Customer Reviews

Fagioli: The Bean Cuisine of Italy

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`Fagioli' by professional cookbook writer Judith Barrett is quite clearly subtitled `The Bean Cuisine of Italy', as it is all about cooking with Italian beans.

This book immediately succeeds at the first and most important task of a special purpose cookbook in that it has made be really care about and be interested in its subject. It accomplishes this feat first by being a very attractively designed hardcover book with a very well sewn binding which nicely lays flat where you want it to. Next, it's modest artwork and typography complements its presentation so that it is simply a pleasure to read. No eye strain here. Congratulations to the Rodale Press for packaging a very nice volume. Finally, the all the introductory material is accurate to the best of my knowledge. There are no lingering myths about the risks of salting cooking beans, there is no doctrinaire approach to having to soak beans, and there is a tolerance, with warnings, about using a pressure cooker to cook beans, as the sine qua non of bean cookery is like barbecue, `low and slow'. The only hint of elitism I detected was the statement that somehow, the Italians have mastered a secret to a tasty cooking of beans which is beyond we poor New World neophytes who have been cooking beans for less than 400 years. I will concede that the knowledge of good bean cooking is probably a bit harder to find outside of Boston, but I think we have the hang of it.

One of the most liberating revelations was the fact that Italians actually cook a lot with dried beans imported from the New World, as North America exports much more than it consumes, and Italy consumes all it produces, so no dried Italian beans sit on the grocery shelves beyond a year of harvest, especially as date of production is stamped on the bean packages just as we do for bread and milk.

While my hero, Alton Brown has remarked that bean cooking is remarkably uniform, far more consistent across species than with grains, he certainly did not take into account the variety of beans covered by this book, which deals with at least fifteen (15) different species of beans, some of which have no substitutes if the real thing is not available. Fortunately, the unique varieties of beans, the chickpea and the fava are commonly available in the United States. Every other type of bean has more than one commonly available substitution, which is important since there are some beans which are available only in Italy and which do not travel well.

The recipes are organized in exactly the way one would expect from an Italian cookery subject, with chapters on:

Primi Piatti, divided into sections on Antipasti, Insalate, and Contorni (Side Dishes)
Zuppa di Fagioli, divided into sections on Minestre, Zuppe (Thick Soups), and Passali (Creamy Soups)
Pasta e Fagioli, of course
Secondi Piatti, divided into Fagioli e Farinacci (Grains), Fagioli con Carne (Meat), Fagioli con Selvaggina (Poultry), and Fagioli con Pesce (Seafood)

I have never, up until today, been quite clear on the difference between Minestre and Zuppa. I always thought of Minestre as a relatively thick soup, especially as prepared in Florence, for example, but the Tuscan bean soup recipe trumps all visions of soupy thickness by including six different varieties of beans.

This division of recipes does not mean there is no seafood in the salads or antipasti. In fact, the salads include tuna, shrimp, and octopus as co-conspirators in the salad recipes.

This book gives an excellent discussion of non-bean ingredients for its size and does the especially good service of telling us where we can get these ingredients at the same place where their use is discussed. This may not be the best arrangement when we pick up the book later as a reference, but it gives a very good sense of how easy or how hard it is to get some of these things such as bottarga, guanciale, and porcinis.

One could argue that if you have a library full of books by Marcella Hazan, Lydia Bastianich, and a platoon of other Italian cooking writers, what do you need with this book? My first answer is that unlike most general works written for Americans, it tells you what kind of beans are actually used in these recipes. Next, like every special subject book, it is simply a lot easier to find a recipe to fit your need for beans than rummaging through the index of six other books.

As expected from a professional cookbook writer, all the recipes are exceptionally well written and there is a delightful variety in the selection. I cannot guarantee that this book will remove the pasty flavor of beans from your preparations (especially since we have no way of knowing how old our dried beans are), but it will make every effort to do so. The rest is up to you.

Very pleasant, very informative, and very tasty read. Recommended.

Although a bit overpriced for such a compact little book this book is a valuable resource for any cook, professional or domestic. Beans and legumes in general are extremely versitile and this little book is key to helping you to unlock your imagination, and utilise thoose, lentils, beans or chickpeas that have been hiding in a jar on your shelf for ages. Legumes have enough protein that they are often used as meat substitutes. Lentils go back to early Bible times, and are both fragrant and tasty Legumes are a very healthy food, and while they don't fight breast cancer specifically, they can boost your overall health. Having noted the importance of legumes in your daily diet, the author of this book offers numerous ways to serve them up to your family, either as a side dish or as a main course stew. Pictures are absent from this book but in this case that should not be a deterrant from purchasing as the directions are easy and straightforward!

I was very pleased with this book, which I think is saying a lot because I have a hard time finding cookbooks I like. Most seem to have too many ingredients, unusual ingredients, or expensive ingredients, and/or too many steps/complicated prep. I am an experienced cook, but I have a busy life and don't have time for 2 hours of prep work, nor do I have the money and shopping time to collect numerous ingredients that won't be used in any other dishes. However, I found the recipes in this book to be just what I wanted: mainly basic pantry staples I already use, simple prep work, with very satisfying results. I found some refreshing new flavors with just the things I already have in my kitchen, and I also found that I learned basic bean cooking skills that will allow me to modify recipes and experiment to create my own; this is even more valuable that just gaining a few new good recipes (which I also gained). I like preparing a large pot of beans on Saturday, continuing and using some of them as the recipe suggests and storing others to use in another recipe later in the week (includes storage recommendations for cooked beans as well). If you already enjoy beans and are looking for new recipes, or if you want to learn to cook beans, this is a good investment either way.

I have a lot of cookbooks, but this one became an instant favorite and I've made many of the recipes. A wonderful overview of Italian bean recipes with appetizers, salads, soups, pasta dishes, grain dishes and beans cooked with meats, fish and seafood. Barrett provides a background on beans and other essential ingredients including sources, basic cooking guides and the philosophy behind Italian bean cuisine. The recipes contain a few simple, fresh ingredients, are very quick and easy to assemble and most can cook without much attention. The recipes make wonderful use of fresh herbs and vegetables as well as a wide range of beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc. A great way to create exciting, delicious, inexpensive low fat meals with or without meat. Love this book!

I was given this book as a gift a few years ago. I love the recipes and so do my family and friends! My son recently moved into his own apartment while in grad school and I ordered this book for him, which he uses often.
I highly recommend this book for those who like to include legumes in their diet..so healthy for you!

I just bought it as a gift for a friend. I love it. I tried many recipes from this book and I love them all. The Tuscan soup, the appetizer with fava bean, ... all the ones I tried, and I tried many of them.

Wonderful recipes for those who love beans and hearty stews, Italian style. I gave it as a gift to a friend who's "full of beans" and he loved it!

I have been quite disappointed by this cookbook. The instructions are insufficient for ordinary cooks. Critical details are left out with the assumption that you will somehow just know what to do. Do I fry those onions? And what at what temperature? And some things just don't make sense. There is no way that 2 cups of chickpeas are going to translate into enough soup for six, no matter how small your serving size is. We ended up with three tiny servings. And it tasted awful! Also, cook times for beans in liquid are excessive -- at least for those of us with naturally soft water.

I love the idea of this book, and all the chatty info about beans in Italy. We are looking for more bean recipes, and this seemed like a great option. If you are looking for bean recipes -- not necessary Italian -- Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian is a better bet. Though her cook times are way too long for our soft water too. But the recipes are declicious, and easy to follow.

I've had this book for a couple of years now and asked for it mostly because of the huge variety of bean soup recipes.

Unfortunately, all of the soup recipes are critically lacking in necessary details, even for an experienced cook.

The lack of measurements for quantities of fresh herbs is the biggest omission. Fresh rosemary and thyme are strong herbs. Too much rosemary and your soup tastes like Pine-Sol. Too much sage or thyme and you have bathroom disinfectant.

Many of the soup recipes call for the chopped leaves from a sprig of fresh rosemary or the leaves from four stems of thyme. These are not accurate measurements! I have two different kinds of rosemary bushes, and the sprigs range in length from 6 to 12 inches.

A proper quantity is not "1 stem fresh rosemary, leaves only, chopped" (unless the stem is simply immersed in the soup for a short time to impart flavor and then discarded) but some number of teaspoons or tablespoons. The same thing applies to thyme and, to a lesser extent, oregano and marjoram.

Real quantities in teaspoons or tablespoons are the only way for the author to convey instructions to the reader that result in a soup with the expected taste.

A similar criticism applies to quantities of alliums, as some of these recipes include garlic, leek, and onion.

I also agree with the reviewer who mentioned that some of the soup recipes do not provide the listed number of servings. This is mainly a problem when the recipe calls for the soup to be simmered without a lid, thus allowing a fair amount of liquid to evaporate. Those recipes that add 8 cups of water to the soffritto (the sauteed alliums, carrot, and celery with which most recipes start) will yield about 4 adult servings without leftovers.

Lastly, none of the soup recipes I've tried call for any salt or pepper. Granted, if you've made a few soups or stews, you know to season before serving anyway. These soup recipes use little in the way of salty ingredients (occasionally anchovies or tomato sauce or puree) other than 2 to 4 ounces of prosciutto or pancetta, the salt from which is easily diluted in 8 cups of water.

When the recipe doesn't include any canned tomato products, a couple of heavy pinches of kosher salt and several grinds of black pepper are absolutely necessary before any grated parmigiano or romano cheese is served with the soup.