Italian Classics

by Cook's Illustrated, John Burgoyne (Illustrator), Carl Tremblay (Photographer)

Favorite Italian dishes updated for the home cook.

What's the best way to prevent ricotta cheesecake from becoming watery? Is there a trick for coaxing more flavor from basil when making pesto? Does bread flour self-raising flour make better pizza dough? In an exhaustive effort to answer these questions and hundreds more, the editors of "Cook's Illustrated" magazine have conducted hundreds of kitchen tests. The result is "Italian Classics", a 496-page award-winning cookbook packed with recipes, food tastings, equipment testings, and cooking tips straight from the Cook's Illustrated test kitchen. Designed with the home cook in mind, this collection of classic Italian recipes has been stripped to the bone and then reworked, updated, and improved so that each recipe is as close to foolproof as we can make it. More than 300 recipes cover the wide range of Italian home cooking, from Tuscan pork roast, and risotto, to tomato and bread soup, vegetable lasagne, and strawberries with balsamic vinegar. Learn to cook less well-known regional recipes such as steak Fiorentina, baked peaches stuffed with amaretti, and stracotto, an Italian pot roast. "Italian Classics" also contains more than 225 illustrations that will show you techniques such as how to peel garlic cloves quickly, how to roll out pasta dough, and how to assemble tiramisu. The book also includes dozens of no-nonsense equipment ratings and taste tests of supermarket ingredients. Find out why American pastas are every bit as good as Italian brands, which grater makes quick work of Parmesan cheese, and which electronic scale is our "best buy". You will also learn which type of pork chop - centre-cut or rib - is best for cooking and what the difference is between pancetta and bacon.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Reference, Nonfiction, Food, Culinary

481 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 2002

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't really always follow all the steps, but it is nice to look stuff up that is really really good. Like Tiramisu. Just don't cook the eggs, what a waste of time and you will only rarely get sick anyway.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book a few years.Each recipe has had the American's Test Kitchen through and complete test. What do you do with left over Risotto? Can you serve a good Polenta with Gorgonzola? How are your Braised Lamb Lamb Shanks? Are you ready to step up to Osso Buco with Risotto Alla Milanese?

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great cookbook! I appreciated the testing of different ingredients and techniques for all the recipes! Best cookbook I've ever owned, and I plan on getting their other cookbooks now, too.

[Moi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this as a wedding present and have used it faithfully ever since. Their breaded chicken recipe is definitive. Long live America's Test Kitchen!

*** UPDATED 1/15 ***

i still rely heavily on this cookbook for italian basics. notably, their pages detailing bolognese sauces, pesto, pizza dough, and breaded chicken are grease spattered and caked in the binding crease with flour storms. EDIBLE COOKBOOK! nom, nom, nom.

BUT: as with other ATK cookbooks, this one is poor on the visual-representation front. i think the reason this cookbook still delivers for me -- unlike some of their others, which also have a dearth of photos -- is that i am SO steeped in italian culinary goodness and imagination already that all i need to do is read their ingredient list to realize the amazingness that will be the end result, picture or no picture, whereas when i'm less familiar with a prepared food or culinary tradition, not having a photograph may be too big a hurdle for me to bother with it.

so. all this to say. this book totally needs more and well-produced and color photographs. food porn, people! look into it! but the recipes themselves are still tasty and reliable.

[Sandra Bladergroen]

How do I read it

[লোচন · Rating 4 out of 5]

খিদা লাগছে, মাগার উঠতে মঞ্চায় না। তাই পাতা উল্টাই আর ছবি দেখি। জিনিসটা রান্নার প্রগ্রাম দেখার মতই ফিল দিচ্চে।

[Julie42a · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its excellent, like every thing they do. Not always the easiest or fastest options, but if you want the best results and can follow directions, this is where to turn.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it. use it constantly.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

this series from Cook's Illustrated is inspired--all of the cookbooks are excellent

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to trying some of these recipes out when I have free time and money simultaneously!

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the tips in all the Cook's illustrated books.