Reviewer: Lori Graham/Sara Cogar (and families)
Title: Jamie's Italy
Author: Jamie Oliver
Publisher: Hyperion
ISBN: 1-4013-0195-9
Release Date: October 2006
Genre/Sub-genre: Cookbook
Cuisine: Italian Cooking
Overall Rating: 2.0
Jamie's Website:
www.jamieoliver.com
Jaime Oliver has toured Italy searching for authentic Italian cooking; this purpose, he has fulfilled. The book itself is a beautiful piece of art. The pictures inside are "real-life" Italy and most of them are really beautiful (as is the cover itself). There are some pictures that quite frankly don’t create an appetite but the ones of the countryside and the people are great. (Given that Lori’s kitchen theme is Tuscan the book looks great sitting on her countertop.)
As far as the recipes themselves, that is a bit tougher. Each of us took the book to our homes and found some recipes that we created for our families. Each of us prepared different recipes and then compiled our thoughts. As far as Lori’s family, there were only two recipes in the book that her family was willing to try. One was bruschetta and the other Porchetta. Both of these recipes turned out really well. The bruschetta was quite easy to prepare while the other was rather lengthy. Sara’s family found much the same thing.
The basic consensus is that this book is for true gourmet cooks. The ingredients are tough to find in general markets. For example, finding squid or octopus in Omaha is not possible – no matter what season. There were also some ingredients, which quite frankly, were unknown to us. So, if you are a gourmet and want to go into new depth with Italian cooking AND have consumers of the dish who are adventuresome AND have a market with great flexibility you will enjoy this book. If you are an everyday cook looking to feed your family and friends, this is not the cookbook for you.
Lori
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