Lidia's Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook: A Cookbook

by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, Tanya Bastianich Manuali

Overview

The ultimate master class—covering everything from ingredients to techniques to tools, plus more than 400 delectable recipes—from the Emmy-winning host of Lidia’s Kitchen, best-selling author, and beloved ambassador for Italian culinary traditions in America

Teaching has always been Lidia’s passion, and in this magnificent book she gives us the full benefit of that passion and of her deep, comprehensive understanding of what it takes to create delicious Italian meals. With this book—coauthored with her daughter, Tanya—readers will learn all the techniques needed to master Italian cooking.

Lidia introduces us to the full range of standard ingredients—meats and fish, vegetables and fruits, grains, spices and condiments—and how to buy, store, clean, and cook with them. The 400 recipes run the full gamut from classics like risotto alla milanese and Tagliatelle with Mushroom Sauce to Lidia’s always-satisfying originals like Bread and Prune Gnocchi and Beet Ravioli in Poppy Seed Sauce. She gives us a comprehensive guide to the tools every kitchen should have to produce the best results. And she has even included a glossary of cuisine-related words and phrases that will prove indispensable for cooking, as well as for traveling and dining in Italy.

There is no other book like this; it is the one book on Italian cuisine that every cook will need.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780385349468
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/27/2015
Pages:	480
Sales rank:	386,171
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 10.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

LIDIA MATTICCHIO BASTIANICH is the author of twelve previous books and the Emmy award-wining host of Public Television's Lidia's Kitchen which also airs internationally in territories that include Mexico, Canada, the Middle East, Croatia, and the UK. She is also a judge on Masterchef Jr. Italy, and owns Felidia, Becco, and several other restaurants, and is a partner in the acclaimed Eataly in New York, Chicago, and Sao Paolo, Brazil. She lives on Long Island, New York. 

 
TANYA BASTIANICH MANUALI received her PhD in Renaissance art history from Oxford University, her MA from Syracuse University, and her BA from Georgetown University. She is the founder of an Italian food and wine tour company, Esperienze Italiane, the owner and Executive Producer at Tavola Productions, and manages the Lidia brand and food line. She co-authors cookbooks with her mother and brother and lives on Long Island in New York.

Editorial Reviews

08/17/2015
Bastianich and her daughter give a magnificent master class in Italian cooking in their latest culinary collaboration, following 2013’s Lidia’s Commonsense Italian Cooking. Their book begins with an excellent primer on Italian ingredients and cooking techniques that leaves no stone unturned. Tips are sprinkled throughout, providing both good techniques (“The more you chop garlic, the more intense the flavor and aroma”) and good sense (“Some people are surprised to learn you can make risotto with plain water. Of course you can.”). With over 400 recipes, the collection highlights old favorites that have a firm following in the states—ragù alla bolognese, eggplant parmigiana, and chicken cacciatore—alongside vegetable-centric dishes that are truer to day-to-day Italian cooking: farro salad with grilled eggplant and peppers, and rigatoni with cauliflower, saffron, and golden raisins. Bastianich hails from the Istrian peninsula, and the “Fish and Seafood” chapter includes toothsome recipes such as Istrian whole fish stew. She’s also not afraid to riff on the classics with recipes such as fresh pear and pecorino ravioli with cacio e pepe. The book completes its course with a charming chapter on Italian culture and language, as well as an extensive glossary of food terms. With this passionate treatise on Italian food and culture, readers dreaming of la dolce vita may find armchair travels enough to satisfy their hunger. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"One of America’s great Italian cooks. . . . A collection of more than 400 of [Lidia's] favorite recipes, from a wide enough range of categories that you could cook quite happily from it for several years." —Los Angeles Times

"A kind of accessible one-stop shopping for the gastronomy of Italy." —NPR

"You'll come away knowing how to gauge the freshness of an artichoke (it should squeak when squeezed), how to make a delicious simple cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper) pasta dish for 'days when you need simplicity in your life but still want a wallop of flavor'; and how to tell a trattoria from an osteria in Italy (the former has tablecloths and service; the latter is more informal with no linens and often has shared tables)." —Chicago Tribune

"The sort of book that will inevitably be well-used and well-loved." —Eater

From the Publisher