Customer Reviews

Cucina Piemontese: Cooking from Italy's Piedmont

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It used to be that Italian cooking came in two modes -- pasta with tomato sauce, and pizza (which of course isn't really Italian at all). On my first visit to Milan, I was astounded to find a wide variety of foods that didn't include pasta and tomato sauce. And these new foods were wonderful.

Only in the past twenty years or so have I started to notice that nearly every Italian restaurant has been branching out into the foods of other regions. First, there was just a choice of northern or southern Italian cooking. Now we are beginning to see foods from lesser known regions of Italy coming to the fore.

A good summary of this book comes from the recipie for Sugo di Carne or Meat Sauce. The book says 'If your idea of 'meat sauce' is lots of tomatoes with a little meat, you're not thinking of the Piedmontese version. This sauce has tomato, but it's really about meat.'

This is just one of the ninety five or so recipies included in this little book. They feature more beef, eggs, butter and cream than the more common (in America) Italian foods. This book brings a whole new range of Italian foods to your kitchen.

It's always been puzzling to me why the region I think produces Italy's best wines -- the Piedmont -- was so ordinary (at least by Italy's high standards) when it came to its food. The region does give the world the wonderful gift of delicate and precious white truffles, but aside from that it seemed to be an exercise in heavy beef and stew dishes, unexceptional pastas with butter-based sauces, loads of melted cheese, and a dependence on potatoes and other root vegetables.

I picked up Cucina Piemontese on a recent trip to the Piedmont and while I doubt it will ever make me favor the ristoranti of Turin over the unforgettable osterie of Naples for eating well, it did give me a new appreciation for the cuisine of the Piedmont.

The weak point of the book is that it is short on seductive images for the regions rolling landscape. It could also be cross referenced better, meaning it should be easier to find specific recipes in more different ways -- by the course, by the matching with wine, by the main ingredients, etc. Also, there appears to be a flaw in the binding of the edition I have, though this may be a one-off problem.

In its favor, the recipes seem to be well thought out for preparation at home, and the translation from Italian is not flawless but it appears better than most. The book's real strong point is the context it gives to the region's maligned cuisine. It won't change the way the food tastes, but knowing that a recipe dates back to the royal House of Savoy, or that the cooks in Garibaldi's army favored it does create a new level of appreciation.