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

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book of Genuine Italian Cooking
Review: The marinara sauce and the lasagne are both excellent. I look forward to trying more recipes in the book Now, with Rao's collection of recipes, I have the chance of being there - AGAIN! They're not only enticing and delectible, but easy to cook. I collect Italian recipes; and have already tried a few of Rao's inspiring dishes After satisfying my thirst and enjoying interesting food/drink related conversation with the bartender

I could hardly put this book down. Just like my new morning brew made from soy beans. Taste like coffee, sans the caffeine, and contains no tannic acids. I have no more heartburn and that is something to write about. Google it online under "s oyfee".


Rating:
Summary: Italian-American Home Cooking. Great Sentiment. Pricy
Review: `Rao's Cookbook' by restaurateur / chef / actor Frank Pellegrino is the restaurant cookbook of what may be considered Manhattan's premier corner bar. The story is that the restaurant is only open five days a week, has but eight tables and each and every one of them is booked solid, like corporate boxes at the Astrodome. So, virtually the only way to get a sitting at Rao's is to be invited by a person with a permanent table reservation, or have such a benefactor lend you their reservation or, for a single evening, have the table revert to the discretion of Rao's matre'd.

The attraction of Rao's is not the same as that for Mario Batali's `Babbo' down in the village. Rao has no celebrity chef and its cuisine is simple Italian-American fare. There are no pilgrimages to the Union Square market for superfresh artisinal provisions. All their goods are bought at local shops in what is left of `Little Italy North' on the corner of Pleasant Avenue and 113th street in East Harlem.

This book is much more a celebration of place and of a very simple cuisine than it is any attempt at haute cuisine. At less than 180 pages of text, with lots of those pages taken up by Rao family snapshots, the book lists for a hefty $40, possibly to support the stipend to Dick Schapp and Nicholas Pileggi, who contributed a Preface and an Introduction respectively.

As chance would have it, I reviewed author Pellegrino's newer book before opening this volume, and I discover that there is a lot of overlap in the titles of recipes between the two books. That may not be an entirely bad thing for owning the two volumes, as the earlier one presents restaurant recipes while the later book presents personal `Italian-American' cuisine. This means that the earlier book's recipes may be more elaborate, but in general they are not. There are some few differences in the way a lot of the recipes are written, but few of these differences are likely to make a big difference in taste. Both books share the same attention to simplicity and the same pantry. Both books, for example, consistently use canned San Marsano tomatoes in all recipes. The restaurant book does make a point of manually removing any hard flesh in the tomato while mashing up its pulp. There are also instructions with several recipes on how to prep a dish so that it is ready to be served after just a last minute saute.

The recipe chapter's names are virtually identical to the newer `Neighborhood' book. In general, the newer book is much more consistent in its presentation of an English dish title with an Italian subtitle. The `Neighborhood' book is also much better in consistently providing captions for all photographs, contemporary or historical. I would also rate the recipes in this book a bit better than Rocco DiSprito's latest effort, and equal to recipes in John Mariani's excellent book on Italian-American cuisine and recipes. Neither book's recipes are quite as good as Lydia Bastianich's much longer book on Italian-American cuisine.

The numerous quotes sprinkled throughout the book range from cute to interesting, and contribute nothing to the culinary value of the book. The selection of desserts is nothing special. The ultimate reason for buying this book may be to taste the dishes you simply cannot get from Rao, because it is impossible to get a table there.

I am happy to have read this book and I will refer to it and its partner, the `Neighborhood' book when I am looking for good, simple, pasta or chicken recipes, but I will continue to rely on Hazan, Bastianich, and other professional writers for my staple source of Italian recipes.

This is a good book of recipes, albeit a bit overpriced. If you need to choose, I recommend the newer book, as it has more recipes and less fluff for the same price. If the discount is deeper on this earlier book, get it instead.

Recommended source for good Italian-American recipes and southern Italian sentiments.


Rating:
Summary: The Best Cook Book Ever
Review: This is, by far, the best Italian cook book available. Of course, no one can make sauce (we never called it gravy) like my mother; I can't even duplicate it. Suprisingly, Rao's recipe comes very close to my mothers.

There are two recipes that I especially enjoy very much. And, I have prepared them more than a dozen times each: Rao's Famous Lemon Chicken and Osso Buco. Once in a while I substitute chicken thighs for the veal shanks. The Lemon Chicken is like nothing I've ever had before and the Osso Buco on a bed of risotto is to die for.

I'd give anything to dine at Rao's just once!

Rating:
Summary: Make the Lemon Chicken!
Review: That's all I have to say to make this cookbook worth the purchase. Lemon Chicken. I'm trying the Amaretti tomorrow.

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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

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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!