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Fiamma: The Essence of Contemporary Italian Cooking
by Michael White, Joanna Pruess, and Joseph De Leo
Available from Amazon
$23.07
|
Features
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Wiley October 16, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0764599313
ISBN-13: 978-0764599316
Product Dimensions:
10.1 x 8.1 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
Product Review
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From Publishers Weekly
Fiamma means flame in Italian, White tells us in his foreword—and his is the fire of the convert; of Norwegian descent, he grew up in Wisconsin and didn't taste real Italian cooking until he was 19. After cooking at Spiaggo in Chicago, he studied and cooked in Italy, married an Italian and ended up opening Fiamma and then Vento in Manhattan. Unlike some books drawing on New York restaurant menus, his recipes are perfect for the reasonably well-equipped and competent home cook, even absent a phalanx of prep and washing-up help. Pasta recipes include Gnocchi with Morels and Fava Beans. For main courses, seafood stands out: there's Tuna with a caponata of eggplant, as well as Grilled Swordfish with Artichoke Caponata. Often he and pastry chef Katz offer store-bought alternatives to scratch components, such as commercial vanilla, hazelnut or other gelato to replace the Wildflower Honey Gelato that accompanies Crustless Apple Tart, but the gelato recipes are so simple and so appealing that readers without ice cream makers are likely to buy one immediately. Appealing closeup photos are notably natural, suggesting real food from a kitchen, not a stylist's studio. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Reader Reviews
`Fiamma' by American restauranteur of Italian cuisine, Michael White, assisted by Joanna Pruess, with desserts by Elizabeth Katz is another in the recent trend of books which market themselves as manuals on `contemporary Italian cooking' when they are actually nothing more than good restaurant cookbooks. Another recent entry into this category is Scott Conant's `New Italian Cooking', which impressed me when I reviewed it, in spite of the pretentious title and aspirations. Conant and White seem to have much in common, especially as they distinguish themselves from `Mister Italian chef in New York', the redoubtable Mario Batali. While Mario's genetic credentials run to true `Italian-American' traditions, Conant and White both seem to pride themselves on having virtually no Italian blood. We have ample evidence that this is no barrier to cooking great Italian food and even creating great Italian styled dishes. The Brits, Rogers and Gray and wunderkind, Jamie Oliver have been serving up first rate Italian dishes for years now, and both London's River Café and Oliver's `15' seem to be thriving on this diet. Conant and White are also predominantly rooted in the Northern Italian cuisine, but both distinguish themselves from Mario by focusing on distinctly Italian ingredients. This really sort of runs contrary to their claim to modernity, as Mario seems to have the right idea when he applies the Italian food ethic to local American ingredients. But, all three manage to create totally marvelous dishes. A glance at White's Table of Contents reveals a style about as Italian as you can get and still be publishing an American book. All primary chapter and recipe titles are in Italian, with all having an English translation just below. A quick glance at recipe titles shows White being almost 100% true to the classic Italian larder and market. In one recipe, White says `I like to marry old dishes with contemporary ingredients.' Well, his ingredients in this dish (not including herbs and spices) are truffle oil, balsamic vinegar, baby artichokes, sea scallops, and frisee. Now which of these ingredients is `contemporary'? I will grant that combining `carciofi alla giudia' with scallops and frisee may be new, but these are certainly not new ingredients. The author makes something of the fact that the pumpkin is a `new world' vegetable that only arrived in Italy in the 16th century. I guess that in a country where a 900-year-old church may be considered `young', this is new, but then the great orange gourd got there at the same time as the tomato, and no one is calling the tomato a `new' Italian ingredient. `The Silver Spoon', the Italian `Joy of Cooking' has 16 recipes for pumpkin listed in its index. There are also several dishes done `in the style of ...' one Italian region or another. Where is the `Contemporary' in this book? I confess I'm having just a bit of fun at Chef White's expense. I really like almost all the recipes in this book, and I have no doubt that most of the recipes in the book are White's own creation, as much as Conant's recipes and Rogers and Gray's recipes are their own takes on Italian ingredients and techniques. I am also pleased that publisher Wiley didn't put a premium price tag on the book, as they did with the somewhat pretentious `Working the Plate' from Christopher Styler. Comparing books from both Conant and White to Batali's flagship restaurant book `The Babbo Cookbook', I find both Conant and White's recipes to tend to the simpler, with much more uncommon with Rogers and Gray than with `Molto Mario'. I also think White brings just a bit of unusual insight to Italian cooking. His sidebars have offered some notions I have not seen before, but they are not earth shaking. If you want major insights into Italian culinary technique, see Marcella Hazan's `Marcella Says...'. As I swing between assigning four or five stars, I look at the dessert chapter done by Ms. Katz, and decide that this contribution tips the balance to five stars. The recipes are true to Italian Dolci simplicity, but have an extra Franco-American panache that makes them more interesting than poached pears and Parmesan. I also give extra credit for the quality of the photographs, except for the fact that many times they seem to end up one page too far on. This will do what all good restaurant cookbooks should do; provide good, new, not too expensive recipes with a story. In this case, the story is that an American mid-westerner goes to Italy and does good in the Italian kitchen.
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Fiamma: The Essence of Contemporary Italian Cooking
by Michael White, Joanna Pruess, and Joseph De Leo
Available from Amazon
$23.07
|
|
