Binding: Hardcover Brand: Mario Batali Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5945 EAN: 9780609603000 ISBN: 0609603000 Label: Clarkson Potter Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: September 29, 1998 Publisher: Clarkson Potter Release Date: September 29, 1998 Sales Rank: 39899 Studio: Clarkson Potter
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Not so simple
Before I start, I want you to know that I haven't read any of the other reviews.
That being said, I bought Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages some years ago because I enjoyed watching Molto Mario on the Food Network. What he was doing on that show seemed simple enough because he used a minimum of ingredients (or so it seemed).
I've tried to get through some of the recipes in Mario Batali Simple Italian Food: Recipes from My Two Villages without having to substitute one thing or another because I can't get them in the not so far suburbs of Chicago. It isn't so much that some of the ingredients are unavailable, but there are so many that I would never keep in a "simple" home.
The stories are wonderful, but as a cookbook, it leaves much to be desired.
A taste of Italy
After reading ,trying and eating what Mario offered, I was certain he has mastered they way of Italy. And in Italia there is no bad food.. Grazie Mario
If this is simple, I'd hate to see complex
"Take one Yak's kidney (the left one, not the right) and toss it with yellow-blue endive, freshly picked that morning from the garden of a french hairdresser's mother's cousin's chiropodist."
I only exaggerate a little.
I'm sure the results of the recipes are fantastic, but I am tired of celebrity chefs selling their restaurant fare (which it took them years of intense labor and skill development) in cookbooks labeled "simple". If it were so simple, there would be no need to spend the money it costs to eat in their restaurants. They have the staff, the facilities, access to the ingredients, and the equipment to get done what most people can only dream of doing at home.
If you want pretty pictures of food and some nice ideas ... Read More
great book
excellent cook book for beginners or pros...love it and love shopping on amazon
Impossible Cookbook
Mario Batali's cookbook is most disappointing. I looked it over carefully, and I found absolutely nothing of interest to me. His recipes are incredibly complicated, with ingredients available only in restaurants and the households of professional cooks, northern Italian ones at that. There had to be standby pestos, tapenades, sauces and vinaigrettes. Impossible, really. This is a most unattractive cook book. I won't even give it away.
