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Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: 30th Anniversary Edition
A beautiful new edition of one of the most beloved cookbooks of all time, from "the Queen of Italian Cooking" (Chicago Tribune). A timeless collection of classic Italian recipes-from Basil Bruschetta to the only tomato sauce you'll ever need (the secret ingredient: butter)-beautifully illustrated and featuring new forewords by Lidia Bastianich and Victor Hazan
"If this were the only cookbook you owned, neither you nor those you cooked for would ever get bored." -Nigella Lawson
Marcella Hazan introduced Americans to a whole new world of Italian food. In this, her magnum opus, she gives us a manual for cooks of every level of expertise-from beginners to accomplished professionals.
In these pages, home cooks will discover:
• Minestrone alla Romagnola
• Tortelli Stuffed with Parsley and Ricotta
• Risotto with Clams
• Squid and Potatoes, Genoa Style
• Chicken Cacciatora
• Ossobuco in Bianco
• Meatballs and Tomatoes
• Artichoke Torta
• Crisp-Fried Zucchini blossoms
• Sunchoke and Spinach Salad
• Chestnuts Boiled in Red Wine, Romagna Style
• Polenta Shortcake with Raisins, Dried Figs, and Pine Nuts
• Zabaglione
• And much more
This is the go-to Italian cookbook for students, newlyweds, and master chefs, alike. Beautifully illustrated with line drawings throughout, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking brings together nearly five hundred of the most delicious recipes from the Italian repertoire in one indispensable volume.
As the generations of readers who have turned to it over the years know (and as their spattered and worn copies can attest), there is no more passionate and inspiring guide to the cuisine of Italy.
"If this were the only cookbook you owned, neither you nor those you cooked for would ever get bored." -Nigella Lawson
Marcella Hazan introduced Americans to a whole new world of Italian food. In this, her magnum opus, she gives us a manual for cooks of every level of expertise-from beginners to accomplished professionals.
In these pages, home cooks will discover:
• Minestrone alla Romagnola
• Tortelli Stuffed with Parsley and Ricotta
• Risotto with Clams
• Squid and Potatoes, Genoa Style
• Chicken Cacciatora
• Ossobuco in Bianco
• Meatballs and Tomatoes
• Artichoke Torta
• Crisp-Fried Zucchini blossoms
• Sunchoke and Spinach Salad
• Chestnuts Boiled in Red Wine, Romagna Style
• Polenta Shortcake with Raisins, Dried Figs, and Pine Nuts
• Zabaglione
• And much more
This is the go-to Italian cookbook for students, newlyweds, and master chefs, alike. Beautifully illustrated with line drawings throughout, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking brings together nearly five hundred of the most delicious recipes from the Italian repertoire in one indispensable volume.
As the generations of readers who have turned to it over the years know (and as their spattered and worn copies can attest), there is no more passionate and inspiring guide to the cuisine of Italy.
Editorial Reviews
"Hazan's recipes, both specific and sensual, became the foun- dation for my own style of cooking, which I sometimes call ‘Obsessive-Impulsive.' I also credit her with starting my obses- sion with bay leaves." -SAMIN NOSRAT, The New York Times Magazine
"The cookbook author who changed the way Americans cook Italian food." -The New York Times
"If you know nothing about Italian cooking, this is the book you want. (It's also the book you want if you know something about Italian cooking and want to know more.) Written with fluidity, personality, charm, and grace, it is filled with recipes both fundamental and special, recipes you will use, as I have since beginning to cook with its predecessors in the '80s, for decades to come. As a bonus, the new forewords are beautiful." -MARK BITTMAN, author of How to Cook Everything
"The Italian cookbook you'd take to a desert island. The presentation is a model of clarity. The descriptions of technique and the recipes are impeccable, interesting, and appealing." -The Washington Post
"If this were the only cookbook you owned, neither you nor those you cooked for would ever get bored." -NIGELLA LAWSON, author of Cook, Eat, Repeat
"You can't go wrong with a Marcella Hazan recipe." -Food52
"Marcella Hazan is way more than just another cookbook author to me. So many of the recipes in this iconic collection-the pork in milk, the Bolognese, the famous tomato, onion, and butter sauce-have graced my table for huge celebratory occasions and also just regular old Sunday dinners, and I don't see that ever changing. She's like family, the Italian grandmother I never had, standing next to me while I brown my meat and stir my sauces, telling me what to do and how to do it with her trademark precision, loving authority, and warmth. I can't wait to give this edition to my own children . . . and everyone else I know." -JENNY ROSENSTRACH, New York Times best-selling author of Dinner: A Love Story
"Part encyclopedia, part regional cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking . . . is an indispensable introduction to the principles of Italian cooking." -Saveur
"Marcella changed my life . . . All I had to do was follow her instructions to the letter, and success was pretty much guaranteed . . . The fact that her recipes are consis...
"The cookbook author who changed the way Americans cook Italian food." -The New York Times
"If you know nothing about Italian cooking, this is the book you want. (It's also the book you want if you know something about Italian cooking and want to know more.) Written with fluidity, personality, charm, and grace, it is filled with recipes both fundamental and special, recipes you will use, as I have since beginning to cook with its predecessors in the '80s, for decades to come. As a bonus, the new forewords are beautiful." -MARK BITTMAN, author of How to Cook Everything
"The Italian cookbook you'd take to a desert island. The presentation is a model of clarity. The descriptions of technique and the recipes are impeccable, interesting, and appealing." -The Washington Post
"If this were the only cookbook you owned, neither you nor those you cooked for would ever get bored." -NIGELLA LAWSON, author of Cook, Eat, Repeat
"You can't go wrong with a Marcella Hazan recipe." -Food52
"Marcella Hazan is way more than just another cookbook author to me. So many of the recipes in this iconic collection-the pork in milk, the Bolognese, the famous tomato, onion, and butter sauce-have graced my table for huge celebratory occasions and also just regular old Sunday dinners, and I don't see that ever changing. She's like family, the Italian grandmother I never had, standing next to me while I brown my meat and stir my sauces, telling me what to do and how to do it with her trademark precision, loving authority, and warmth. I can't wait to give this edition to my own children . . . and everyone else I know." -JENNY ROSENSTRACH, New York Times best-selling author of Dinner: A Love Story
"Part encyclopedia, part regional cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking . . . is an indispensable introduction to the principles of Italian cooking." -Saveur
"Marcella changed my life . . . All I had to do was follow her instructions to the letter, and success was pretty much guaranteed . . . The fact that her recipes are consis...
Readers Top Reviews
Mark ChisholmMONI
Its a six star book. Really. I bought this because I read an article about the worlds best Italian tomato sauce only having three ingredients and despite my scepticism I gave it a go. Oh. My. God. Superb. Simply superb. Best ever tomato sauce ever. So I bought the book and it is a wealth of information and practical real Italian recipes that are well within the capabilities of most people to achieve. Best of all you really do get better Italian food from it than you would think. Being British its clear that our versions of Italian food have been Anglised and whilst in some cases that works out well, its clear to me now that authentic is best. Overall I can't imagine a better book to introduce proper Italian food that's accessible and practical to achieve.
B. MaroldMark Chi
`Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking' is Marcella Hazan's fourth book, composed of an edited and updated amalgam of her first two books, both of which were on `classic Italian cooking'. As with all of Ms. Hazan's books except for her latest, `Marcella Says', my main regret is that I have not read them sooner. All, especially this volume, are every bit as good as the blurbs may lead you to believe. Some reviewers have compared this book to `The Joy of Cooking'. It is much more accurate to compare it to Julia Child's seminal `Mastering the Art of French Cooking' on several counts. First, like Child's book, Hazan's book is devoted exclusively to the techniques, ingredients, and recipes of a single major national cuisine. Second, unlike `The Joy of Cooking', it does not cover absolutely every kitchen technique and issue such as hygiene, nutrition, preserving, and obscure game meats. Third, the book is published and edited by the same people, Knopf and senior editor Judith Jones. This common publishing team means the two books have a very similar look. Both are illustrated by line drawings and both benefit from Knopf's traditional skill in designing the typeface and layout of books in general for easy reading. Fourth, Ms. Hazan arrived at cooking in almost exactly the same manner as Julia Child, in that they found themselves married to men who likes to eat well, and they did not know how to cook at the time. The 64-dollar question of course is whether this book is equal in quality to Child's book. I think there is little shame in saying that while Hazan's book stands head and shoulders over virtually every other book I have read and reviewed on Italian cuisine, it does not quite match Child et al on the latters' innovations in recipe writing, the great good humor of the writing, and the comprehensive treatment of virtually every aspect of French kitchen equipment and the `cuisine bourgeois' techniques. This book by Dr. Hazan (she has a Ph.D. in natural sciences and biology) is the exception which proves Tony Bourdain's observation in his excellent new cookbook which claims that cooking professionals are mostly just ordinary blokes who happen to have learned a skill which you the reader do not yet have. This applies as much to most cookbook authors as it does to most chefs. The thing that separates most good cookbook authors (witness Jamie Oliver) from their readers is their passion for the importance of good ingredients, careful observation of technique, and love of achieving a desirable result. Ms. Hazan is one of the very, very few writers who approach their subject as much with the rigor of an academic as with the passion of a good cook. Ms. Hazan's academic voice is much more anthropological and phenomenological than it is scientific a la Shirley Corriher. Ms. Hazan succeeds in distilling for us the essence of Italian s...
ChrisB. MaroldMar
The Book has the tips and techniques that show you how to make italian food perfection.
MinnieChrisB. Mar
This book is beautiful because the way it was written is simple and down to earth. Recipes are easy to follow just read it through a first time so you can imagine in your head what you need to do. I bought this book used and it looks brand new. Love it.
Frequent MinnieC
I only have one Italian cookbook and this is it. Traditional recipes for basic dishes for home cooking for 4-6 people. Well written explanations of ingredients including how to buy and use them. Detailed recipe instructions in numbered steps in an easy to read layout. A classic.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Risi e Bisi-Rice and Peas
On April 25, while all of Italy celebrates the day the country was liberated from Fascist and German rule, Venice celebrates its own most precious day, the birthday of St. Mark, patron saint of the republic that lasted 1,000 years. The tradition used to be that in honor of the apostle, on April 25th, one had one's first taste of the dish that for the remainder of the spring season became the favorite of the Venetian table, risi e bisi, rice and peas.
No alternative to fresh peas is suggested in the ingredients list, because the essential quality of this dish resides in the flavor that only good, fresh peas possess. To make peas taste even sweeter, many Italian families add the pods to the pot. If you follow the instructions below that describe how to prepare the pods for cooking, you will acquire a technique that will be useful in many other recipes that call for peas. The other vital component of the flavor of risi e bisi is homemade broth, for which no satisfactory substitute can be recommended.
Risi e bisi is not risotto with peas. It is a soup, albeit a very thick one. Some cooks make it thick enough to eat with a fork, but it is at its best when it is just runny enough to require a spoon.
For 4 servings
2 pounds fresh, young peas, weighed with the pods
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons chopped onion
Salt
3 1/2 cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth
1 cup Italian rice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1. Shell the peas. Keep 1 cupful of the empty pods, selecting the crispest unblemished ones, and discard the rest.
2. Separate the two halves of each pod. Take a half pod, turning the glossy, inner, concave side that held the peas toward you. That side is lined by a tough, film-like membrane that you must pull off. Hold the pod with one hand, and with the other snap one end, pulling it down gently against the pod itself. You will find the thin membrane coming away without resistance. Because it is so thin, it is likely to break off before you have detached it entirely. Don't fuss over it: Keep the skinned portion of the pod, snap the other end of the pod and try to remove the remaining section of membrane. Cut off and discard those parts of any pod that you have been unable to skin completely. It's not necessary to end up with perfect whole pods since they will dissolve in the cooking anyway. Any skinned piece will serve the purpose, which is that of sweetening the soup. Add all the prepared pod pieces to the shelled peas, soak in cold water, drain, and set aside.
3. Put the butter and onion in a soup pot and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold, then add the peas and the stripped-down pods, and a good pinch of salt to keep the peas green. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring to coat the peas well.
4. Add 3 cups of the broth, cover the pot, and adjust the heat so the broth bubbles at a slow, gentle boil for 10 minutes.
5. Add the rice and the remaining 1/2 cup of broth, stir, cover the pot again, and cook at a steady moderate boil until the rice is tender, but firm to the bite, about 20 minutes or so. Stir occasionally while the soup is cooking.
6. When the rice is done, stir in the parsley, then the grated Parmesan. Taste and correct for salt, then turn off the heat.
Orecchiette
Apulia, the region that extends over the entire heel and half the instep of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, has a strong tradition of homemade pasta. Unlike the tortellini, tagliatelle, and lasagne of Emilia-Romagna, Apulian pasta is made with water instead of eggs, and the flour is mostly from their native hard-wheat variety, rather than from the soft wheat of the Emilian plain. Apulian dough is chewier, firmer, more rustic in texture. It is perfectly suited to the strongly accented sauces of the region.
The best-known shape of Apulian pasta is orecchiette, "little ears," small disks of dough given their ear-like shape by a rotary pressure of the thumb. In the recipe that follows, hard-wheat flour is mixed with standard, unbleached flour to make a dough easier to work.
For 6 servings
1 cup semolina, the yellow flour from hard wheat, ground very fine
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Up to 1 cup lukewarm water
1. Combine the semolina, the all-purpose flour, and salt on your work counter, making a mound with a well in the center. Add a few tablespoons of water at a time, incorporating it with the flour until it has absorbed as much water as it can without becoming stiff and dry. The consistency must not be sticky, but it can be some...
On April 25, while all of Italy celebrates the day the country was liberated from Fascist and German rule, Venice celebrates its own most precious day, the birthday of St. Mark, patron saint of the republic that lasted 1,000 years. The tradition used to be that in honor of the apostle, on April 25th, one had one's first taste of the dish that for the remainder of the spring season became the favorite of the Venetian table, risi e bisi, rice and peas.
No alternative to fresh peas is suggested in the ingredients list, because the essential quality of this dish resides in the flavor that only good, fresh peas possess. To make peas taste even sweeter, many Italian families add the pods to the pot. If you follow the instructions below that describe how to prepare the pods for cooking, you will acquire a technique that will be useful in many other recipes that call for peas. The other vital component of the flavor of risi e bisi is homemade broth, for which no satisfactory substitute can be recommended.
Risi e bisi is not risotto with peas. It is a soup, albeit a very thick one. Some cooks make it thick enough to eat with a fork, but it is at its best when it is just runny enough to require a spoon.
For 4 servings
2 pounds fresh, young peas, weighed with the pods
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons chopped onion
Salt
3 1/2 cups Basic Homemade Meat Broth
1 cup Italian rice
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
1. Shell the peas. Keep 1 cupful of the empty pods, selecting the crispest unblemished ones, and discard the rest.
2. Separate the two halves of each pod. Take a half pod, turning the glossy, inner, concave side that held the peas toward you. That side is lined by a tough, film-like membrane that you must pull off. Hold the pod with one hand, and with the other snap one end, pulling it down gently against the pod itself. You will find the thin membrane coming away without resistance. Because it is so thin, it is likely to break off before you have detached it entirely. Don't fuss over it: Keep the skinned portion of the pod, snap the other end of the pod and try to remove the remaining section of membrane. Cut off and discard those parts of any pod that you have been unable to skin completely. It's not necessary to end up with perfect whole pods since they will dissolve in the cooking anyway. Any skinned piece will serve the purpose, which is that of sweetening the soup. Add all the prepared pod pieces to the shelled peas, soak in cold water, drain, and set aside.
3. Put the butter and onion in a soup pot and turn on the heat to medium. Sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold, then add the peas and the stripped-down pods, and a good pinch of salt to keep the peas green. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring to coat the peas well.
4. Add 3 cups of the broth, cover the pot, and adjust the heat so the broth bubbles at a slow, gentle boil for 10 minutes.
5. Add the rice and the remaining 1/2 cup of broth, stir, cover the pot again, and cook at a steady moderate boil until the rice is tender, but firm to the bite, about 20 minutes or so. Stir occasionally while the soup is cooking.
6. When the rice is done, stir in the parsley, then the grated Parmesan. Taste and correct for salt, then turn off the heat.
Orecchiette
Apulia, the region that extends over the entire heel and half the instep of the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, has a strong tradition of homemade pasta. Unlike the tortellini, tagliatelle, and lasagne of Emilia-Romagna, Apulian pasta is made with water instead of eggs, and the flour is mostly from their native hard-wheat variety, rather than from the soft wheat of the Emilian plain. Apulian dough is chewier, firmer, more rustic in texture. It is perfectly suited to the strongly accented sauces of the region.
The best-known shape of Apulian pasta is orecchiette, "little ears," small disks of dough given their ear-like shape by a rotary pressure of the thumb. In the recipe that follows, hard-wheat flour is mixed with standard, unbleached flour to make a dough easier to work.
For 6 servings
1 cup semolina, the yellow flour from hard wheat, ground very fine
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Up to 1 cup lukewarm water
1. Combine the semolina, the all-purpose flour, and salt on your work counter, making a mound with a well in the center. Add a few tablespoons of water at a time, incorporating it with the flour until it has absorbed as much water as it can without becoming stiff and dry. The consistency must not be sticky, but it can be some...
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