La Cucina dei Poveri

Rating:
Summary: This book is a treasure.
Review: Let me acknowledge right up front that the author of La Cucina dei Poveri dedicates this book to me, and he mentions me over and over again in his introductions to recipes. I suppose I lose a huge amount of credibility on that account. But on the other hand, the author has personally prepared for me every single recipe in this book. I've been tasting these dishes over a period of twenty years. Hopefully these firsthand experiences qualify me as a reviewer.

The introductory chapter of La Cucina dei Poveri and the prefaces to each recipe give casual but informative glimpses into Italian cooking as well as the culture of Italian American families. The recipes cover all seasons and a wide range of tastes and levels of formality. The ingredients called for are pure but rarely expensive, difficult to find, or in any other way daunting. The instructions are clear and sensibly sequenced, and so accurate that the many dishes I've prepared on my own have been identical to those the author has cooked for me. In a word, this is a cookbook is a treasure.


Rating:
Summary: What a lovely book!
Review: So, what could I tell you? This man reveres food. Italian food. He's sort of the "Proust of Pasta". What that Frenchman did with his recollections of a doughnut, Skip does with 80 odd wonderful recipes. Every recipe has a story, every story has a happy ending. On your palate.

I'm a fussy eater and I've personally made at least half the dishes in the book and enjoyed them all. These recipes are, in a certain sense, less instructions on preparation than enticements to taste new flavors and improvise with your own ideas. There is also the opportunity to see how these dishes were prepared by the people who brought them to our shores. Prepare a few of these dishes and you'll understand that an Olive Garden is a wonderful thing in Tuscany, not in a mall.

Signore Lombardi has opened his childhood to us sharing his very personal culinary journey. Buy this book. Cook these dishes. Mangia bene! And always remember, "The better the groceries, the better the meal."