The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food Hardcover – September 21, 1992

`The Splendid Table' by Lynne Rossetto Kasper is simply the most splendid book I have read on a regional cuisine and it is by far and away the best of the three books on the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna, even though the other two, `Biba's Taste of Italy' by Biba Caggiano and `Recipes from My Two Villages' by Mario Batali are excellent, as far as they go. Ms. Caggiano's book is simply a collection of recipes from Emilia-Romagna and Mario's book is more of a personal diary of recipes than a thorough examination of a historical cuisine.

Ms. Kasper's book, in the year it was published, won both the James Beard and Julia Child (IACP) cookbook awards, which is roughly the same as winning both the Academy award and the Foreign Press Writers award for best picture. And, I believe this book deserved all the attention it has received. Even Mario, who has his own book on the subject, made a special point to mention this book on his `Molto Mario' show. Since I have owned the book for over a year, it is one of those cases where I deeply regret having taken so long to get to studying the volume.

All that remains, then, is to point out what it is which makes the book so good.

For starters, it covers every aspect of a region's cuisine. That is, it deals with the history, the agriculture, and the economy of the region as well as the great recipes. And, what a background we have to relate. Emilia-Romagna is not just another region in one of the world's great culinary countries. It is THE very heart and soul of that culinary tradition, even more than the fabled provinces of Tuscany (Florence) in the north and Campagna (Naples) in the south. It is the home of Italy's three most important non-wine food products, Proscuitto de Parma, Parmesano-Reggiano, and Balsamic Vinegar. On top of that, it is also the home of some of the most famous fresh pasta dishes to come out of Italy plus several of the most famous salume products from Italy (witness the name Bologna, the region's capital city, given to some of these products).

While this coverage is necessary for a complete book on this subject, it is not enough. And, this book gives us the most important component, an excellent selection of very well written recipes. And, with over five hundred pages to fill, Ms. Kasper has given us several different takes on many of the more interesting recipes. A fine example is the famous ragu Bolognese, which is offered up in at least six different variations, each for a slightly different purpose or from a different background.

Never having studied this northern (generally tomatoless) sauce in detail before, I am struck by how similar it is to the most common recipes for Texas chili. It has no beans, the meat is diced and browned, not ground, and tomato and other spices are added sparingly. In the place of dried chiles, the ragu includes cinnamon (in several of the more traditional recipes). One very odd facet of these recipes is that where a Bay leaf is specified, the author calls for the California bay leaf rather than the milder Turkish bay leaf.

The recipes are organized like all good Italian cookbooks, by course. The chapters are:

The Antipasto Course

Ragus

Essential Sauces and Stocks (In no other book have I seen such a thorough treatment of Italian broths and stocks. Ms. Kasper includes the simple traditional `brodo' but adds much more, highlighted by the rich `Il sugo de carne' or meat essence.)

Pastas

The Sweet Pastas of the Renaissance (So, not only do we get modern dishes, we also get recipes for historical dishes which one usually never finds outside a book specializing in Renaissance cooking).

Risotto, Soup, and Vegetable First Courses

Second Courses

Vegetable Side Dishes

Breads

Desserts

Aside from the atypical choice of the California bay, nothing in this book disagrees with anything I have seen from any other authority on Italian cooking. In fact, Ms. Kasper generally improves on other advice by giving more details and a finer turn to her information on ingredients, techniques, and background. I am especially happy to see recipes for some of the more complicated dishes which simply never find their way into less ambitious books, such as `bomba di riso', a northern Italian analogue to the pasta `timbale' of the south. And, while many books cover bread making in a very superficial manner, this book not only does justice to this difficult subject, it covers many of the more arcane flatbreads which tend to be overshadowed by pizza from Naples and foccacia from Genoa. Her chapter on desserts also gives the lie to Sr. Batali's often-repeated statement that the Italians are not big on sweet desserts. While many of these may have grown out of French and Austrian influences, there are tortes and tarts aplenty to enliven an Italian themed entertainment.

Ms. Kasper also gives us a very nice little guide to ingredients, mail order sources, and a bibliography composed almost entirely of Italian language sources.

It is not hard to see how Ms. Kasper has been able to produce such a great book. Elizabeth David lived in Italy and studied its cuisine for a year before producing her excellent `Italian Food'. Ms. Kasper has spent the better part of a lifetime, including five years living in Bologna, studying this cuisine. It is no surprise that the recipe writing in this book rivals that of Julia Child in `Mastering the Art of French Cooking', as this author has spent about the same time mastering her subject before committing it to paper.

Any culinary library that has any pretensions to being complete must include a copy of this book!

I've owned this book since it first came out in 1992, and it occupies a special place in my cooking library -- eye-level shelf for easy reach. The salad of tart greens with prosciutto and warm balsamic dressing has been my first course for many outstanding dinner parties, including several on New Year's Eve. Other particular favorites - the lamb, garlic & potato roast, maccheroni with baked grilled vegetables, torta barozzi, and chestnut ricotta cheesecake. Ms. Kasper's outstanding knowledge of this regional Italian cuisine is equally matched by her understanding of how a home chef times and assembles a multi-course meal. I'm now ordering her new book, The Italian Country Table, and hope to be just as impressed.

The Balsamic Roast Chicken is simply splendid. I use free-range chicken parts and rub the garlic-rosemary paste under the skin (I make more of the paste than the recipe calls for). The chicken is delicious even without the balsamic vinegar--moist and tender. I love the recipe for sprucing up canned chicken broth, too--use fat-free broth and you can skip a step or two. The Green Beans Bolognese are absolutely wonderful, as well. I am looking forward to trying more recipes from this book and wowing my dinner guests (again)! YUM!

No other author has inspired such creativity and emotion in me. Kasper doesn't just tell you the ingredients and procedures, she relates the history of her dishes and the people behind them. From the Wine Basted Rabbit to the Balsalmic and Braised Garlic Pasta, every recipe is absolutely wonderful! Each recipe is followed by helpful wine and menu suggestions. If you are passionate about the people, culture, and food of Italy this is the book for you.

I'm surpised no one has reviewed this book yet. A winner of prestigous book awards, I say without question that this is my favorite cookbook. (Julia Child's The Way to Cook comes in a close second)..I was working in a high-end Italian restaurant in San Franciso that also sold fresh food, Italian wines, and great cookbooks. The author was there to prepare dishes from this book, so I got to meet her, taste her food, and got a signed copy. Not only was she nice, she really knows how to cook. The food is from Reggio-Emilia, in the center of Italy, and the true home of Prosciutto, Bologna, Pamigiano Reggiano, Balsamic vinegar (the REAL balsamic vinegar) among other fantastic food. The recipes are comprehensive, very well written, and authentic. She gives background and hints, and the book is very educational and interesting just to read. She even tells you step by step how to make real pasta, and find ingredients. I've made many recipes and they are all so good. This is a book where I would make something for a dinner party without testing it beforehand; that is how much I trust it. Worth every penny!

I have had this book since just after it was published, and it remains my authority on northern Italian cuisine. Lynne Rossetto Kasper has compiled an amazing quantity of quality recipes from the Emilia-Romagna region. As the Italian Food Host @ BellaOnline, and a collector of over 100 Italian cookbooks I would highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates northern Italian cuisine. Ms. Rossetto adds a little comentary on each recipe's history that is very interesting and her food photograph's are stunning. My only complaint about this book is that there are not more of these glorious photographs!

I own over a dozen Italian cookbooks, and this is by far my favorite. At the minimum, every recipe I have made from this book has been very good. Most are much better. If you do not want a regional cookbook, try Marcella Hazan, the Julia Childs of Italian Cuisine. But buy this one too. Your friends and neighbors will thanks you.