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books2025-02-15 10:19 pm
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Review: Italian Country Cooking
Italian Country Cooking (Anne Willan's Look & Cook)
Hardcover – January 1, 1993
by Anne Willan
We finished reading this cookbook today. It doesn't have a lot of recipes, because each one runs several pages with copious photos and instructions. This makes it especially apt for visual-native folks or English language learners. Often there's an extra variation or two. Some are actually several parts stuck together, like a base plus a sauce or filling, so watch for those because you might like one part but not the other. Front matter includes the Look & Cook Approach, Why Italian Country Cooking? Recipe Choice, Italian Country Menus. The back matter includes Italian Know How and an Index. That covers equipment; beef, chicken, and fish stock recipes; a list of all the how-to boxes and more. The recipes are not divided in specific sections but do seem to go from appetizers through main dishes to desserts. The index helpfully includes recipe titles, main ingredients, and processes.
The recipes vary widely in complexity, from easy dishes to much more complex ones. They do not seem to be flagged by difficulty level, but it's not hard to look at the steps and figure out which ones are simpler. Most use fresh whole foods that should be available at a regular supermarket, or possibly an international store for a few of the more specifically Italian items. Some are vegetarian or vegan, and many use a lot of vegetables. All have extensive photos including the equipment, ingredients, step-by-step processes, and finished dish. The header includes number of servings, work time, and cook time.
We bookmarked a variety of recipes scattered through the book. These include Quills with Spicy Tomato and Bacon Sauce, Ricotta Cheesecake, and All Souls' Day Almond Cookies. However, if I wind up staring at our cookbook library wondering, "Which of these would have instructions on how to do X?" then this is one of the titles I would check. For that reason, I'll keep an eye out for more of this series in used book stores, because I would happily buy the others.
This book is a perfect first or second cookbook for anyone learning how to cook, or for more experienced cooks who wish to learn Italian cuisine. It's also fun food pr0n if you just like to look at pretty pictures of delicious food. Highly recommended.
It also belongs to the Look & Cook series by Anne Willan, which has many other volumes. Most are based on dish type (main dishes, soups, etc.) but a few feature specific ingredients (chicken, chocolate, etc.) and there is also a French Country Cooking book. If you are new to cooking, you could certainly learn how to cook by working your way through this series as your textbooks.
Hardcover – January 1, 1993
by Anne Willan
We finished reading this cookbook today. It doesn't have a lot of recipes, because each one runs several pages with copious photos and instructions. This makes it especially apt for visual-native folks or English language learners. Often there's an extra variation or two. Some are actually several parts stuck together, like a base plus a sauce or filling, so watch for those because you might like one part but not the other. Front matter includes the Look & Cook Approach, Why Italian Country Cooking? Recipe Choice, Italian Country Menus. The back matter includes Italian Know How and an Index. That covers equipment; beef, chicken, and fish stock recipes; a list of all the how-to boxes and more. The recipes are not divided in specific sections but do seem to go from appetizers through main dishes to desserts. The index helpfully includes recipe titles, main ingredients, and processes.
The recipes vary widely in complexity, from easy dishes to much more complex ones. They do not seem to be flagged by difficulty level, but it's not hard to look at the steps and figure out which ones are simpler. Most use fresh whole foods that should be available at a regular supermarket, or possibly an international store for a few of the more specifically Italian items. Some are vegetarian or vegan, and many use a lot of vegetables. All have extensive photos including the equipment, ingredients, step-by-step processes, and finished dish. The header includes number of servings, work time, and cook time.
We bookmarked a variety of recipes scattered through the book. These include Quills with Spicy Tomato and Bacon Sauce, Ricotta Cheesecake, and All Souls' Day Almond Cookies. However, if I wind up staring at our cookbook library wondering, "Which of these would have instructions on how to do X?" then this is one of the titles I would check. For that reason, I'll keep an eye out for more of this series in used book stores, because I would happily buy the others.
This book is a perfect first or second cookbook for anyone learning how to cook, or for more experienced cooks who wish to learn Italian cuisine. It's also fun food pr0n if you just like to look at pretty pictures of delicious food. Highly recommended.
It also belongs to the Look & Cook series by Anne Willan, which has many other volumes. Most are based on dish type (main dishes, soups, etc.) but a few feature specific ingredients (chicken, chocolate, etc.) and there is also a French Country Cooking book. If you are new to cooking, you could certainly learn how to cook by working your way through this series as your textbooks.