Average Rating: 
Rating: - The Sopranos' Family Cookbook
I absolutely love this book. I bought it this afternoon and read it by this evening. I love it for the following reasons: 1. The recipes are authentic & outstanding. I learned to cook in a Culinary Institute internship kitchen, and I know good when I see/taste it. Having spent lots of time in old country Southern Italian families, I know what's real. Take for instance, "spaghetti sauce". This book differentiates between simple Marinara, and "Sunday Gravy". You learn about Sunday Gravy from little old ladies in black who live to cook for the familia. And... how many non Italians know how to choose a wine like "Lacrima Christi"??? 2. The interviews and conversations, by the letter of the Law are fictitious... but so well done that they fulfil the spirit of the intended conversations. I'll attest to that from years of experience in the Italian-American world and as a retired homicide detective. From my present vocation as a Priest, I'll give this comment: "Nonne dulce est familiam totam in unem locum cogere"? (Isn't it great to have the whole family together?)My advice: BUY THIS BOOK !!! Fr. Bob Haux
Rating: - Must-Have for Sopranos Fans
This cookbook takes the Sopranos family several steps farther than the HBO show. It includes letters from one character to another, interviews with characters, and amazing photographs of the key Sopranos stars. Hearty, traditional Italian recipes fill up the rest of the pages. The three recipes I've tried have been outstanding. I plan on trying many other recipes when I can't get my Sunday-night-Sopranos-fix on HBO. My one complaint is the organization. Instead of sections based on recipe types, the book is organized around characters. In order to find specific recipes, using the index is a must. This is a small price to pay to enjoy this cookbook, though. A Sopranos fan's kitchen is incomplete without this cookbook.
Rating: - Creating an oxymoron--a fun cookbook!
One doesn't generally think of cookbooks as entertaining, but this one is. That's just a bonus, however, as the fulsome, tongue-in-cheek, rambling escapades of the Soprano's and their "associates' juxtapose against some very fine Italian recipes. I'm only a casual Soprano viewer but, nevertheless, I found the character spiels quite entertaining. They are just wacky/tacky enough for entertainment without roaming into the completely absurd-or worse, boring. We've tried several recipes and found all excellent. They are well and logically displayed, the instructions are clear, and the lists of ingredients complete. The book does have one down side-these are not, on the whole, low fat offerings. I suppose the "family" worldview is if we can't get you one way, we can get you another! Probably snobby cooks will roll their eyes and pooh-pooh the whole thing, but for the rest of us these folks have created a wonderfully useful oxymoron-a fun cookbook!
|