Made in Italy: Food and Stories [Hardcover]

Giorgio Locatelli (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 23, 2007

Giorgio Locatelli started helping out in the family restaurant at age five. He was raised in Corgeno in northern Italy, close to the Swiss border and Milan. Almost everything his family ate and drank was produced locally. He was told by the head chef at his first real Italian restaurant job that he would never make it as a chef. His grandmother, who shared her great love of food with him, said Giorgio would have to go back and show him. And so he did. After getting suspended from cooking school because of kissing a girl on the school's steps, he went on to become a greatly admired chef.

Made in Italy is a 624-page, vibrantly illustrated book full of Locatelli's recipes, insight and historical detail about Italian food. He combines food narrative with hands-on expertise of a top chef. He peppers the book with evocative stories and funny and often outspoken observations on the state of food today. This is the contemporary Italian food bible, from the acknowledged master of modern Italian cooking.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'"Made in Italy" is quite simply the perfect book...Buy this and you'll never want to look at another Italian cookbook again.' Gordon Ramsay, The Times 'This book is nothing short of a masterpiece.' Nigel Slater 'I love Giorgio's book. It's full of his love of food; this is one of my favourite books.' Kate Winslet 'Packed with delicious recipes, many from his restaurant, and the reminiscences from his life, it is the ultimate gift for anyone interested in Italian food.' Telegraph '"Made in Italy", by the flamboyant Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli, is such a fashionable combination of charming anecdotes and stories about his family that could double as recipes.' Daily Telegraph 'A compendium that should replace everything but Marcella Hazan on your Italian shelf.' Kate Colquhoun, Daily Telegraph 'Large and handsome...most of the recipes are painstaking and lucid, and the context embraces Giorgio, his family and professional life, while guiding us effortlessly through some of the riches of Italian foodstuffs.' Tom Jaine, Guardian 'This book is, like all the best Italians, good-looking and just a bit irreverent. Even so, it would be a shame to leave this one on the coffee table, rather than take it into the kitchen where it belongs.' Time Out 'Giorgio Locatelli's "Made in Italy" is a beautiful, evocative book, looking not just at traditional Italian ingredients and local recipes but also at local traditions and memories...deserves to become a classic.' Waterstone's Books Quarterly --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Michelin-starred Giorgio Locatelli is one of Britain's best known Italian chefs. Giorgio began his career at his family's restaurant in Italy before coming to London. He was head chef at Zafferano in London from its opening to a storm of praise and press coverage in 1994, before moving in 2002 to open Locanda Locatelli, where he remains chef-patron. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (October 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061351490
• ISBN-13: 978-0061351495
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #77 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 62 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars High-end Italian dining in early 21st century November 2, 2007

By Reader A

Format:Hardcover

I bought the UK edition of Locatelli's Made In Italy but the US edition should be identical except the metric measurements are exchanged for American systems of measurements.

Overall speaking, the book is comprehensive and introduces what the author serves at his Locatelli restaurant in London, a little like the UK equivalent of the Babbo's owned by Mario Batali. Loctaelli serves dishes similar to what is served in a typical posh restaurant in early 21st century Milan - arguably Italy's economic centre, and thus if you are in to look for Italian-American fares like meatballs in red sauce or steak pizzaiola, Frank Pellegrino's "Rao's Cookbook" and "Rao's Recipes from the Neighborhood" would be the great alternatives instead.

Based in London now, Locatelli is northern Italian (born in Corgeno near Milan), so his section on risotto is fantastic and more comprehensive than any other "general Italian cookbooks" I have encountered including Antonio Carluccio, Mario Batali, Guy Grossi, or Frank Pellegrino. In addition, Locatelli also spends around 100 pages explaining Italian ingredients, from common ones like tomatoes to delicacies like white truffles. I am impressed with his detailed explanation on making good fresh egg pasta in particular.

A list of typical dishes in the book runs like this:

1. Antipasti: radicchio salad with button mushrooms and Gorgonzola dressing, beef carpaccio, parmesan grissini
2. Zuppa: broccoli soup with ricotta cheese dumplings, fish soup
3. Risotto: asparagus risotto, clam risotto, quail risotto
4. Pasta: linguine with pesto, tagliatelle with marinated sardines, pheasant ravioli, potato dumplings with artichoke and murazzano cheese
5. Pesce (fish): chargrilled tuna, roast brill with green olives and cherry tomatoes
6. Carne (meat): chargrilled lamb with peppers and aubergine (eggplant) puree, veal chop with artichoke and new potatoes, roast piegon, black truffle and garlic puree
7. Dolci (desserts): strawberry and mango lasagne, tiramisu with banana and liquorice ice-cream, amaretto gelato, amaretti and and other biscuits

You will notice as I mentioned above, from this list a lot of the dishes will be restaurant grade, but there are also many simple ones you can try. The only disappointment for me is that seafood dishes are largely absent when compared with other Italy cookbooks. It may be because Corgeno is near the Swiss border and landlocked.

You may find that just like a majority of Italian cooks and foodies, Locatelli belongs to the Slow Food movement, thus some of his comments will be very stridently against the "normal" foods - certainly in my opinion far more outspoken than Batali. Still, compared with some of the extreme voices from the Californian food scene he may not be so resolute as to putting you off.

I highly recommend this book if you are a serious cook and want to finesse your Italian cooking skills. At the least it provides good reading materials for armchair cooks like me. I have known from the online forums a lot of American foodies are interested to source the UK edition even before the American edition was published, so I gather this book should appeal to a lot of US audiences. If you find the book too foreign in tone and expensive at US$60.00, Mario Batali's "The Babbo Cookbook" provides a more American and more cost effective alternative.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare gem of a cookbook December 5, 2007

By D. Perez

Format:Hardcover

I'm a cook who studied and worked in Italy. Therefore, I can tell you it is very difficult to find a cookbook that conveys the emotion, passion and devotion the Italians have for their cuisine(s), even in Italy. Therefore, the arrival of Giorgio Locatelli's book on American shores is an event to be celebrated.
Chef Giorgio does a fantastic job describing ingredients and recipes and includes histories and anecdotes from his own life, making this book more than just a cookbook; it is a rare gem. It is a gift from a celebrated Italian chef who evokes the experiences of Italian food just as his countrymen (and women) see it, taste it, smell it, eat it, live it, and, more importantly, share it.
Although many recipes are restaurant-grade and can seem intimidating to the amateur cook, there are so many more dishes any experienced home cook can make at home. Plus, Chef Giorgio speaks to the reader with enough confidence so as to make the most intricate dishes "do-able" in your own home kitchen.
Made In Italy also reads like a wonderful tale and you will spend lots of time reading it on your couch in between selecting which recipes to make. You will really start to relate to the chef as well as to the ingredients he writes at length about.
By far, this book, along with Gillian Riley's Oxford Companion to Italian Food AND the classic The Silver Spoon are must-haves for any true Italian cook - amateur or professional. If you're new to cooking Italian food or cooking in general, I suggest you get all three books. Start cooking with The Silver Spoon (just like many Italian brides and young Italian professionals have), graduate up to Made In Italy, and always refer to the Oxford Companion!
Remember, Italian cuisine is a style, not a technique!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Italian cookbook July 26, 2012

By Andy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

There is lots of Italian food out there, but really, this book grabs the essence of it. If you want to understand why good pasta tastes good, and why gelato is amazing, then this is for you. If you're more of a dominoes kinda person, steer clear; this book is the real deal.