by Bonnie in Holland » Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:12 am
I don't buy too many cookbooks, but saw Giorgio Locatelli's 'Made in Italy: Food and Stories', saw the pages and pages on ingredients and techniques and decided it was too good to pass up. He is a Michelin star chef in London (Locanda Locatelli) who comes from Lombardy, from a restaurant family. He takes Italian food traditions, stays true to the ingredients, but does interesting contemporary things. In any case, this book is full of information about pasta, rice, cheeses, meats, capers, artichokes, olive oil, and so forth -- I am reading it for a second time now (600 pages!) just to learn and absorb. And he also goes into detail about technique - I think there are four pages alone on making risotto, for example. This is the kind of stuff I am looking for in a cookbook (since recipes are just so easy to come by these days). As for the book's recipes, I have only made the ragu so far, and it was wonderful and simple, really. The recipes are, in general, for the home cook but with a definite restaurant twist. Very interesting and lovely and look like many take some time to prepare. What adds so much to the book, too, is that it is peppered with his stories about his life growing up in Lombardy, mostly centered around food with his grandparents, then his experiences as he travelled (what's it like to work at the Tour d'Argent? Not fun, apparently.) and finally his journey in restauranting in London. It makes it a very personal book as well as an educational book. You can just hear his voice. Great stuff. cheers, Bonnie
ps I also found Joel Robuchon's 'The Complete Robuchon' to be a good learning-type cookbook, in a classic sense. Very dry but you learn a lot and the recipes are very approachable, intended for home cooking.
