Classico e Moderno: Essential Italian Cooking Author: Michael White | Language: English | ISBN:
B00EMX9RC8 | Format: PDF
Classico e Moderno: Essential Italian Cooking Description
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY PUBLISHERS WEEKLYHaving won or been nominated for just about every known prestigious culinary award, Michael White is hailed by food critics as the next great hero of Italian gastronomy. His reach extends around the globe with a clutch of acclaimed fine dining restaurants, including Marea, Ai Fiori, Osteria Morini, and pizzeria Nicoletta.
Now, in
Classico e Moderno, White brings his passion for authentic Italian cuisine to the home kitchen, with recipes—nearly 250—that cover both the traditional and contemporary dishes of the region. In the “Classico” portion, White shares such iconic dishes as Meatballs Braised in Tomato Sauce; Pasta and Bean Soup; Cavatelli with Lamb Ragù and Bell Peppers; and Roasted Pork Leg with Rosemary and Black Pepper. The “Moderno” chapters feature recipes that have put White’s restaurants on the map, including Chicken Liver Crostini with Marsala-Braised Onions; Fusili with Red Wine–Braised Octopus and Bone Marrow; and Veal Chops with Roasted Endive and Pancetta Cream Sauce.
Both the Classico and Moderno sections offer ideas for your whole meal: first courses (Vitello Tonnato, Garganelli with Caviar Cream ), soups (Zuppa di Baccalá, White Bean Soup with Sautéed Shrimp), pastas (Tortellini alla Panna, Ricotta and Swiss Chard Tortelli), main courses (Pollo alla Diavola, Braised Lamb Shanks with Farrotto), and desserts (Crostata di Ricotta, Panna Cotta with Meyer Lemon–Basil Sorbet and Almond Milk Froth), as well as salads, pizzas, and basic formulas for pesto, stocks, and vinaigrettes. Including personal notes and anecdotes about White’s early sojourn in Italy and his flavorful career,
Classico e Moderno will give you all the tools, tips, and tricks you need to cook tantalizing Italian dishes with the confidence of a seasoned chef.
Praise for Michael White and Classico e Moderno “A masterpiece of culinary acumen and perfection in presentation . . . White once again sublimely deals with his cuisine of choice—Italian. In an attempt to bridge the gap between classic and modern, this chef extraordinaire offers the reader an experience in beauty and taste. . . . This book is a testament to both the importance/influence of Italian cuisine and to the rich and varied experiences its ingredients and tradition still have to offer.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Exceedingly appealing . . . [Michael White] is one of the great chefs of modern Italian food in this country, and in
Classico e Moderno he teaches us enough so that we can try to follow in his footsteps.”
—Vogue “Hugely ambitious . . . White is one of a number of rising chefs here who aren’t Italian but have felt the freedom to refresh the concept of Italian food.”
—Associated Press “The future of Italian gastronomy, thanks to the spectacular inventiveness he brings to modernizing the world’s most popular cuisine.”
—Gotham
“I’ve watched and tasted as Michael White has matured into his current position as one of the preeminent stewards and pioneers of Italian culinary tradition in America. Even his signature modern dishes are as relatable as the classics—and are perhaps even destined to be deemed classics in their own right some day.”
—Thomas Keller, from the Foreword
“Michael White has, in very short order, grabbed the Italian food crown for New York City.”
—Anthony BourdainFrom the Hardcover edition.- File Size: 46138 KB
- Print Length: 448 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books (November 5, 2013)
- Sold by: Random House LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00EMX9RC8
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,803 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #35
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Occasions > Gourmet - #59
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian
- #35
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Occasions > Gourmet - #59
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian
I had high hopes for this book based on a number of laudatory reviews from the press and luminaries within the industry. Overall, I thought the book was okay.
It's divided into two parts, a "classic" Italian recipes section and a "modern" recipes section which may be Italian-inspired, but which have in many cases very little that's Italian about them.
The recipes are aimed at a home chef of average skills, and I was hoping that they might be a little bit more of a restaurant grade. The modern recipes are dumbed down attempts to recreate more sophisticated dishes, but this dumbing down process has made the recipes much more lackluster than their original counterparts.
A number of the recipes omit important steps that would be necessary to make the recipes palatable. For example, there are a handful of recipes which call for razor clams, but the only preparation of the clams is that they be "scrubbed". Razor clams have a sand sack and require careful and knowledgeable cleaning to be edible. These recipes will almost certainly fail for the average home chef.
Another problem I have with the book is with the photography. There are a lot of stock photos, and the pictures for the recipes are often misleading. For example, in the modern meat recipes, most of the meats have been cooked sous vide, as evidenced by the way the pink of the meat extends all the way to the edge, where it meets with a nice sear. But none of the recipes are sous vide, and so the actual dish will look nothing like the picture. A recipe for rabbit loin wrapped in bacon gives no instruction for stretching the bacon, and instructs you to wrap the loin once, but the photo clearly shows thin-cut, stretched bacon which has been wrapped multiple times around the loin.
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