Books : The Silver Spoon

Rating: - Nice for ideas but don't trust the recipes
I bought this book to replicate my Italian boyfriends Mama's cooking which is fab. The first recipe I tried was the marble cake but the qantities were so wrong that there was no way anything remoted edible could be created. Next I tried the prawn bites and again the quantities were wrong with way too much flour. It's not that these recipes were 'lost in translation' it is simply very poorly put together. After two disasters in a row all faith has been lost in this book that I was originally so excited about!

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Rating: - All you need in Italian Cookery
This isnt your classic loads of pictures cookery book but it is a cookery book jam packed with 2000 very good recipes. it literally covers absolute all areas giving you at least 5 different recipes for each type of pasta, vegetable, fruit, meat, fish you name it will have a recipe for it in here. I have an Italian Friend and he to was blown away by the shear scope.

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Rating: - Not so much a cookbook as an encyclopaedia
The reviewer who mentions the quality of ingredients being vital to many of these recipes is absolutely correct. The simplicity of some of these dishes necessitates quality ingredients, which are easy enough to get hold of, if you look away from your supermarket and get down the local greengrocers or market on a Saturday (usually much cheaper than supermarkets too). Aslo, if you choose ingredients that are in season, and base your choices on this knowlege, you should get much better results. If you're not sure about what's in season, ask the greengrocer. Stuff that's in season is usually cheaper too.

This sheer volume of recipes in this book makes it more than an average cook book, and it does assume some basic knowledge of cooking, rather than carefully walking you through each step, so it may not be ideal for complete novices. It's more than a reference book in the style of the older cookery writers like Elizabeth David in the days before Delia, and is great for inspiration on the days when you can't think of anything to do with the bits and pieces left in your kitchen at the end of the week.

In short, If you are looking for a cookery reference book you can't go far wrong, but if the idea of over 2000 Italian recipes in one book is a bit daunting, then I suggest you go for the Jamie Oliver Italy book, which is more user friendly and actually rather good.

Happy Cooking!

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Rating: - People should realise...
that because it's an Italian cookbook it's based on the quality of Italian ingredients. Blandness comes from buying 'ripen at home' fruit and veg from supermarkets. I challenge anyone to use ripe, freh, beautiful ingredients and still make a bland minestrone. Great book for any chef. A base for knowledge of food in general, with Italian-tinted glasses.

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Rating: - Seriously Overrated
2000 useless recipes and almost 3 good ones. Bland food horrible photography (the duck terrine looks remarkably like an upturned tin of dog food). If you like food and cookery do not buy this book - buy a River Cafe book or something inspiring and not this straight out of the 1970's. Why do they have 20 recipies for curry? Bread and butter pudding? Chamois? And no information on what dishes to serve with what. A total waste of time. Food has moved on from here.