Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes by Giada De Laurentiis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Everyday Italian: 125 Simple and Delicious Recipes
Book Review: I can actually cook these!
Summary: 4 Stars
I usually rate a cookbook by the amount of odd items I will have to buy. The more I have to buy to make a recipe, the less inclined I am to try.
I am happy to report that I could cook most of the recipes from things already on my shelves. Ms. De Laurentiis feels that cooking doesn't have to be extravagant to be delicious and her recipes are well suited to "real world" cooks. The book is also beautifully photographed. I would recommend this cookbook to anyone. I will consider buying anything else she publishes.
Book Review: Average Italian Recipes. Good buy if you like the show.
Summary: 4 Stars
`everyday italian' is Giada De Laurentiis' first book, based on her Food Network show which is one of my favorites, just after Alton Brown's `Good Eats' and Mr. Food Network Italian, Mario Batali's aging `Molto Mario' which looks better after five reruns than any of the latest offerings from Emeril or Bobby.
Like Rachael Ray, Giada has proven that she is not just another pretty face. She really knows her way around the kitchen and while I have immense respect for Rachael's theme of quick cooking by busy people, I really prefer the more ethnically themed shows like those from Giada and even Paula Deen than the generic coverage from Rachael.
Like Paula's show and later books, Giada's books also have a `joie de vivre' appeal. She places her cooking in the context of people who enjoy life, and shows how food contributes to that enjoyment. This is also one of the strongest aspects of her TV show.
While this is a pleasing book with an accurate subtitle, `125 Simple and Delicious Recipes', the problem for cookbook purchasers is that the bar of quality for cookbooks on Italian cuisine is very, very high. Food Network colleague Mario has helped raise that bar with his own `Simple Italian Food, Recipes from My Two Villages' which is a scant $2.50 more at list price and which contains more recipes which are, on average, about as easy as Giada's and, to my mind, more interesting to cook.
The very simplest example of this fact is in the recipes for the simple marinara sauces (Giada's recipe is from page 59) from the two books. On the face of it, they are very similar in that both use carrots instead of sugar to sweeten the sauce and Giada adds celery, which Mario leaves out. Mario also uses thyme while Giada uses bay. Mario adds garlic and Giada does not. One of the most important differences is that Mario, in almost all his recipes, uses whole, peeled San Marzano tomatoes while Giada uses crushed tomatoes. I agree that Giada's technique is a bit easier; however, following Mario's doctrine means you need to have fewer different varieties of canned tomato in your pantry.
Giada's `cooking from her family experience' contributes much to the appeal of her books, as do the many pictures of the very attractive Ms. De Laurentiis. I would say the recipes in her books overall are two parts Italian, two parts `Italian-American', and one part French cooking school; however, this book has more truly Italian recipes than her next two books.
As an `Italian-American' cookbook, its true competition is recent books such as Rocco DiSpirito's `Rocco's Italian American', Frank Pellegrino's `Rao's Recipes from the Neighborhood', and Eleanora Scarpetta's `Eleanora's Kitchen'. All three are `Italian-American' recipes from professionals (Ms. Scarpetta had assistance from a professional cookbook writer). I think Ms. De Laurentiis' book is comparable to the volume from chef DiSpirito and it is weaker than the volume from amateur Scarpetta. This last observation is based on the fact that Ms. Scarpetta gives more details about her technique in the same number of recipes in a less expensive book. Scarpetta's book is also printed in easy to read black and white!
One case which demonstrates the Italian-American flavor of her dishes is her chicken saltimbocca recipe, based on a classic Roman veal dish, which adds spinach and chicken stock and leaves out the sage. David Downie's recipe in `Cooking the Roman Way' has no spinach or stock. But, Lydia Bastianich in her presentation of Italian-American recipes includes the spinach.
None of these observations are very important if you own few cookbooks and like Giada's show. They are important if your primary interest is in learning about Italian cooking. In the end, it is a pleasing book, but it's recipes are fewer and no better than than other good but less expensive `Italian-American' cookbooks.
Book Review: Too Few Recipes Too Much Giada
Summary: 3 Stars
I very much like Giada De Laurentiis on her Food Network TV show and I have made a number of her recipes from the show and found them easy and excellent. Consequently, I was eager to get her book. But the book has relatively few recipes, few of which seem to be from her shows. My biggest disappointment is that there were so many pictures of her. Sure, some pictures are to be expected but not half the book (or so it seemed.) I would rather have had some more recipes and fewer pictures of Giada.Book Review: Eccellente!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I had anxiously been awaiting the release of this book. I was fortunate to be able to get my copy at the Anthropologie store in the Fairfax District in Los Angeles where Giada was doing an in-store book signing. She was stunning in person and just as nice as she appears to be on her TV show.
Being a graphic designer, I think the design of the book has a nice elegance to it. I think it suits Giada's style well. The language used in the book is easy to understand. It is like Giada is speaking to you in a conversation.
My only complaint was that a lot of the recipes have already appeared on her show. I was hoping for some new excellent recipes that I haven't already tried!
Book Review: LOVE HER & HER FOOD BUT TOO MANY PICTURES
Summary: 3 Stars
I am a big fan of Giada and her show. However, during her shows I noticed the camera is on her most of the time, instead of the dish she is preparing. Now her book seems to be the same way. I enjoy the recipes very much but would like to see more of what we are trying to create, which is excellent Italian food.