Italian Classics (Best Recipe) by
Cooks Illustrated Magazine Editors
Better Than Average Reference For Italian Dishes.
The Best Recipe series from Cooks Illustrated magazine goes from
strength to strength. With its formula of exhaustively tested recipes paired
with heavily illustrated techniques, the series makes it easy for even
beginning cooks to produce successful dishes almost every time. For the
casual home cook, Italian Classics might be the single best Italian
cookbook to own. The book is, in classic Best Recipe fashion, a great big
beautiful doorstop of a thing. Even so, its not crammed with arcana. For
most Americans--who in survey after survey say that regional Italian is the
cuisine they most enjoy cooking at home--the recipes here will be pretty
familiar; the space is devoted not to obscure dishes but to exhaustive
treatments of favorites. Pesto, for instance, gets about three pages. You
end up with a delicious, perfectly prepared basil paste, and along the way
you learn how to bruise herb leaves, you get a treatise on why a garlic
press isnt such a bad thing (despite what the professionals say), and
finally, you are led into the intriguing territory of nonbasil pestos such as
Toasted Nut and Parsley, and Arugula and Ricotta. All the classics are

here, from red-checkered-tablecloth dishes like Spaghetti and Meatballs to
regional dishes like Ribollita. Throughout, theres a nice balance between
authenticity and accessibility. The book doesnt call for wildly obscure
ingredients that other cookbook authors so often claim can be readily
found at specialty stores, and theres no snobbishly overwrought
preparation--another boon for the home cook. --Claire Dederer
Personal Review: Italian Classics (Best Recipe) by Cooks
Illustrated Magazine Editors
A passionate home cook that has been honing her cooking skills for the
last 25 years, concentrating on Italian cooking for the last 10 years, writes
this review. My favorite cookbooks are "The Professional Chef" by the
Culinary Institute and "Culinary Artistry". With more than 500 cookbooks in
my collection I am usually disappointed in my recent cookbook
acquisitions. I am also very tough on Italian cookbooks in particular.
The "Italian Classics" by the editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine
pleasantly surprised me. I expected the typical Italian American recipes
that I dislike. This book is much more authentic that I expected it to be.
Even as an experienced Italian cook I find it difficult to criticize this book to
any large extent.
The editors of Cook's Illustrated write this book in the same manner as
their other books. The writers tell you what they tried that didn't work,
before they get to the ingredients and techniques that did work. There are
very few pictures in this book. The paper is not the glossy stock that you
find in my cookbooks today. I would have appreciated if the book had
included the Italian names for the recipes. Sometimes they include the
Italian name of the recipes in the narrative about the recipe, and
sometimes they do not. But, the recipes themselves more make up for
these minor disappointments.
The book is outlines as follows:
1. Antipasti
2. Salads
3. Vegetables
4. Soups
5. Pasta
6. Risotto, Polenta, and Bean
7. Poultry
8. Meat
9. Fish and Shellfish
10. Bread and Pizza
11. Eggs and Savory Tarts
12. Fruit Desserts
13. Chilled and Frozen Desserts
14. Biscotti, Crostate, and Cakes

The first recipe that I check out in any Italian cookbook to gauge its
authenticity is Spaghetti Carbonara. If this recipe has cream included the
book is immediately put back on the shelf. Unexpectedly, the recipe is this
book does not add the cream, as American books tend to do. As I looked
further, I realized that the authors tried to make each recipe as authentic
as possible. The reason for the qualifier is that it is always not possible to
make a recipe 100% authentic. I for one have never found an American
supplier of Guanciale (cured pig's cheek), and Farro is also tough to come
by. The writers did a very nice job substituting products that are easier to
locate in the US.
If you are in need of comprehensive and reasonably authentic Italian
cookbook, this will make a nice addition to your cookbook collection.
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