Customer Reviews:
 Interesting slice of culinary history March 18, 2008
What I found most interesting about this book was not so much the recipes, but more what it revealed about the conditions and attitudes to food of the post-war years, when this was first published. So much has changed, partly thanks to Elizabeth David herself - thank God we no longer have to use Primula as a substitute for mascarpone, as she grudgingly suggests! And I cannot imagine a time when pasta was a speciality to be tracked down in a couple of London shops.
If you're used to the more verbose, food-porn style of Nigella and Jamie Oliver, the recipes here may seem a bit spare - an ounce of this, two ounces of that, and fry. However, this format means that she can pack a lot into this little book. I don't think I've ever attempted one of her recipes - being a product of my time, I prefer the metric measurements and enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Italy" - but I still keep Elizabeth David's book in the kitchen as an interesting snapshot of its time, and I'm sure its time will come when I fancy something back-to-basics!
 Beautifully written, in the typical ED style, this is simply the best book about Italian Food! February 27, 2007
22 out of 23 found this review helpful
If your budget won't stretch to the hardback edition, highly recommended for its superb photography and sumptuous presentation, this is the next best thing!
`Elizabeth David discovered her taste for good food and wine when she lived with a French family while studying history and literature at the Sorbonne.
A few years after her return to England, she made up her mind to learn how to cook so that she could reproduce for herself and her friends some of the food that she had come to appreciate in France. Subsequently Mrs David lived and kept house in France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and India, as well as in England ....'
Fresh lemons enhance the plain white cover which opens to 376 matt pages, packed full of information and recipes, written in the typical Elizabeth David style.
The book opens with an introduction, notes about the previous editions and finishes with a 37 page index.
Sandwiched in between are the recipes, titles in both Italian and English( if applicable), split over the following chapters:-
Italian Dishes in Foreign Kitchens
The Italian Store Cupboard
Kitchen Equipment
Hors d'Oeuvre and Salads
Soups
Pasta Asciutta
Ravioli, Gnocchi etc
Rice
Haricot Beans, Chick Peas, Polenta etc
Eggs, Cheese Dishes ,Pizza etc
Fish Soups
Fish
Meat
Poultry & Game
Vegetables
Sweets, sectioned into `Fruit' and `Ices'
Sauces
Preserves
Cheeses
Notes and Nooks on Italian Wines
Some Italian Cookery Books
Guides to Food & Wine in Italy
A scattering of black and white illustrations break up the text, which is simple in places and more complex where it needs to be:-.
`Dentice' (Dentex)
A Mediterranean fish of which there is no equivalent in northern waters. At its best grilled or roasted.
`Orata'
The Daurade of Provence. A large Mediterranean fish with, in spite of its name - which implies gold-fish - silvery scales. The nearest approach to it to be found in England, is the sea bream, which can be used for the recipe below.
There are two good ways of cooking this fish, in `cartoccio' (fish cooked in paper cases), page 146, and with a sauce of white wine and sultanas, which can be applied very successfully to carp and also to fresh haddock.'
Then follows the recipe for `Orata al Vino Bianco' (Orata cooked in white wine).
`When it was first published, `Italian Food', Elizabeth David's magnificent survey of the varied food and cookery of Italy's many regions, proved an inspiration to British cooks. In it, she conveyed all the richness, the colour and variety of this remarkable cooking tradition. The popularity of Italian food today and the ready availability of ingredients means that even the busiest cook can re-create such tempting dishes as 'roasted red peppers',' Piedmontese cheese fondue`, `fettuccine with fresh tomato sauce' and' chicken breasts with ham and cheese'.
'This edition of Italian Food differs from several of its predecessors chiefly in that revisions made over many years in the form of footnotes have now been incorporated into the main body of the text...........References to numerous shops, at one time sources of supply of imported Italian foodstuffs, but now vanished, have been eliminated. When it came to my original chapter on the wines of Italy I found that almost everything I wrote in 1954 had receded into history......'.
multo bene! March 18, 2003
43 out of 44 found this review helpful
Since i bought this last year, I have used it incessantly - unlike modern cookbooks, which are merely compendiums of gastroporn with the name of a celebrity chef or plush restaurant attached, this is an enthralling guide to Italian food for the simple reason that it is about the ingredients, not the end result - it matters less how it looks, which seems to be the sole criteria for so many cookbooks these days, and more about how it iwill ultimately taste. Furthermore, David was a brilliant food-writer. She understood so much more about the historic, cultural and social importance of food - how many other cookbooks would have a simple recipe for pasta with garlic and olive oil, whith the explanation that (at least when the book was first written in the 1950s) many Italians can't afford the ingredients for more extravagant dishes? none, I expect. My only quibble is that there is little by way of Sicilian delicacies - and having been to that Island, I know there are many - also, the ediiton I bought didn't have the original illustrations by Renato Guttuso; fortunately, I manged to pick-up in a secondhand bookshop recenty the Penguin paperback edition from 1979 (I think) which does have them. Guttuso was the greatest Italian artist of the 20th century, admittedly painting in the idion of Social Realism, and the illustrations add an authentic air of Italiana to the book. A must buy - and a must read.
A classic and a must for any serious cook. May 31, 2001
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
Elizabeth's groundbreaking book is every bit as readable as Nigella and rather than listing fashionable recipies with "ideas" from all over Europe it concentrates on Italian food from risotto to tiramasu and everything in between. The research for this book is outstanding and for anyone who doesn't know the Italian culinary world beyond pizza/pasta this book will show you (and for those that do it will entertain, interest and educate you). It is every bit as relevant as whenit was first published and extremely affordable. A classic and a must for any serious cook.
I have used this book for 35 yrs. Finally I must replace it! April 1, 2000
40 out of 43 found this review helpful
Elizabeth David has done more for good food than anyone. She virtually invented the cookbook. I have been using our copy of this Italian food classic for the last 35 years. Finally I must replace it because page 228 has gone missing with a favourite pork recipe!
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