For Christmas I received Mario Batali’s first cookbook as a present. My dad has been interested in this cookbook for years, ever since it came out. I’ve been a little wary of this book. Too often I find that cookbooks written by restaurant owners insist on exotic, expensive ingredients, fussy presentation, and cooking gear that no home cook is likely to own. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the recipes in this book. Almost every page shows that flavor and texture and preferred over presentation and pretentious expectations where Batali is concerned.
The book is not huge; it has about 200 recipes overall. But alongside each recipe is a wealth of information on the history of a dish, how to choose the right ingredients, or cooking techniques that should be employed. For example, a recipe including scallops has the statement “The trick to buying scallops is to make sure they are hand harvested and have not been treated with tripolyphosphate, a preservative used to extend their freshness that causes them to swell with water and become flaccid and heinous.”
Batali also increases the usefulness of the cookbook by giving tips on how the home cook can make the recipes their own. For certain ingredients such as fish, cheese or mushrooms that may vary in availability suggestions are offered for substitution. In the pasta and risotto section of the book guidelines are given for adding color and flavor to a traditional homemade pasta recipe and home cooks are encouraged to try their own variations.
Like many successful restaurant owners Batali pays a lot of attention to finding the freshest, highest quality ingredients. “Absolute freshness without compromise is what Italians demand from their seafood. The flesh must be firm, the eyes must be clear, the skin shiny with all of its scales, the gills blood red and rigid…With perfect fish the cook’s job is made simple.” The sections on meat and fish are a God send for the home cook. If only I had owned this book 8 months ago when the task of baking a whole snapper reduced me to tears.
He also pays attention to seasonality and locality in his food, something that I find refreshing and wonderful. “Buy produce at the farmer’s market; support the local farmer. This is the way Italians shop; this is what makes even a simple plate of potatoes taste so good in Italy; this is the support you can give to your village.”
As for criticisms, I have very few. My biggest complaint with the book as a whole is that Batali gives no suggestions on where to find the unusual ingredients that he includes in certain recipes such as stinging nettle, giant lima beans (although in this case he does give a suggestion for substitution), or ramps and green garlic. However, when a book answers my long standing question of what the Hell a capon is, I’m willing to forgive a few exotic ingredients here and there. On the other hand, in some of the notes that accompany each recipe Batali will mention that a certain food is sexy or not. I found it a little baffling. Pomegranate=sexy. Polenta=not sexy. Pumpkin=sexy. Huh?
I encourage you to try out this book. The recipes are very Italian, not Italian American like those in many other so-called Italian cookbooks. They may be intimidating for someone who is used to Americanized recipes, but I’m sure that if you give them a chance you will find them delicious and full of fantastic flavor. The real focus of this book is on the balance of flavors in each dish and on the freshness of the ingredients and it’s hard to go wrong when you cook with those things in mind.
A few of my favorite recipes:
- Stuffed Olives
- Asparagus Milanese Style
- Grilled Shrimp with White Beans, Rosemary, Mache, and Mint Oil
- Tortelli of Potato and Chives with Brown Butter and Sage
- Spiny Lobster Risotto
- Mina’s Baked Snapper
- Balsamic Glazed Chicken with Grilled Radicchio
January 2, 2008 at 12:24 AM
“Sexy” has become a household term in the wine world as well. In wine, as in food, it seems to suggest a subjective quality of “seductiveness” or to refer to the palpable desires and emotions that food can provoke.
In wine, I would suggest that the sexiest grapes are Pinot Noir and Cabernet. The “sexiest” regions for these grapes (to me) would have to be Burgundy and Bordeaux. In specific, the Cotes-du-Beaune (Volnay, Santenay) produces some of the most beautifully elegant Pinot Noirs in existence, whereas Margaux (Ségla, Margaux) creates most of the world’s best Cabernets.
What makes these wines sexy? At their best, Burgundies have the potential to be rich, delicate, earthy wines with a texture of velvet. Margaux, on the other hand, has enormous power and body wrapped in a fabulously elegant and subtle packaging of rich, dark fruit. By themselves these characteristics may not sound sexy, but together they produce an ephemeral feeling of “sexiness” all their own. I am sometimes convinced that this is the reason why people drink wine at all. Good wine both whets appetites and provokes appetites, gives love and inspires love. And after all, doesn’t everyone want to be loved?
As far as Polenta is concerned, I would have to agree with Batali. While delicious, Polenta is a bit too messy to inspire romantic desire or “sexiness.” However, I think mushrooms are definitely an aphrodisiac of sorts. That earthy flavor and soft texture just scream “seduction!” under the right circumstances.