Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Marcella Hagan, 2018, Alfred Knopf publishing

There was spaghetti & meatballs and there was pizza, occasionally ravioli from a can, that was my experience with Italian ‘cooking’ until my then current flame introduced me to her Italian grandmother who only made everything by hand. Her first word upon seeing me was, “Manjia!” “What is this – a scarecrow? Eat!” My culinary life changed instantly!

However, I had never heard of Marcella Hazan until a few months ago – thanks NYTimes. No, I do not live in a cave. I own 5 formidable Italian cookbooks. People love my bean soups, etc. But…

Marcella is credited with changing America’s understanding of what real Italian cooking could be. This 2018 edition is the revised and updated edition of her 1992. I believe it is the combination of her two first books.

All that aside, it is her way with words that made me a hearty fan. Years ago I wrote part of my thesis analyzing the Italian political system which is basically like the blind men describing an elephant but only holding onto one part of it for that person’s opinion. Unlike my other Italian recipe books, Marcella points out in her introduction what makes every place different from the next. Not only do the different geographical locations matter but the political, familial, cosmopolitan, and rural interactions exert long-standing influences. “Yes, that is good but MY mom’s, MY town’s, MY… is better.”

Marcella, “However much we roam, we shall not be able to say we have tracked down the origin of Italy’s greatest cooking. It is not in the north, or the center, or the south, or the Islands. It is not in Bologna or Florence, in Venice or Genoa, in Rome or Naples or Palermo. It is in all of those places, because it is everywhere.”

And before you begin, you would be a fool to skip her introductory chapter, “Fundamentals”. Herein she describes how important correct structure, sequencing, and techniques are to realizing the goal. Learn these basics, apply some discipline to acquiring her techniques and appreciate why steps are so important and you will be rewarded. And, it isn’t difficult – important but not difficult. Be the student. (I have made 6 recipes, all excelled!)

“An imperfectly executed soffritto will impair the flavor of a dish no matter how carefully all the succeeding steps are carried out.”

“If the onion is merely stewed or incompletely sautéed, the taste of the sauce or the risotto, or the vegetable never takes off and will remain feeble.”

“If the garlic is allowed to become dark, its pungency will dominate all other flavors.”

This is person who thinks about her cooking and you should too.

I have all of her CBs, and she is definitely my favorite Italian CB author! For many years I have used her method of adding dried mushrooms to dishes - porcini or boletus - and hardly make a mushroom dish without, since it takes such a small amount to give recipes such a wonderful flavor.

A friend of mine got another version of this years ago; I guess it was the same, because it was also a combination of her first two books (maybe this is a re-print of that). However, some of the best recipes were missing! I don't recall which ones, but we were both surprised at the omissions.

Welcome back, wino! Long time no see!

Thanks, Dave. A new right hip, repaired left shoulder, and two eyes for cataracts sorta beat me up in the pain department - more than I anticipated...

Fortunately, nothing is on the horizon except trying to get my shoulder to rehab properly... Hey, I stir with my right so no big deal, right???

Dave - My copy is the 32nd printing of the 1992 “...fully revised and updated of the originals published in 1973, 1976, &1978”. On p27 she waxes poetic of her LOVE for dried porcini and offers tips on buying and storing them. Try to buy the ones that are the most pale and whole, not dark brown and pieces. Store in sealed containers in the fridge indefinitely.
I summarize: “How to prepare for cooking: soak 3/4 - 1 ounce porcini in 2 cups barely warm water for 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms by hand squeezing as much water out of them back into the soaking bowl. Rinse these in several changes of fresh water and scrape away any remaining soil, dry on paper towels, and cook as directed by recipe. Filter soaking water through paper towel lined sieve and add to recipe.”

I hope this is what you were thinking of...

That's very much what I do with those mushrooms. Years ago, a company had a deal on porcini and boletus, and I bought a huge amount of them, put into foodsaver bags, and put them in the freezer, where many still are today. It takes so little to add that incredible flavor.

Good luck with your physical therapy. I am doing that for my R knee, which I messed up when I fell in the snow . When that happened I was going to get my R shoulder replaced, but that had to be put on hold, STS.

Dave, Wino:

Gah, I've been in PT for the past 2 years, trying to avoid having surgery. We'll see if it works.

Which of your 200+ body parts????????

Wino,

Back. Developed a severe pinched nerve, partly due to pottery, was nearly crippled. So far, PT, massage, and stretches are doing the trick.

YUCK! There is almost nothing worse.

Wino:

As part of my therapy, I made myself a "raised counter" for food prep. One of the contributing factors to the problem, along with pottery and a bad desk chair, was that the kitchen counters here are only 30" high, which is way too short for me.