Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian - Savouring the Recipes and Traditions of the World's Favourite Cuisine

Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian - Savouring the Recipes and Traditions of the World's Favourite Cuisine

Saveur is one of the better food magazines out there, and its editors have produced an excellent series of books that includes volumes on American cuisine, French cuisine, and this one, devoted to the food of Italy.

Too many people think only of pizza and pasta when they hear the words 'Italian cuisine', but Saveur demonstrates that the food is far more complex and wide ranging. As with any cuisine, once you go beyond the surface, you realise there are regional variations. Information on these is interspersed in short essays throughout the book, so they're not easy to find; a short chapter on the regional cuisines would have been helpful.

You'll find recipes for all you'd expect: Bolognese, carpaccio, lasagne, fresh pasta and basil pesto. There's also a lot of interesting dishes that are probably not as well known, perhaps because they're more time-consuming or expensive to prepare, such as tumala d'Andrea (Sicilian rice and pasta timbale), mushroom risotto with white truffle, roast stuffed guinea hen, spider crab with zucchini and artichokes, and pappardelle with Norcia black truffle.