children may think.

`Italian Food' is one of the three major books Elizabeth David wrote in the first five years of her culinary writing career, the other two being `French Provincial Cooking' and her first, `Mediterranean Food'. The titles of two of these three books, being about `Food' and not strictly about `Cooking' is very telling of the fact that Ms. David's major books on food are simply not like any other writer of her generation. For starters, it is a mistake to see Ms. David as `the English Julia Child'. While Julia Child was possibly the most outstanding teacher of cooking methods writing in English, Ms. David was the most distinguished scholar of English, French, and Italian cooking methods and cuisine. The hallmark of that difference was that while Julia Child reworked and expanded traditional recipes so that no detail was left to chance for the amateur American cook, Ms. David goes to equal lengths to describe exactly how Italians really cook, down to the marked inexactness of their measuring. Unlike all the great modern writers in English on Italian cuisine such as Marcella Hazan, Giuliano Bugialli, and Lydia Bastianich, Ms. David not only gives us a survey of Italian ingredients, recipes, and methods, she gives us a critique of them as well. Can you possibly imagine Marcella Hazan saying that the Italians generally do not cook eggs very well? Note that Ms. David is as rigorous about her giving the correct Italian names to things as the very best of the Italian writers, but unlike the Italians, she is really seeing Italian cooking through French colored glasses. Today, we commonly think, for example, of a frittata as a distinct type of dish. Ms. David translates `frittata' into `omelet'. Her description of the technique is perfect, something even Mario Batali would be proud to quote, but he may object to the interpretation of the dish as seen by `the F country'. The importance of Ms. David's achievement, which required a full year's research in Italy, can only be appreciated when you realize that she was working in a climate of opinion in England which saw Italian cuisine as very dull, being nothing more than variations on pasta and veal. As we are well aware today, Ms. David found an enormous wealth of regional diversity in ingredients, methods, and even language, as the same pasta shape can be called three or four different names in different parts of the country. Since this is a critical and analytical look at Italian cooking, it is done by type of dish rather than by region. And, the book is not intended to be a `complete' survey of Italian dishes. There are a few well known dishes such as `pasta puttanesca' or `timbales' which are not here, and some, such as `spaghetti alla carbonara' which are found under a slightly different name, `Maccheroni alla carbonara' (which is actually more appropriate, as many types of pasta shapes are done with this eggy preparation). One of the many things that stand out in this book is how well Ms. David's per

I've been carrying around my 1969 Penguin editon of Elizabeth David's book for over 30 years. It's now a wreck - it's been used so much! It is absolutely the best book I have read (and used constantly) that describes the art of cooking Italian food. Great descriptions of Italian (including regional) ingredients and really easy to follow practical menus. I was so delighted to learn that a new edition of this marvelous book (first published in 1954!) was available.

While this book on it's own does not complete a cooks library of Italian Cuisine, on the other hand, it does contain the proper approach to the myteries, simpicities and charm of Italian food, all on it's own. The descriptions are very thourough due to it's 1950's audience who may have never heard of Risotto, Gorgonzola, Prosciutto, Gelato, or even olive oil for that matter! However, she writes so comfortably and calm that you can almost picture her leaning against the stovetop. Her book is better than probably 90% of what is out today. Since the cuisine hasn't changed (much), this book is even more useful today than the 1950's, because, now we can taste the ingredients she writes so lovingly about. I often find myself looking up something and end up wandering through other musings she weaves. The artwork is great too, I especially love the painting of The Pasta Eater.ITALIAN FOOD by Elizabeth David, combined with the works of Waverly Root, Carlo Middione, and Anna Tasca Lanza should be enough to grant anyone Italian citizenship (or at least drooling for it).