The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco [Hardcover]

Allen Rucker (Author), Michele Scicolone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 2002

Nuovo Vesuvio. The "family" restaurant, redefined. Home to the finest in Napolitan' cuisine and Essex County's best kept secret. Now Artie Bucco, la cucina's master chef and your personal host, invites you to a special feast...with a little help from his friends. From arancini to zabaglione, from baccala to Quail Sinatra-style, Artie Bucco and his guests, the Sopranos and their associates, offer food lovers one hundred Avellinese-style recipes and valuable preparation tips. But that's not all! Artie also brings you a cornucopia of precious Sopranos artifacts that includes photos from the old country; the first Bucco's Vesuvio's menu from 1926; AJ's school essay on "Why I Like Food"; Bobby Bacala's style tips for big eaters, and much, much more. So share the big table with: Tony Soprano, waste management executive "Most people soak a bagful of discount briquettes with lighter fluid and cook a pork chop until it's shoe leather and think they're Wolfgang Puck." Enjoy his tender Grilled Sausages sizzling with fennel or cheese. Warning: Piercing the skin is a fire hazard. Corrado "Junior" Soprano, Tony's uncle "Mama always cooked. No one died of too much cholesterol or some such crap." Savor his Pasta Fazool, a toothsome marriage of cannellini beans and ditalini pasta, or Giambott', a grand-operatic vegetable medley. Carmela Soprano, Tony's wife "If someone were sick, my inclination would be to send over a pastina and ricotta. It's healing food." Try her Baked Ziti, sinfully enriched with three cheeses, and her earthy 'Shcarole with Garlic. Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri, associate of Tony Soprano "I have heard that Eskimos have fifty words for snow. We have five hundred words for food." Sink your teeth into his Eggs in Purgatory-eight eggs, bubbling tomato sauce, and an experience that's pure heaven. As Artie says, "Enjoy, with a thousand meals and a thousand laughs. Buon' appetito!"

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In what is quite possibly the most fun of all the Sopranos-themed titles being published in time for the show's September return, this tongue-in-cheek cookbook brings homestyle Soprano family cooking to the table. Artie Bucco, the character (played by John Ventimiglia) who is the chef at the show's Vesuvio restaurant, sets the tone of this book of insider "family" secrets by explaining his family's move from Campania, Italy, to New Jersey, then turns to various Soprano characters. (A brief chapter on Neapolitan cooking is explained by the Newark Public Library's Natalie del Greco, who offers recipes for a simple Marinara Sauce as well as a Sunday Gravy.) In a chapter entitled "The Soprano Family Tradition," Bucco listens as Corrado Soprano Jr., or Uncle Jun', reminisces about Newark's Little Italy (which at one time felt like an "Italian Disneyland") while whetting his appetite with thoughts of Pasta Fagiole and Panzerotti (Neapolitan Potato Croquettes). While the book's conceit is playfully written by Rucker (The Sopranos: A Family History) in the voice of each character, the recipes, by Scicolone (Italian Holiday Cooking), are solid and honest-to-goodness Italian-American dishes. In a conversation with Bucco, Carmela Soprano reveals her Sicilian upbringing through such recipes as `Shcarole and Garlic (sauteed escarole), while scale-tipping Bobby Bacala pontificates on the importance of sweets and offers his own way to make Cannoli. Even the godfather himself, Tony Soprano, lectures on the art of the grill (fans will remember his BBQ panic attack). In the end, readers are left with a book-filled with stills from Soprano episodes-that is alternately enticing and wonderfully tacky, just like the Soprano family members themselves.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...a wonderful cookbook...simple, well done, and easy to make...this book deserves its own Emmy!" -- Frank Pellegrino, co-owner Rao's Restaurant and author of Rao's Cookbook

"This is a fantastic 'celebrity' cookbook that really makes sense." -- David Rosengarten, publisher of The Rosengarten Report

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (September 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446530573
• ISBN-13: 978-0446530576
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 1 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (136 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian
  • #31 in Books > Humor & Entertainment > Television

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

108 of 114 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book in one Night!!, September 26, 2002

By 

Psboston7 "~ And so it Goes ~" (Upland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco (Hardcover)

As a Director of Catering I collect a lot of cookbooks. In fact if you like this review you might want to check out my listmania list I have several on cookbooks.
Now to my review. This book, in my opinion, is Beautifully put together. Recipes are easy to read with items that are accesible at most grocery stores. The stories throughout the books and little articles that in reference to the series was a excellent idea. This book had so many different little added extras that it was hard for me to remember that this was a fictional family they were speaking of LOL. I especially like the page of top 10 Famous Food scenes in Mob movies it was interesting. The book has recipes from Appetizers to Desserts. No Fuss to a little Elaborate. Pictures are nice and I had the feeling, after reading this book, that I could do many of these recipes even if I wasn't a Director of Catering.

I highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoys Italian Food or the Series, in fact I had an idea to do a Gift Basket for Christmas with the DVD's (from the series), this Cookbook, a Sinatra CD and a bottle of Ruffino Chiante what a perfect evening.

If you find that you like this style of cookbook, ethnic or because it tells a story along with the recipes also check
Van Gogh's Table (the artist life story is throughout the book), and Soul Food: Recipes & Reflections from African-American Churches by Joyce White

Respectfully Reviewed

54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Sopranos' Family Cookbook, January 1, 2003

By 

Robert M. Haux (LaGrange, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco (Hardcover)

I absolutely love this book. I bought it this afternoon and read it by this evening. I love it for the following reasons: 1. The recipes are authentic & outstanding. I learned to cook in a Culinary Institute internship kitchen, and I know good when I see/taste it. Having spent lots of time in old country Southern Italian families, I know what's real. Take for instance, "spaghetti sauce". This book differentiates between simple Marinara, and "Sunday Gravy". You learn about Sunday Gravy from little old ladies in black who live to cook for the familia. And... how many non Italians know how to choose a wine like "Lacrima Christi"??? 2. The interviews and conversations, by the letter of the Law are fictitious... but so well done that they fulfil the spirit of the intended conversations. I'll attest to that from years of experience in the Italian-American world and as a retired homicide detective. From my present vocation as a Priest, I'll give this comment: "Nonne dulce est familiam totam in unem locum cogere"? (Isn't it great to have the whole family together?)

My advice: BUY THIS BOOK !!!
Fr. Bob Haux

44 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, November 23, 2002

By 

Mona "Circa63" (Northeastern Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco (Hardcover)

This book is great, and not just because it has anything to do with one of the greatest tv shows ever, the Sopranos. This cookbook has excellent recipies! If you live in NY/NJ then you will recognize almost all of the dishes as the staples of any neighborhood italian restaurant. If you don't live here, this is a great way to bring the taste of NY/NJ Italian cooking home to your neck of the woods! I've already made the Chicken Francais (lemon chicken) and it came out excellent. My husband is Italian and this is one of his favorite dishes that when I've tried to make it before, it never came out quite right. This came out perfect and he loved it, as did the rest of my family. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, whether or not you are a Sopranos fan (and who isn't?!).