Customer Reviews

The Mozza Cookbook: Recipes from Los Angeles's Favorite Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm extremely impressed with the book. First, I live in LA and am a huge fan of both Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza, so I already know I like most of the recipes. Second, I appreciate the fact that these recipes are truly different (sometimes in subtle ways) than the 'standard' versions of the dishes presented. Example: the meatballs. Mozza has wonderful meatballs, and you could spend a lot of time trying to figure out what is special about them. It turns out that the answer is quite simple: they contain no beef, but they do contain ground pancetta, so the meats are veal, pork, and pancetta. This may not sound like a big difference, but I strongly recommend trying the recipe and promise that you will have a hard time going back to regular meatballs. Third, I like the intellectual honesty of the book. Example: the Torta Della Nonna contains three cheeses, Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Coach Farms Goat Cheese, and mascarpone. This is a very non-traditional combination, but most important, it is exactly the kind of thing done in a restaurant kitchen (ie combining commodity cheese like Philadelphia with high end Goat Cheese) that most of the time no one would admit to in a book. How many times have I bought a restaurant cookbook where it is glaringly obvious the recipes bear no resemblance to what is actually done in the restaurant? Not so with this one. The exceptions, where they exist, are well specified. Fourth, these are simple recipes that pretty much anyone with a moderate level of cooking experience could make (possibly with some artistic license, for example not making the pasta by hand as it's recommended), but ones that have enough twists and changes in them that an experienced chef is sure to learn some exciting new flavor combinations. Fifth, the details behind each recipe are there for people who want them. Example: one of my favorite Osteria Mozza dishes is the orecchiette with rapini and fennel sausage. Most books would just call for 'fennel sausage' in the ingredients when in fact the specific fennel sausage is really key to the dish (and it's an excellent one). In this book, the actual fennel sausage recipe is there -- of course it's up to you whether or not you want to go to the trouble of making it. Bottom line - I have a huge cookbook collection. While I enjoy thumbing through most of them, this is one of the few that I will actually make a lot of stuff from on a regular basis. Highly recommended, especially for those who can't drive a few miles to eat at the restaurants in person.

I've owned this book for 2 days and have made 7 recipes. I am in awe!!!! I own more than 100 cookbooks and this is the best book I have ever used and yes, I have other Nancy Silverton books). This book enabled me to put a meal on the table that I couldn't believe I made. Thank you for sharing. The best cookbook ever!!!

Yes, I do realize that is a mighty bold headline, but after 30 years of collecting cookbooks, this really is one of the best I have even come across. The reasons are many. First of all, having died at Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza several times, I know first hand how simply delicious the food is and I was chomping like Seabiscuit to try them in my own kitchen. I have already made a dozen dishes for the book and they all were smash hits with my friends and family. . The recipes are written in such a precise manner that if anyone follows them correctly they will be in for a treat. The photos are mouthwatering as well.

One of the things that sets the book apart is the writing in the book itself. Written by James Beard award-winning writer Carolyn Carreno, the notes on top of the recipes bring a human touch to each dish. This is not simply a cookbook, but rather a superb book with recipes. Carreno goes to the soul of both the restaurants and Nancy Silverton herself. Even if I didn't cook a lot at home, I would by the book just for the story of Mozza.

I realize this is a very glowing review but I want to assure you I AM NOT RELATED to Silverton or Carreno or chefs Matt Molina and Chris Feldmeier
I just really liked the book and wanted to let people know. Morty Goldstein, Grape Street, Watts California

I was so excited to receive this cookbook in the shipment last week. I love Amazon handling the shipment. Just in time to learn more about the Italian cuisines. It is very obvious that Nancy and her dear Chef colleagues have put a lot of work into making sure that the ingredients are readily available close to us and recipes tested, even adjusted so that they will turn out great at our / my home kitchen. The first thing I tried was the pizza dough. How excited I was and still am about the formula. The pizza turned out beyond my expectation - crust is chewy and crispy and flavorful, and I even consider it 'healthy'. Check out the recipe yourself, and you know what I mean. The next recipe I dove into is the Arancine alla Bolognese (Suppli al Telefono). There is a long story behind my excitement about this, but I was thrilled to find it and made it successfully following the instruction in the cookbook. I am not an Italian and most of my childhood food favorites are in the categories of Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and French. But making this Arancine successfully has fulfilled my promise I made when I was five-years-old. I highly recommend this cookbook to all the foodie enthusiasts, new in cooking or seasoned, to try the nouveau Italian cuisine the American way. I hope Nancy would not mind me saying that.

I will make this short and sweet since I initially bought this book to see if this Meatball recipe was what I was looking for. I have tried making a certain type of meatball for around 15 years now and have not until this book found one that I really liked. I like the A-16's meatballs flavor but it did not have the texture I was looking for. I went to A-16 in San Fran for Meatball monday and although it was good it was not what I was looking for. I want a meatball with a certain texture is the biggest thing aide from flavor. I want to cut into the meatball and have it hold up structurally perfect and not fall apart. When I saw that the protein components of this meatball were ground Veal and Pork shoulder I was intrigued right away. I have never made a meatball with these two meats solely. Most meatball recipe have you adding either pork and ground chuck or pork,ground chuck and veal. Well I can now saw I have found my meatball. I can see why this meatball is the favorite antipasti on the menu at Mozza. Thank you Nancy. I look forward to trying out Pizzeria Mozza sometime soon.

To begin, I have to say that I am a Nancy Silverton fan and my husband took me to Mozza Osteria in LA for our 46th anniversary (we live north of San Francisco) and to Mozza Pizzeria the next night and we felt the two evenings were well worth the drive. That said, this book is fantastic and worth having in your cookbook library for the pictures alone. The book is well written, clearly detailed and I love her introductions to each recipe explaining why the recipe was chosen for her restaurants, sharing a family anecdote or introducing a favorite ingredient.

I've been making pizza for years and have been working on perfecting my crust and now, thanks to The Mozza Cookbook, I have the perfect crust for the home cook. I love the toppings for the pizzas, particularly the fennel sausage with the secret ingredient, fennel pollen (that I ordered through Amazon), and also the bianca pizza. I've made these two pizzas several times in the six weeks, since I bought the book and couldn't be happier with the results. Simply yummy.Fennel Pollen (0.5 oz.)

Some of the recipes are lengthy like the ragu bolognese but more than worth the effort and others are simple like the fabulous and simple beef tagliata which I ordered when we visited Mozza Osteria and now can make in my own kitchen. I'll be forever grateful to Nancy Silverton and her colleagues at Mozza for sharing their recipes and tricks in this fabulous book.

I have just finished eating the fennel sausage pizza, and it was fabulous! The crust is amazing, chewy , tasty, the flavors of the pizza combined are so unique and just so darn good. Do not skip the fennel pollen as this is what takes it from very good to great. I am really impressed, it did take some work to make the dough, and combine everything, but it was well worth it.Great recipe, great book.

After dining in this restaurant several years ago my husband has never forgotten the fantastic meatballs that they serve there. He has searched all over for the recipe and finally he has it. Wanted to wait and give him the book for Xmas but couldn't wait and glad I gave it to him now because he has tried quite a few of the great recipes !

Great cookbook capturing Mozza. The influence of Batali is very noticeable with overlap recipes to Babbo and other books. The sections on Mozzerella (and the variations) and Nancy's signature pizzas are great (although I wish the high temp wood fired oven dough recipe was shared along with the 500 degree home oven recipe for those of us with wood fired ovens)
There are some simple things such as toasting almonds with olive oil and sea salt that have already changed some of my habits.

Finally, an Italian cookbook with California flair that has refreshingly new ideas, thoughts, and recipes. As mentioned in the beginning of the book, the recipes are long, but very thorough. It is definitely a foodie's cookbook and am grateful for the research and testing done on the recipes.

I particularly like the recipes with burrata that use different ingredients from the usual roma tomato and fresh basil.

Finding some of the ingredients may be challenging, but I look forward to the hunt.