6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best Italian cookbook you will find!, January 13, 2004
I am thrilled with A Cook's Tour of Italy! We have a family tradition of an Italian Christmas Eve and this year was my first time hosting this family event. I followed the Christmas Eve dinner in Naples and it was perfect! I have never heard so many compliments or requests for recipes before. The peppery shrimp are to die for and the spaghettini with clams, carrots, and wine was surprisingly easy and incredibly delicious! And the Panettone bread pudding topped off the night. This dessert is a tradition on Christmas Eve in Italy and will definitely be a tradition in our family now! I can't rave enough about how tasty all of the recipes turned out. It looks like I may be hosting every Christmas Eve now, thanks to my new cookbook! Everyone should have this book in their kitchen!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging Source for Italian Menus and Food., February 16, 2004
Joe Famularo's book `A Cook's Tour of Italy' gives you almost exactly what the title promises. It is a travelogue of meals enjoyed by the author and his companions on many different trips to many of the major regions of Italy. The book is definitely not like Claudia Roden's more systematic `The Foods of Italy' which treats all 20 regions equally. Famularo spends almost all of his time and attention on the nine most popular locations, Rome, Tuscany, Liguria, Lombardy, the Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria, Naples, and Sicily / Sardinia / Calabria.
The organization of recipes by menu and by location is not done to make the material more accessible and useful to the reader, it is done to more closely parallel the author's actual trips. Most menus even cite actual restaurants where the meal was eaten.
The book contains additional, very valuable information on general techniques and sources. The book opens with a useful glossary of Italian ingredients. I always have reservations about book sections like this one embedded in general cookbooks. It is always so easy to find something they do not include. I give this book good marks for including the Italian translations for English terms; however, the presentation of the translated terms is not done in a consistent presentation.
The opening chapter covers broth recipes, bread recipes, pasta recipes, and guidance for cooking pasta. Here again, the author is giving sound information, but the material seems a bit thin for the real devotee of Italian food. If I want a good Italian bread recipe, I will go to Carol Field's `The Italian Baker'. I will give the author high marks for the broth recipes. I can find no missteps and there I am pleased to see the addition of mushrooms to the vegetable broth.
The bottom line is that this is a book with good recipes and information, but its material is spread to thinly and organized in a style that is not helpful when you are looking for `an Italian recipe with veal' for example.
I would recommend this book to:
Someone who has or will be traveling to Italy soon.
Someone who knows nothing of Italian cuisine and would like an engaging introduction.
Someone who collects books on Italian cuisine.
Someone who needs Italian menus such as a caterer, restaurateur, or frequent home entertainer.
One of the best features for most of these audiences is the bibliography and the list of sources.
I recommend this book, especially at its relatively reasonable price, but only if you know it fits a clear need. As other reviewers have noted, it is very readable, has good recipes, and is well organized for finding menus for a Italian entertaining. Since its coverage of many topics is a bit light and it is not organized for optimum use, I give only four stars to this worthy book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great book from Mr. Famularo, December 24, 2003
This is a great cookbook. We enjoyed a dozen recipes from this book already and they are easy, easy, easy and so authentic and delicious no one will know you are a) not a chef or b) not Italian. And this is not the usual cookbook. It is filled with stories and customs from the different regions so that you feel that you are really touring Italy. Hence the title (duh!). And then there are meals already organized for things like a bachelor party for 4 (for people without too many friends), a Christmas Day dinner for 12, a Roman lunch for 6, fabulous one-dish meals, so simple. When you read this book, you really feel like you are in Italy. My husband, who thinks making instant oatmeal is cooking, has made some of these recipes and they tasted as interesting and complex as something from a great Italian restaurant. We have given this book to 6 people already as Christmas presents. Who knew we all needed another Italian cookbook. But then this isn't just another Italian cookbook.
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