Marcella Cucina Book

Any new book by Marcella Hazan, the benign presiding goddess of Italian cooking, is sufficient reason for rejoicing, but in Marcella Cucina she has chosen to offer the reader not just a collection of recipes but something much more personal. The dozens of recipes are set against the background of her life in Italy and the USA, her cooking, her shopping (mouth-watering descriptions of the Rialto market in Venice), her travels, her teaching, her friends. As she explains, the book's title means 'Marcella Cooks': "That is precisely what this new work of mine is about: what I cook and how I cook. And a little bit about why I cook." The what and the how and the why are those of an incorruptible purist: nothing in her cooking and writing is unexamined. Careful and often very subtle accounts of how she arrived at particular combinations of ingredients and techniques show clearly the qualities that make her such a fine writer and teacher. The exquisite Poached Fresh Tuna Marinated in a Caper and Anchovy Sauce is a perfect example of this: it is essentially a refinement of Vitello Tonnato, with the veal abstracted and attention concentrated on the tuna itself. In the discussion of Risotto with Mushrooms and Almonds she explains how the addition of almonds to the cooked mushrooms restores the faint flavour of the nut they have when raw. Even the simplest recipes in this marvellously intelligent book- -and some of them are very simple indeed--are subjected to the same inspired scrutiny. Nobody with any interest in what makes good cooking of any kind good should miss it. --Robin DavidsonRead More