The Fine Art of Italian Cooking

With hundreds of recipes, illustrations, and many special features, this incomparable book brings the greatest tradition of Italian haute cuisine to the American table. While its emphasis is on gourmet cooking in the Tuscan tradition, as it developed and is still practiced in Florence (where Signor Bugialli teaches cooking each year to food journalists, restaurateurs, cooking teachers), it embraces the popular dishes of every region in Italy, each at its unique best. The book specifically considers and is directed toward the needs of a family or informal dinner; but it encourages and instructs the reader in the preparation of a formal Italian dinner. Himself a cook of international stature who has frequently been called on to prepare dinners for most of the major gastronomic societies, Mr. Bugialli has tested every recipe in his own New York kitchen. The instructions are clear and can be followed by any attentive cook using ingredients easily available in any part of the United States. • The book includes full-dinner menus (with recommended wines) to accompany each of the main course recipes. • An extensive chapter on bread-making, some 30 many-purpose sauces, and an incredibly wide range of irresistible desserts are included. • Fine broths, aspics, pasta-making, sau-sages, the preservation of herbs, and the use of oils are all described in detail. • Clear, step-by-step photographs guide the cook through the classic culinary tech-niques. • And, for those who want to go a bit further in authenticating their Italian cuisine, there are instructions on how to improvise a brick oven, how to make a "bagno maria," and how to recreate the taste of spit cook-ing-all in your own kitchen. Anecdotes preceding the recipes convey the flavor of Italian life and culture to enhance the enjoyment of the food as it should be savored and experiénced.