Naples at Table : Cooking in Campania (Hardcover)

by Arthur Schwartz (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Naples gave the world pizza and spaghetti with tomato sauce. In Naples at Table, Arthur Schwartz reveals the unexpected breadth and depth of dishes to be enjoyed in Naples and throughout Campania, the rich region where this culinarily underappreciated city is located.

Campania is the home of mozzarella. In fact, by Italian law, only cheese made from the milk of the water buffalo of Campania should be bear this name; the cow's-milk cheese we call mozzarella is more rightly called fior di latte, "flower of the milk."

To most people, southern Italy is the land of red sauce, from the light salsa insalata, made with raw tomatoes marinated in olive oil and seasoned with salt and basil, to hefty, long-simmered, meat-flavored ragu. Schwartz introduces us to La Genovese, an onion-based sauce Neapolitans began making centuries before the tomato arrived from the New World so they could pair it with its soul mate, pasta.

Anyone interested in Italian food will find the more than 250 recipes and the almost overwhelming wealth of information in Naples at Table fascinating. There is history, going back to the ancient Greeks, and stories as only Schwartz can recount them. One of the best is how Zuppa Inglese may have gotten its name. Discover Woodman-Style Baked Pasta with Meat Sauce and Mushrooms; lusty Baccalà "Arrecanato," a casserole of salt cod and potatoes; an authentic Zuppa Inglese; and so much more as you travel around Campania with Schwartz, meeting chefs and home cooks from Naples and Salerno, Benevento up in the mountains, out along the Amalfi coast, and the jewel-like islands of Ischia and Capri. --Dana Jacobi

From Publishers Weekly
Radio personality Schwartz (Soup Suppers) brings to the kitchen the food and culture of Campania in yet another close look at the food of an Italian region. CampaniaAand in particular its capital, NaplesAis known for an earthy cooking style. It is also the birthplace of both spaghetti and pizza, which are amply represented here in Spaghetti with Cabbage, Spaghetti in a Hurry (Spaghetti Sciu? Sciu? alla Caprese), Pizza di Scarola (made with escarole, olives, pine nuts and raisins) and the traditional Pizza Margherita (tomatoes, mozzarella and basil). Dishes like Rosa Mazzella's Fritters with Salt Cod, Olives, and Capers, and Battered and Fried Cheese evidence a local love of frying. Stretching meat appears to be a specialty of the area, where dishes such as Veal Meatballs in Eggplant Scarves and Neapolitan Meatloaf (made with prosciutto, soppressata, provolone and pecorino cheese) take precedence over whole pieces of beef. Anecdotes and bits of history like the segment on buffalo mozzarella are entertaining, and the enjoyment continues with a chapter on desserts and extras, which includes the unusual Eggplant with Chocolate and Limoncello, the lemon liqueur made famous on the island of Capri.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 484 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (October 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006018261X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060182618
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #101,141 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #87 in

  Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Italian

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely loved this book for its authenticity., August 29, 1999

By A Customer

I am a regular listener of Arthur Schwartz's daily radio program and I anxiously awaited this book's publication. My family are from small towns in the Benevento area of Campagna and Arthur's recipes are the familiar food that I grew up with. He is the only person I know of who wrote about "Eggs in Purgatory". This was a regular Friday night supper in the days when meat was not allowed. All of these wonderful peasant dishes have now been "discovered" by people who are interested in healthy food. Our people ate them because they were inexpensive and I think Italians can make anything taste good! Bravo Arthur, you have done a great job!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Manificent effort in capturing the great cuisine of Campania, October 15, 1998

By A Customer

This new cookbook covers the cuisine of Naples and Campania, the cuisine which most Italian-American food is based. I am especially excited about this book because Mr. Schwartz has done a magnificent job of capturing the essence of the delicious cuisine from the Campania Region of Italy. I recognize many of the recipes from the days of watching my grandmother prepare many marvelous meals. Happily there are many recipes in the book that look outstanding with which I am not familiar. I can't wait to prepare many of these.

It was especially encouraging to read many of these beautifully explained recipes that were apparently carefully researched and fully tested until the author was sure that they would "work" as intended. His explanation of "marinara sauce and genovese sauce" alone were worth the price of the book for me.

It is one of the best cookbooks that I know of about the cuisine of Italy which is so highly Regionalized. Marcella Hazan's books used to be my favorites but these have been replaced with "Naples at Table". There are enough great sounding recipes to keep me busy preparing them for the next several weeks.

An added bonus is that the author has done a commendable job in connecting the interesting history of the Region with its cuisine.

It will be a present to many of my friends from me especially for those whose forebears came from Campania.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TRUST ARTHUR. His recipes are COOKABLE and DELICIOUS., August 6, 1999

By	Elizabeth Dunkel "Ex-New Yorker living the tr... (Yucatan, Mexico) - See all my reviews

I have lots of Italian cookbooks that I don't cook out of -- they're more like reference works. Forgive me Bugialli et al. But Arthur Schwartz is truly a cook's friend. I have all his cookbooks. His recipes are not only delicious. THEY WORK! They are extremely cookable. Besides Arthur is a doll. He is so human and so likable. This book is like a trip to Italy with your best friend. Great commentary, easy to follow recipes, delicious food. What more could you ask from an Italian cookbook?