Best Italian Cook Book!
/Would you believe me if I told you that the best book on Italian cuisine and cooking was first published in 1954? Our regular readers might recall that I have said Marcella Hazan held that distinction. Her books are quite good, but I now think the best book on Italian cooking was written by Elizabeth David, an English author of cookbooks on France, Italy and the Mediterranean.
Born to upper-class parents in 1913 in Sussex England, David had a privileged and storied life, attending school in Paris at the age of 16. It was here, while living with a Parisian family, that she discovered food that was different from the typical English meat and potatoes. Subsequent years found her rebelling against the social rituals expected of upper-class young women and she moved to London to take up acting. In the theater company she met Charles Cowan, an older married man and began a torrid affair, of which her widowed mother strongly disapproved.
David’s biographer Lisa Chaney wrote: “Cowan was the ultimate outsider. He was working class, left wing, Jewish, an actor, a pickpocket, a vagabond, who lived in caves in Hastings for a time. Her mother called him a 'pacifist worm'. He was a sexual presence, and slept with anything that moved.”
To remove her from Cowan’s influence, David’s mother sent her on trips to Malta and then Egypt with family and friends in 1936, where she was exposed to different cuisines and cooking. After more travels to France and Corsica, she returned to England and reunited with Cowan. They purchased a small boat, sailed across the English Channel, through French canals and ended up in Antibes when the outbreak of WWII halted their progress. Gaining permission to leave, they sailed toward Sicily and were arrested by Italian authorities, where they were suspected of being spies. After 19 days in prison, their boat, books and money were confiscated and they were released and fled to Yugoslavia. As the war raged, they made their way to Greece, finally arriving in Egypt, where David (who spoke French and German) worked for the British government. All the while, she learned to cook.
She married a military officer, Tony David, in Egypt and they were soon posted to New Delhi. Health reasons forced her to leave India and return to England in 1946 where post-war rationing was a dreary fact of daily life.
"There was flour and water soup seasoned solely with pepper; bread and gristle rissoles, dehydrated onions and carrots; corned beef toad-in-the-hole. I need not go on," she wrote.
Eventually, she penned a few food-related articles for English magazines which were well received, paving the way for her first book, “A Book of Mediterranean Food”, which was published to glowing reviews in 1950. The next book, “French Country Cooking” was similarly successful. Her publisher thought her next book should be about Italian cooking, so she spent a year in Italy traveling the entire country, cooking and eating with Italian families.
When the book was published in 1954, many of the Italian ingredients necessary for the recipes were hard to obtain in England, since food rationing only ended in the summer of that year. Reading the book today, while trying to imagine the state of English (or even American) cooking in the 50s, one soon realizes that the book is revelatory. Each section has explanations of history, techniques, and how the foods differ from region to region. For decades, most Americans and British referred to “Italian food” as a monolithic cuisine (some still do), but in “Italian Food” she writes: “The term ‘Italian’ used in relation to food would in fact mean very little most Italians. To them there is Florentine cooking, Venetian cooking, there are the dishes of Genoa, Piedmont, Romagna, of Rome, Naples, and the Abruzzi, of Sardinia and Sicily; of Lombardy, Umbria, and the Adriatic Coast.”
She writes with authority, clarity and literary style, which makes her book a joy to read today. What’s more, it’s totally relevant for current Italian food aficionados. The book is loaded with recipes which cover the breadth of regional Italian cooking, however the inexperienced cook might find her recipes vague and confusing, since the recipes are written in a narrative style. She writes:
“Suppose I tell you to put two tablespoons of olive oil into a pan before starting off say a vegetable stew or pot-roast. Then what kind of pan are you using? How wide is it? How thick is it? With what kind of fuel are you cooking? What, in fact, you need is enough oil to cover the bottom surface of your pan; enough for your onions to be evenly spread out in it, neither swimming in oil . . . nor burning because there is not enough.”
In the 60s her popularity rose, writing food and travel stories for the top British newspapers and magaziens. Sales of her books skyrocketed when they were reprinted in paperback by Penguin Books, selling more than a million copies. She was considered the authority on cooking in England, which allowed her to open Elizabeth David Ltd in 1964, which sold high end kitchen equipment.
After many years of accolades and after receiving the highest British and French awards, and after suffering for six years of failing health, she died in 1992. The obituary in the Times of London said:
“Elizabeth David was the doyenne of English cookery writers. She influenced the generations who came after her, whether they, too, were intending to be culinary experts or merely taking a well-thumbed Elizabeth David Penguin from the kitchen shelf for the next day's dinner party. "Elizabeth David says ..." was the regular way of resolving how much spice—and which spices—should be added to a stew and how much garlic should be put in a dressing. At its best, her prose was as precise as her instructions, unlike that of some of her predecessors who sometimes wrapped up advice on what to do in the kitchen with impenetrable sentences. She was a pleasure to read, a stylist of true distinction. Perhaps only in Britain would she have been classified as a "food writer", too often rather a damning phrase. Elizabeth David combined a scholar's feeling for history with the traveller-aesthete's gift of conveying a sense of place.”
One of her comments sums up why I have named her book the Best Italian Cook Book, and why I think she will be of interest to our guests.
“Good cooking is honest, sincere and simple, and by this I do not mean to imply that you will find in this, or indeed any other book, the secret of turning out first-class food in a few minutes with no trouble. Good food is always a trouble and its preparation should be regarded as a labour of love, and this book is intended for those who actually and positively enjoy the labour involved in entertaining their friends and providing their families with first-class food.”
That pretty much sums up the culture and daily mantra at M’tucci’s. Buy this book!
New Brunch Menu and Bloody Mary Bar at M’tucci’s Twenty-Five
Saturday & Sunday 11:00 - 3:00
M’tucci’s and the Balloon Fiesta
M’tucci’s is a proud, local partner of the Balloon Museum Foundation.
BALLOON SKYLINES, VIP DINING AND PHILANTHROPY AT THE BALLOON MUSEUM, DURING BALLOON FIESTA® OCTOBER 7 - 15, 2023
The Observation Deck provides a unique VIP dining experience while also supporting the programming of the Balloon Museum. Museum Dining Events offer an indoor/outdoor area above the crowds, with delicious food and spectacular balcony views of morning balloon launches, evening balloon glows. The Observation Deck is a complete package which includes admission to Balloon Fiesta, admission to Balloon Museum, VIP parking pass, and golf cart rides to Balloon Fiesta Park. All catered by M’tucci’s.
Weekend Specials
M’tucci’s Italian
Ravioli - Smoked Cherry/Ricotta Filling, Guanciale, Shallots, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes, Arugula, Brown Butter Sage Sauce, Pecorino $27
14 oz. NY Strip - Salt Water Potatoes, Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Lemon, Balsamic Reduction $37
Pan-Seared Grouper - Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Arugula, Grilled Artichokes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $33
Braise - Sackett Farms Pork Cheeks Braised in Red Wine & Porcini, Creamy Gorgonzola Polenta, Haricot Vert $29
Weekend Cocktail
Weller Rabbit - Weller Bourbon, St. Germain, Fresh Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup, Muddled Strawberry
M’tucci’s Moderno
8 oz. Picaña - Crispy Salt Water Potatoes, Sautéed Broccolini, Salsa Verde $33
Pan-Seared Mahi Mahi - Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Broccolini, Roasted Artichoke, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce, Prosciutto Powder $31
Sackett Farms Pork Picatta - Tomatoes, Capers, Arugula, Feta Cheese, Lemon Butter Sauce, Spaghettini $23
Weekend Cocktail
Lychee-tini - One Vodka, Creme de Cassis, House Made Lychee Mix, Plum Bitters
M’tucci’s Twenty-Five
Milk Braised Lamb Ragù - Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder, Pappardelle Pasta, Fresh Herbs, Lemon, Pecorino $21
Pan-Seared Rockfish - Garlic Whipped Potatoes, Braised Greens, Artichoke Hearts, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $29
14 oz. Boneless Ribeye - Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Charred Broccolini, Smoked Blackberry Bone Marrow Compound Butter $42
Weekend Cocktail
Sunset in Havana - Prichards Rum, Giffard Banana Liqueur, Fresh Lime Juice, Agave Syrup, Myers Rum Float
M’tucci’s Bar Roma
Shrimp Diavolo - Macerated Tomatoes with Calabrian Chiles, Mediterranean Herbs & Fresh Cilantro $23
Pan-Seared Opah - Garlic Whipped Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Arugula, Roasted Artichokes, Lemon Caper Butter Sauce $35
Weekend Cocktail
Rose Bowl - M’tucci’s El Tesoro Reposado, Peach Bourbon Fresh Lemon Juice, Bergamot, Plum Bitters
Live Music for August & September
M’tucci’s Bar Roma - 6:30pm Wednesday
8/30: Chessa Peake
9/6 Rj Perez
9/13 Shane Wallin
9/20 Lani Nash
9/27 Cali Shaw
M’tucci’s Moderno - 6:30 Thursday & 7:30 Friday
8/25 Lani Nash
8/31 Eryn Bent
9/1 Cali Shaw
9/7 Gilbert Uribe
9/8 Javier Ortega
9/14 Shane Wallin
9/15 Eryn Bent
9/21 RJ Perez
9/22 Lani Nash
9/28 Justin Nuñez
9/29 Matt Jones
M’tucci’s Twenty-Five - 6:30 Thursday & 7:30 Friday
8/25: Chessa Peake
8/31 Matt Jones
9/1 Javier Ortega
9/7 Eryn Bent
9/8 Chessa Peak
9/14 Matt Jones
9/15 Melissa Rios
9/21 Gilbert Uribe
9/22 RJ Perez
9/28 Shane Wallin
9/29 Cali Shaw
Thanks for reading. See you next Friday. Ciao!
