Giada's Family Dinners by Giada De Laurentiis Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Giada's Family Dinners
Book Review: Good cookbook from above average TV culinary star.
Summary: 4 Stars
`giada's family dinners' by Food Network `Everyday Italian' star, Giada De Laurentiis is Giada's second of three books currently available. Like her first book, this volume contains many worthy recipes from her better than average TV cooking show, and improves on her evoking the great contribution of food to a general `joie de vivre', done so well by several English authors such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, and Nigel Slater.
I made some extra effort to improve Giada's overall score with this book, but I couldn't find any major improvement when measured against her competition. The biggest problem with Giada's book is that she is going against some of the stiffest competition in the cookbook biz. Books on Italian cuisine glut the shelves, with about twice as many titles as the next two regions (France and Mexico) combined. Leading this charge are excellent and very accessible titles by Marcella Hazan, Lydia Bastianich, and Michelle Scicolone, not to mention Food Network colleague, uber-chef, Mario Batali.
If you consider this book as an entry in the informed homemaker sweepstakes, she is up against the formidable Sara Moulton who has a very good second book out based on her `Sara's Secrets' show and the even more formidable new book from former Martha Stewart editor, Susan Spungen whose simply titled book `Recipes' is nominated for an IACP best cookbook award.
If you want to pit the book against the `Italian home cooking' market, you have to go up against Rocco DiSpirito's next to last book, `Rocco's Italian Kitchen' and Eleanora Russo Scarpetta's `Eleanora's Kitchen' which, for an amateur (with help from professional Sarah Belk King) is a darn good Italian-American cookbook.
If this weren't enough, the promise of her title puts her head to head with the Robin Williams of cookbook writing, the irrepressible Jamie Oliver, whose latest book, `jamie's dinners' aims squarely at the subject of family cooking. While Giada is a talented culinary teacher, Oliver is a force of nature. What makes this comparison favor Jamie is that while Oliver genuinely addresses home cooking, Giada's book is a collection of new recipes from her TV show, with little effort to put them into the context of eating at home. Even the photographs in the two books contrast the warm family atmosphere of Giada and relatives with the over the top exuberance of Oliver with his kids, his recent subject, English school children, and his lovingly lush pics of dishes. Giada's pics are nice, but Jamie's pics have soul!
One of the ways in which Giada's book violates the promise of the title is the fact that the book contains some (albeit few) recipes which are too fancy for routine dining. Any recipe which involves cleaning, stuffing, and cooking artichokes will not be done for only relatives, except possibly for a fancy Spring gathering, once a year. Thus, the famously `Naked Chef' outdoes Giada in the simplicity department.
Getting down to the heart of the matter, the recipes. I find it interesting that Giada takes recipes which have some Italian roots to begin with, such as Caesar's salad, announce an `Italian Caesar's salad. Caesar's salad was invented in Mexico, but it was invented by an Italian restauranteur with patently Italian basic ingredients of Parmesan cheese, garlic, and anchovies, among other things. Giada aims at making the recipe more Italian by grilling the Romaine and making the croutons out of baked polenta. This really doesn't impress me too much, as part of the charm of the Caesar's salad is the ability to make it at tableside. I will however, give Giada much credit for turning a Caesar Salad into an interesting Summer outdoor dish. I would have preferred she not leave out the coddled egg and limit the garlic to the traditional rubbing on the wooden salad bowl. I made a similar Caesar's salad with two minced garlic cloves once, based on a recipe from Martha Stewart, and the garlic was simply too strong. Giada calls for three cloves of raw garlic! This is why the classic recipe calls for nothing more than rubbing a garlic clove over the wooden bowl in which the salad is made. Another interesting `Italian' version is the `Italian Muffuletta'. While the muffuletta is a New Orleans speciality, it is really not far removed in influence from the classic Italian stuffed sandwich. Her other sandwich recipes, mostly classic Italian paninis are far more interesting for this book.
Giada gives us little culinary background or instruction on general matters. This suggests that you will do better with this book if you have some basic kitchen skills in hand. While it is a book of good recipes, and this is a worthy achievement, Giada skims over a few important subtleties that may lead the average amateur cook to grief. In one recipe, she says that if you don't have orzo (rice-like pasta), just use rice in its place. This concerned me, and may be considered an outright mistake, as it didn't say what kinds of rice may cook in the seven minutes called for in the recipe. Some instant rices may cook as fast as orzo, but your average `Uncle Ben's Converted Rice' needs at least a very careful 20 minutes or more to cook through.
I give the book four stars, because the book does contain interesting and inviting recipes requiring only simple preparation techniques. And, since the book ties into what I believe is a better than average TV food show, you will be happy with this book if you like Giada's show and you don't have many Italian cookbooks. I like the fact that Giada plainly states that many of her recipes are based on `Italian-American' models. What also strikes me is that many of her own adaptations of classic Italian dishes are influence heavily by her French culinary training. One symptom is her heavy use of Dijon mustard in a lot of dishes. In most of the `genuine Italian' cookbooks I have read, I rarely encounter mustard as an ingredient.
My thanks go out to those who commented on my Giada reviews, as it lead me to revise the general tone of the review. This will help me do better reviews in the future.
Book Review: Practical, yet fun
Summary: 5 Stars
Although the recipes are more ambitious and developed than in De Laurentiis's first book, Everyday Italian, this book still showcases Giada's genius for offering straightforward, appetizing recipes geared to family dinners. The menus are of medium difficulty, which means they require only moderate cooking ability and require a minimum of fuss to prepare, which is great. Using them, you can put together very nice family-style meals, which also work for company. (But for formal entertaining, you might look more toward the books by Marcela Hazen, ie, Classic Italian Cooking). Recipes encompass sandwiches such as the traditional Italian Muffuletta, soups like Escarole and Bean and, and one-pot dinners like Giada's Chicken Vesuvio and Veal Stew with Cipollini Onions. There are also recipes for holiday favorites, including Easter Pie, Turkey and Ciabatta Stuffing with Chestnuts and Pancetta, and Panettone Bread Pudding with Amaretto Sauce. This book is practical, yet fun, and I have enjoyed using it.
Book Review: Great cookbook
Summary: 5 Stars
Giada has proven again that she is a great chef and cookbook author. The format is a great change from the usual organization for cookbooks. She obviously understands her fans and has thought about how they eat, and how they should eat. I like all of the introductions, and she includes recipes that are both simple and refined. I look forward to trying the recipes she has provided.