Gastronomy of Italy by Anna Del Conte

My rating: 5 of 5 spoons
ggggg

This book is a gem! I adore Italian food, and this is now my go-to book for Italian cooking terms and ingredients. This is not just a dictionary of Italian terms or word, though. Arranged in alphabetical order (by Italian, not English), this gives you the Italian word, the English word, then the definition. However, it's much more than just a definition--bits of information, history and more are here at your fingertips. From abbacchio (baby lamb) to zuppa inglese (custard and cake dessert), all you need to know about Italian cuisine is here!!

One nice touch is a small spoon at the end of an entry indicates that a recipe for that dish or style of dish is included. The page number is bracketed after the spoon. For instance, under the entry for salmi (a cooking method), it shows you that a recipe using that method is 2 pages over. Regions of Italy, cooking methods, ingredients, and more are all covered in this amazing tome.

A lovely combination of lexicon and cookbook, there are about 200 great recipes in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the Stuffed Mussels, and Bruschetta col Pomodoro makes a refreshing appetizer. The Stewed Lentils are quite nice and reminded me of the simple yet delicious food of Sicily. I can't wait to try the Tiramisu, the Fresh Egg Pasta and the Stewed Venison among many others. I highly recommend this book for cooks and Italiphiles everywhere.

I received a copy of this book from Trafalgar Square Publishing through IPG for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.