Rao's Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking (Hardcover)

by Frank Pellegrino (Author), Stephen Hellerstein (Photographer), Nicholas Pileggi (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Rao's is an old, 10-table restaurant in an old, New York-Italian neighborhood in which old Italians still may or may not live (this was never made quite clear in Nicholas Pileggi's complete-history-of-Italian-immigrants-in-America introduction to the cookbook), but you can't go there to eat. Not unless you know someone who has a lock on one of the tables. These are shared occupancy tables, condominium tables. Every night (Monday through Friday) is already spoken for--has been spoken for, in fact, for quite some time. Mixed in with the names of the obvious rich and famous and powerful who get to eat at Rao's (and who have enthusiastic things to say about Rao's throughout the cookbook) are names of the not-so-obvious to anyone who hails from outside the Italian neighborhood that spawned them. Rao's sounds like a dream of what New York once may have been like--joints on every corner full of character and soul--or what everyone would like to think New York may have been like. It sounds a little like a Disneyland nostalgia experience that just about everyone will never have.

So bless Frank Pellegrino for putting Rao's kitchen between the covers of this book. If you want the excitement and charm and comfort food of Rao's, you can now cook it yourself and pretend that's Dick Schaap sitting over there, and Rob Reiner coming though the door with Woody Allen, Brenda Vaccaro, and John-John. Plan on eating lots of tomato sauce, for Rao's springs from the same roots that gave America Italian red sauce restaurants of the checkered tablecloth and Chianti bottle candle holder stripe. Rao's does it far, far better, and with soul. The late Vincent Pellegrino, who made Rao's what it seemingly continues to be, was particularly fond of grilled meats, and those sections of the book are exemplary: simple, straightforward, to the point. Even the tripe sounds like it might be worth trying.

If you want to cook Italian and not sweat the regional details, this book is the one to pull off the shelf. --Schuyler Ingle

From Library Journal
Rao's is a New York City institution, a tiny, family-owned Italian restaurant in East Harlem that has attracted national attention and a celebrity clientele. But most of its ten tables (they added two tables to the original eight after the restaurant had been in business for 99 years) are reserved, in perpetuity, for regulars, many of whom have been eating there once a week for decades-so a jar of Rao's Homemade Tomato Sauce is the closest most people will ever come to the restaurant's fare. But here are the simple, classic recipes that 80-year-old "Auntie" Annie and the other cooks make every weekday: Seafood Salad, Baked Clams Oreganate, Pappardelle with Hot Sausage Sauce. Scattered throughout are quotes from devoted fansAsome famous, some "from the neighborhood"Aand lots of photographs. For area libraries and other larger collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (April 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679457496
• ISBN-13: 978-0679457497
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #16,320 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Italian at home, December 1, 1999

By	[e-mail] (New York City) - See all my reviews

I picked this book up over a year ago now, and from the veal saltimbocca to the stuffed veal chop to the lemon chicken to the Sunday gravy, absolutely wonderful. Then I moved to the shrimp scampi and the accolades just go on. Wonderfully annotated with quotations of those who have been fortunate enough to get a reservation, and historical notes about the restaurant and the family. If you want to put real Italian food on the table that will impress yourself first, and wow your guests, this is a great place to start. And the good news is San Marzano tomatoes are now readily available in supermarkets. These tomatoes are recommended throughout the book, and once I found them, they are really the bright star in canned Italian tomatoes. The writing is clear, the suggestions on point, and the finished product fit for your best tablecloth.

45 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a winner, January 10, 2000

By A Customer

This is a terrific book that makes a wonderful Italian cook out of anyone -- even an Irish girl from Virginia! I have plenty of great Italian cookbooks, from Marcella Hazan to Mario Batali, but this one really takes the cake for traditional Southern Italian food. Every recipe I've tried has been fabulous. In particular, the meatballs in marinara sauce are out of this world. You won't believe how good they are. Buy the book and make the dish!

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple ingredients do wonders, May 10, 1999

By A Customer

Coming from an Italian family, I was a little reluctent to try other family recipes. Well the ones I have made so far were absolutely fabulous! From the meatballs and gravy to the chicken scarpiello. Please don't forget the pork chops with sweet and hot peppers. I have to tried to eat at Rao's, but unfortunately it is who you know. Soon enough I might have a way in there. But the book will do just fine for now! The stories in the book are so great. As my mother would say "food is the glue that keeps the family together." Oh, and olive oil and garlic is the essence of life.