Customer Reviews

Osteria: Hearty Italian Fare from Rick Tramonto's Kitchen

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

 

 

The photography is great and many of the recipes quite tasty. But on more than one occasion while I cooked from this book, some instructional step was either missing entirely or glossed over (insufficient detail). After a couple of times of this, the topper was the lasagna recipe, which not only failed to tell me to cover it (as just about every other lasagna recipe in the world tells you to do -- I failed to honor my instincts and of course, the lasagne burned), but it also didn't tell me what to do with the tomato mixture it asked me to prepare. I winged it and figured it out -- after all, this is not rocket scient -- but it would have been nice to have better instructions.

Hopefully the author will get another pair of eyes to read his recipes and actually cook them before he publishes another book. I have officially retired this book and won't be cooking anything new from it -- cooking can be frustrating enough without a poorly edited cookbook to add to the problems.

This guy is one of the good ones....I have several of his
books and this one does not dissapoint.

I had to comment on this cookbook because it's absolutely fabulous, it's truly beautiful, and the recipes are surprisingly doable for the average cook who wants to be able to make a beautiful gourmet meal. I actually bought this to send to my daughter and son in law, but I'm going to have to order another one for them because there's no WAY I'm letting this one get away from me after having sat and read all of the recipes. Some are, I'll admit, a little expensive to make, but not all by any means, and once in a while it won't hurt you to splurge--that's my motto anyhow. The gourmet pizza recipes alone are worth the price of the book. Every great Italian dish I've ever heard of as well as some I've never heard of are in this book and I'm sure I can make every one of them and have them turn out right. If you only buy one Italian cookbook, make it this one.