- Hardcover: 356 pages
- Publisher: Macmillan (7 Nov 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0333627342
- ISBN-13: 978-0333627341
- Product Dimensions: 24.9 x 19.6 x 2.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
77,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #63 in Books > Food & Drink > National & International Cookery > Italian
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 Davidson
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
The title translates as 'Marcella Cooks', and the book itself is a reflection of this simple and heartfelt statement. Putting taste before technique, Hazan always makes sure her recipes are appreciated first and foremost in the heart of the family, at the dinner table. She talks lovingly of flavours and ingredients, and brings us unpretentious, easy-to-follow recipes that reveal the essence of her cooking style and her vast knowledge of Italian cuisine. What results is a delightful and personal book from the doyenne of Italian cookery writing. (Kirkus UK)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I recently bought this book not knowing how useful it would be to me and discovered that I had hit the jackpot in finding the most informative and beautifully written recipe book I had come across. I do have a well stocked "library" full of recipe books by other well known food writers/cooks but none of them seemed to have this sort of quality that Marcella exudes - be it her style of writing and her passion of selecting ingrediants, preparation of ingrediants and how to go about reproducing the most authentic and exquisite dishes imaginable.
Marcella writes from her heart and this can be seen when she mentions that whatever she cooks, if it doesn't turn out well - it doesn't go into the book. I can't seem to get over how personal her writing is...like a love story.
I have put aside my other Italian recipe books and you will too once you get your hands on all of her books.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
After having had this book for several years now, I am still finding new things in it, and it really does have fantastic recipes in it, plus loads of info on how Italians really cook (salting tomatoes properly was a revelation). Also, all the pictures of her and Victor in Venice etc. meant I went through a phase of actually wanting to be her - a beautiful book.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The crowned Queen of Italian cookery, for many years La Bella Marcella ruled with unaffected dignity from her unpretentious Venetian palazzo, where she held court and conducted audiences, or Master Classes in the culinary arts, for privileged groups of paying guests. Married to Victor, she moved with her husband's job to New York, where Marcella started giving cookery lessons in their appartment and published The Classic Italian Cookbook in 1973. The Second Italian Cookbook followed, then Marcella's Kitchen, as did cookery schools in Italy; first Bologna and, lately, Venice. In 1992, Marcella firmly established her regal status with the publication of her magnum opus: The Essentials Of Classic Italian Cooking.
Marcella Cucina is her ultimate statement. Her received a record breaking advance for it and, since it's first publication two years ago, she's left Venice and retired to Florida. Now published in paperback, this precious book makes perfect poolside reading for people who read recipe books like novels. Those who don't should at least study the introduction, as Marcella's essays on marketing, with reference to her local market on the Rialto, and the Elements Of Taste provide the perfect primer for visitors to Italy.
But it is warmth with which her recipes are rendered, informed by the condensed experience of more than forty years of marriage, that make this book special. Marcella's marriage to Victor - who is pictured in the opening pages lugging a shopping trolley laden with green stuff - has been a constant source of inspiration: "I still cook to please my husband. When I am developing recipes for a book I do not follow what I understand to be the common practice of working on a chicken chapter, or a fish chapter, or any chapter whatever. I cook a meal that my husband and I eat." So, you see, it's a love story.
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