PHAIDON The Silver Spoon

I have ordered 2 of these books now. Both came in perfect shape and are awesome for authentic Italian recipes

Ist mein Standardkochbuch für authentische Italienische Küche.Die Rezepte sind etwas kurz gehalten. Ich finde es gut, da ich nicht will, dass jeder Schritt zweimal erklärt wird. Für absolute Anfänger die genau das brauchen ist das Buch vielleicht eher nicht geeignet.Die Anzahl der Rezepte ist erschlagend. Man findet gefühlt alles in diesem Buch.Der Preis dafür ist, dass das Buch sehr Dick ist. Für mich ist das nicht so schlimm, da dieses Buch wirklich alles wichtige abdeckt.

Item was delivered

Bought it as a gift and my friend absolutely loves it

Echoing so many other rave reviews, I have to say this is one of the most exciting cookbooks I've hefted (and it is hefty!) in a long time. It seems like nearly everything that I've eaten in Italy or seen on an Italian menu or read in another Italian cookbook has a straightforward, canonical recipe in this tome. It was like discovery, uncovering secrets again and again. I was breathless turning pages in my favorites sections, and kept returning to the book for days, unable to pull myself away.One feature that continued to grab me was the stunning, paradoxical simplicity of these recipes. On the one hand, the dishes themselves have the admirable directness of the most memorable meals in Italy -- made from a handful of ingredients prepared without fuss. One or two flavors against a shallow backdrop. For instance, reading a recipe in The Silver Spoon, I think: "Well, of course! Braised savoy cabbage with buckwheat pasta! And of course, it needs so little to go with it -- a little garlic, onion, some chopped sage, salt and pepper. Buono appetit!" Again and again, page after page of recipes with like five or eight ingredients, showcasing the simple, delicate plate so often presented in Italy, whatever the focus.On the other hand, the recipe text itself is also simple. As other reviewers have noted, this is not a beginner's cookbook. For instance, it may say "Your going to take this fish, and bake it with these herbs and capers, and pour over it this sauce." But it will *not* say "Here's how you prepare a fish filet. Here's how you bake it, and how to tell when it is done. This is the emulsification that you want when you whisk together the sauce ingredients. Etc." You're expected to already have that experience. Another example: I've made a good bit of fresh pasta, egg-based or oil, with a machine roller or rolled with a pin by hand. With this background, the directions for all of the wonderful fresh pasta variations in this book made sense to me and were clear. But they were simple, short, and matter of fact -- way less than the pages that other cookbooks devote to preparing the dough, and the silky feel of the rolled dough when it's ready, and resting under towels before cutting, etc.So I wonder what it'll be like when I try a simple, matter of fact recipe for something I haven't already made a lot, like a gnocchi, from this cookbook. In truth, I'm not too worried, because I already have other cookbooks that say how hard it is to make good gnocchi and explain techniques at length. This cookbook, in contrast, merely says "You know, there are 20 scrumptious traditional variations of gnocchi, including polenta, pumpkin, rice, cheese, and more -- and here's their straightforward recipes." I love that!Maybe the editors assumed that someone growing up in a home with an Italian kitchen has already seen fresh pasta or gnocchi made, and just needs the recipes for all the variations. Like an American cookbook can say "boil an egg" without further directions. So this cookbook, though encyclopedic in it's recipes, is not -- as other reviewers have said -- encyclopedically instructional in how to cook them, like Joy of Cooking, Beard's American Cookery, or Bittman's How to Cook Everything all are.And that's just fine.The Silver Spoon, in this way that it is thrillingly evocative while not being deeply instructional, reminds me most of Alice Waters' cookbooks -- where she will sometimes just list ingredients without amounts, and describe how to cook them together without times; e.g. olive oil and quartered fennel bulb and chili and fennel seed, braised long and slow.The Silver Spoon does list amounts and times. Maybe it's a reflection of Italian cuisine itself that everything seems so simply stated. It comes across as confident, for the confident chef, who will enjoy this book the most.