Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library)

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Although Artusi was himself of the upper classes and it was doubtful he had ever touched a kitchen utensil or lit a fire under a pot, he wrote the book not for professional chefs, as was the nineteenth-century custom, but for middle-class family cooks: housewives and their domestic helpers. His tone is that of a friendly advisor – humorous and nonchalant. He indulges in witty anecdotes about many of the recipes, describing his experiences and the historical relevance of particular dishes. Bills should be short and tagliatelle long, since long bills terrify husbands and short tagliatelle looks like left overs"! Have you ever come across such a lovely sentence, have you ever received better advice? Da "grande" ho provato tutte le ricette dei dolci (una passione comune, oltre alla scrittura e alla lettura). The complaints that the milk fed veal goes to the broth maker intrigues me no end. To think that the broth maker can prefer milk fed veal for his product really goes beyond choosing good ingredients for a good product!

From France this preparation arrived to the kitchens of the Neapolitan Bourbon court and those of the Vatican, but it was still just a way of cooking meat with significant variations and ingredients, depending on the area of Italy.La Scienza in Cucina E L'arte Di Mangiar Bene, Grandi Tascabili Economici 1975. ISBN 88-7983-555-6.

Find sources: "Pellegrino Artusi"– news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( October 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) The 790 recipes accumulated in successive editions of Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well (never out of print since its first edition in 1891) can't be said to herald the birth of Italian cuisine. That consists of the cookery of many regions, and Pellegrino Artusi's masterpiece takes too little account of most of them (Sicily and Calabria, to name a pair) and too much of others (his favoured areas, Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany). Nonetheless, Artusi's cookbook appeared shortly after the political unification of the country, and its unremitting culinary patriotism in the face of French domination is one of its most endearing qualities. The cookbook has a charming introduction entitled, “The story of a book that is a bit like the story of Cinderella.” And, indeed, the story behind his cookbook, a labor of love, is inspiring. The seventy-one-year-old Artusi, a businessman with an enormous passion for cooking, could not find anyone to publish his book. He decided to self-publish it, initially printing only 1000 copies. But before long, it was one of the books that every Italian household had a copy of, up there with Italian classics like I Promessi Sposi and Pinocchio. First published in 1891, Pellegrino Artusi’s La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangier bene has come to be recognized as the most significant Italian cookbook of modern times. It was reprinted thirteen times and had sold more than 52,000 copies in the years before Artusi’s death in 1910, with the number of recipes growing from 475 to 790. And while this figure has not changed, the book has consistently remained in print. Although Artusi was himself of the upper classes and it was doubtful he had ever touched a kitchen utensil or lit a fire under a pot, he wrote the book not for professional chefs, as was the nineteenth-century custom, but for middle-class family cooks: housewives and their domestic helpers. His tone is that of a friendly advisor – humorous and nonchalant. He indulges in witty anecdotes about many of the recipes, describing his experiences and the historical relevance of particular dishes. Artusi’s masterpiece is not merely a popular cookbook; it is a landmark work in Italian culture. This English edition (first published by Marsilio Publishers in 1997) features a delightful introduction by Luigi Ballerini that traces the fascinating history of the book and explains its importance in the context of Italian history and politics. The illustrations are by the noted Italian artist Giuliano Della Casa. Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well by Pellegrino Artusi – eBook DetailsIt is one of the best-known Italian recipes in the whole world and it boasts countless imitations, but what is the real origin of Ragù bolognese?