The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run [Paperback]

Henry Hill (Author), Priscilla Davis (Author), Nicholas Pileggi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

Henry Hill was a born wiseguy, and his love of food got him through both the good and bad times. Even cooking on the run in the Federal Witness Protection Program-where prosciutto was impossible to find and gravy was something you put on mashed potatoes-he managed to keep good Italian food on the table. He still brings this flair for improvisation to his cooking. No recipe is set in stone. And substitutions are listed just in case.

Now, in his inimitable style, Hill tells some spicy stories of his life in the Mob and out, and shows readers how to whip up his favorite dishes, Sicilian-style-recipes to make even the toughest tough-guy beg for more...

Mom's Antipasto € Sunday Gravy (Meat Sauce) € Cheaters Chicken Stock € Striped Bass for Paulie € Fat Larry's Pizza Dough € Henry's Kickback Antipasti Hero € Sicilian Easter Bread with Colored Eggs € Clams Casino € Osso Bucco € Oven Penitentiary Sauce with Sausage € Michael's Favorite Ziti with Meat Sauce € and many others

Editorial Reviews

Review

Forget that faux Sopranos cookbook. Here's the real deal. -- The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Henry Hill began working for the Lucchese crime family in the East New York section of Brooklyn at the age of eleven. Fully indoctrinated into all aspects of gangster life, Henry was involved in virtually every type of racket and criminal activity that the family ran. To avoid prison, he disappeared into the Federal Witness Protection Program, which relocated him and his family in various out-of-the-way places numerous times over the ensuing years.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade; First Thus edition (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451207068
• ISBN-13: 978-0451207067
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,907 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There's the Sopranos, and then there's the Goodfellas, January 7, 2003

By 

Brian Connors (Yarmouth, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run (Paperback)

Don't dis the Sopranos book -- just don't say it's the same thing as this. The Sopranos Family Cookbook is marketing with good recipes, whereas Henry Hill's masterpiece here is as much a retelling of his biography as it is an excellent Sicilian-American cookbook with a heavy emphasis on making do when you can't get what you need.

I think the recipe that sums this book up best is the Oven Penitentiary Sauce, a concoction that Henry and his prison buddies cooked up for those days when the guards have taken all your pots and pans away and all you've got is the steam table pans and the prison bakery. The whole book is like that -- real food, salvaged when something goes wrong. Lots of Italian, but a few surprises from other parts of the country (particularly the South), reflecting Henry's travels in Witness Protection. Substitutions are a big deal too -- from the pork-for-veal scam Hill learned as a kid working in a pizzeria all the way up. Hill's message to cooks: you can always find a way to make it work.

At my bookstore we sold a couple of hundred copies of the Sopranos book over the Holidays, and that was pretty cool. But I had two standard recommendations to go along with that -- Italian Classics from Cooks Illustrated and this one. Of all three (and I say buy them all), fuhgeddaboutit, this is the best -- it's very autobiographical, and will leave you very, very hungry at the end.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of my 3 favorite cookbooks, February 26, 2003

By 

AverageIowaGuy (Iowa, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run (Paperback)

This is one of the 3 cookbooks that have changed what I eat and the way I cook. Henry Hill has some excellent classic recipes and adds his own little twists to each recipe. Having lived away from major cities myself for some time, I especially could relate to his struggles to find the right ingredients. His mob stories are amusing too.

I read the book cover to cover because it is kind of in a story form. Hill will tell a few stories about a particular place he lived and then give recipes for the food he ate there. I highly recommend this cookbook. It is a must have.

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks, Henry, September 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wise Guy Cookbook: My Favorite Recipes From My Life as a Goodfella to Cooking on the Run (Paperback)

When the rumors began flying about this book I laughed. What! Now this guy is doing a cookbook! I was intrigued. I received the book today,read it from cover to cover and made garbanzo bean salad and grilled eggplant,hey, pretty damn good! I plan a trip to the grocery store tomorrow for ingredients of fresh herbs a few spices and such to try out more recipes, will surprise the husband....."men love variety".
This book flows naturally, the stories introducing the recipes,the rules,tips and advice all flow very well. It's an easy and entertaining read. Definitely will play around with these recipes for a long time. There are recipes for the beginner to the more serious and experienced house chef.
Henry Hill is a great storyteller,honest and sincere,this quality really shines in this book. Forget the wiseguy and goodfella aspects of Henry Hill for a second, read between the lines and you'll find that he shares a part of himself that is really close to his heart, his love of cooking, the recipes and what it all means to him. I'm sure many can relate. I recommend this cookbook, not as a novelty but as a real collection of authentic Italian recipes,in addition to some old all American favorites. It's impressive.