Rao's Cookbook : Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking

Rating:
Summary: I HATE restaurant cookbooks
Review: I must have 40 cookbooks, and I hardly ever use the ones written by even the best restaurant chefs. They usually demand too many wierd unavailable ingredients, take too much time, are too fussy about details, and often don't work particularly well. That's just my personal pet peeve. THIS cookbook is the exception to that rule. The recipes are a beautiful example of what makes italian cooking great, a few very nice ingredients, put together simply, in a delicious and creative way. This is classic family-style italian, done in an irresistibly delicious way. The recipes generally use a few basic ingredients, and are both easy to execute and well laid-out. Nearly everything I've cooked from the book has been at least very good, and some things have been outstanding. Usually, I'm pretty impressed if more than half the recipes are any good. I cook from this book on WEEKDAYS, for heaven's sake. This is easily in my top 3. Favorites include lemon chicken (yum)!, chicken cacciatore, veal marsala, meatballs, marinara sauce. As a final added attraction, there are anecdotes throughout the book, by folks from customers including Dick Schaap and Billy Crystal, among many others. This is a cookbook that's even fun to read!

Rating:
Summary: Brought Tears to My Eyes
Review: The first time I opened the book, my eyes were filled with tears. Recipes, photographs, vignettes, even poems...the whole magic of the book overwhelmed me with nostalgic memories of my New York Italian grandparents and relatives. The recipes are pure Italian soul food ... simple and satisfying. I have made several dishes - manicotti, lemon chicken, marinara sauce, to name a few. They all came out wonderful. Of course, like every Italian cook, I adjusted most of the recipes to my liking.. my own personal touches and that's what makes Rao's recipes so wonderful - so easy and roomy enough for you to make your own classics. I would like to add a comment about the other reviewer's (below) statement on Ralphie's in South Philly. It's a fine restaurant and I have their cookbook however I find the cookbook to be poorly written. For the Cream Cake recipe, it fails to give the size for the cake pan. Rao's Cookbook is very reliable...and it's a work of passion and magic.

Rating:
Summary: A Must for Every Kitchen
Review: When building your library of essentials, count this cookbook as one of the corner pieces of the puzzle. The simplicity of the recipes and the list of ingredients will tantalize your tastebuds along with the beautiful photographs. You'll also be sharing the classic marinara recipe with everyone who says, "I've GOT to have the recipe for this sauce!" You won't believe the flavor of this sauce and you'll make tons of it! It freezes well, too. I've had the book for over two years now and no recipe in it has been a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: The easiest and best Italian recipes
Review: I have been in love with good food and wine all my life.
Frank's book is a must have! The braciole browed in olive oil and garlic then simmered in the Sunday Gravy as it cooks...then homemade manicotti stuffed with ricotta and spinanch. A layer of the stuffed manicotti,a layer of braciole,a layer of Sunday gravy...until all is used. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes....WOW

Rating:
Summary: "Site Unseen" Rating
Review: I've not bought the book but I definitely will. I'm overseas now but it's on my TTD (things to do) list when I return to the 48. Why am I rating this cookbook a 5 without seeing it for myself? Allow me to explain: I bought four of Rao's bottled sauces at a Wild Oats store failing to notice the price (rather spendy) sauces for when I absolutely have NO time to make it homemade. The sauce is absolutely phenomenal!! I wanted to immediately stock up so I returned to Wild Oats and this time took notice of the price for each jar. Did I make a scene?, did I shove the jars back? No way!!, the sauces were worth every penny charged! So if their sauces are that phenomenal then I have no doubt that everything else in the cookbook is just as fantastic. A good cook is judged by his sauces as they're the base of his creations. A weak foundation and your dish collapses. I've seen Frank demonstrate some of his techniques on []nd I can already tell that they're worthy of many praises. I know I won't be disappointed. I've tried a "designer" bottled sauce by an Italian celebrity chef, nothing remarkable, neither was his book--great disappointments.

Rating:
Summary: Even a Southern girl can make sauce!
Review: When I moved to the northeast and married a "yankee" I knew I had to add cooking real Italian to my repertoire of southern home-cooking...this book did it! Every recipe is totally straightforward and yields absolutely flawless results! I made gnocchi to rival our favorite restaurant in Little Italy! My husband calls the marinara (totally easy to make)and the meatballs(worth the effort) "magic" because they are so incredible. We are working our way through the recipes and are about halfway done and honestly not one dish has turned out so-so, they are all really very tasty and I can't stress enough how non-intimidating the recipes are. Tonight--chicken cacciatore!

Rating:
Summary: Mangia, mangia
Review: This is the quintenssential Italian cook book. Of all my Ialitan cookbooks this is the most authenic. These are recipes I grew up with as a kid, that my grandmother made and I learned from my mother. The cannoli filling is the best and original to this book and Raos in particular. Everything in this book is delicious! Mangia!

Rating:
Summary: Delicious beyond words!!
Review: I first heard about this book while watching Sarah Moulton on the Food Channel. She had Frank Pellegrino and his son as guests, and they were impressive to watch. The simplicity of the recipes appealed to me, so I ordered the book from Amazon.com. What a treat!! So far,I have made the meatballs, the braciole and the Sunday Gravy, as well as the shrimp scampi. Every dish was superb. I followed the authors' advice and ordered a case of San Marzano tomatoes from The Salumeria in Boston, MA, and was very pleased with those as well. Finally, I am able to cook Italian dishes that taste truly Italian, every bit as flavorful and satisfying as the food I have eaten in Boston's North End. This is a definite winner--I can't praise it highly enough.

Rating:
Summary: God Bless You Frank Pellegrino
Review: I own over 100 Italian cookbooks! If you are going to own just one this is THE one to own. Recipes to die for. The stuffed veal chops, the meatballs! The beautiful simplicity and authenticity of these recipes is unsurpassed. One goal before I die, I must eat at Rao's, until then this book is the next best thing. Thank you Frank for sharing these family recipes. BUY THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: The BEST IN ITALIAN cooking!!!
Review: I just got through making the lasagne in this book, and it is the best, most authentic recipe I have ever seen in a cookbook. My family was in awe that I, a Swedish girl, came up with this truly original and authentic recipe for one of Italy's most famous taste sensations. Rao's really lets you in on their inner most secrets of fine tradition and homestyle, old country cooking. I can't wait to try the rest of the book!!!