Author(s): Marguerite DiMino Buonopane
Publisher: Globe Pequot
Publication Date: 2004-09-01
Pages: 320
Review: I picked up this cookbook for several reasons. The first is that I live in Boston and have always eaten in the North End so a cookbook with recipes from that neighborhood seemed appealing. The second is that I am Italian American and although I don’t remember classic dishes being made for me I am always curious about my heritage.

This cookbook is a collection of Italian American recipes from the North End. It covers all the expected bases with everything from Minestrone Soup to Biscotti to Ravioli. All the dishes have the feel of homecooked fare. The recipes do take some time to prepare, but they are doable for home cooks and do not require and difficult techniques. Overall, it’s a pretty exhaustive collection and if you’re searching for a traditional Italian American classic you’ll probably find it here.

That said, there were some things about this cookbook that I didn’t love. The first is that there are very few pictures of food. There are pictures in the cookbook, but most are used to capture the people of the North End. If you’re buying this cookbook for sentimental value or as a souvenir this might be fine. However since my main reason in picking this up was to cook from it I would have loved to see pictures of the food, especially dishes I might be less familiar with. I also would have liked a bit more background on some of the dishes. Where did they originate from? What is the story behind them? I always enjoy knowing the background behind what I am making.

The other thing worth keeping in mind is that since this book is all about the traditional and classic dishes it may not feel unique to you if you have a lot of other Italian American or Italian cookbooks. This is the case for me and I felt like most of these dishes I already had recipes for in other cookbooks. If this is your first Italian American cookbook though this may not be an issue.

The bottom line is that this is a solid cookbook. It has most of the classic dishes Americans have come to associate with Italy so if you’re looking for a classic recipe you’ll probably find it here. Unfortunately the lack of pictures makes it less enjoyable to cook from in comparison to other Italian cookbooks and the fact that it is all classic dishes means that overlap happens between other Italian American Cookbooks.I have never written a review for amazon.com before, but I feel so strongly about this book I was compelled to write one. I’ve had the first version of this book, for too many years to remember, so used that it is held together with elastic bands and handled with great care. I’ve bought copies for my family and friends and they too love it.

Even though the synopsis calls the recipes mostly from the Roman region of Italy, I found recipes that were distinctly Sicilian and I hadn’t seen in print anywhere before. I thought my family and their friends were the only ones that made Totos! ( and called them that too! lol) Also, many recipes go under different names from what my family and our local Sicilian community called them and were included in the book. A few recipes that were lost in my family after the elders passed away were thankfully given back to the younger generation because of this book. This is almost as good has holding your Nanna and Nonno’s cookbook in your hands.

I really love it, as you can tell, especially since it has the distinct advantage, for me, of coming from a Boston/Italian-American’s slant on how food should taste. Not only is Italian cooking regional, but so is American-Italian cooking I suspect when I read other Italian cookbooks.

Buy it for the Chocolate Biscotti recipe alone. It’s worth it!This is an excellent cookbook but not very usable in the Kindle Edition.

It is very difficult to navigate through the book and the index is not linked (and is difficult to read)…

And speaking of Kindle…

I think if we buy the hard copy book on Amazon, it would be great for us Kindle owners to be able to buy the Kindle Edition for a couple more dollars!I have several italian cook books and I think this is one of the best. I was brought up with several of these recipes but had forgotten them. This book not only brought me back, but it also showed me how to make them again. I can’t say enough about this book. It is great.This is a wonderful cookbook, but unfortunately it has not been formatted to work with Kindle. While the chapters are linked to the Table of Contents, neither the chapter lists of recipe titles nor the index are linked, meaning you have to scroll through many pages to read most recipes. Once you find one you like, you can bookmark it–but it is a laborious & frustrating process. I will be very cautious about buying cookbooks for the Kindle in future.

Save your money and buy the paper version.
Price: $16.95   Buy This Book