Bruculinu, America: Remembrances of Sicilian-American Brooklyn, Told in Stories and Recipes [Hardcover]

Vincent Schiavelli's enchanting, sometimes deeply moving memoir with recipes, Bruculinu, America, is a warmly recalled distortion of Brooklyn, one of New York City's boroughs, as it really was. As Schiavelli says, "The stories may not always contain the strict facts, but they certainly tell the truth." Don't be surprised if his beautiful reminiscence of the miracle (which took place before he was born!) that saved his uncle Salvatore Calogero from dying of pneumonia brings a tear to your eye.

Schiavelli, a successful actor, writes scenes so vividly that you participate as he visits a strega, or witch, who exorcised him of a medical problem when he was nine years old. (After seeing a doctor, Schiavelli's mother figured that in case the condition was caused by malocchio, the evil eye, it would be wise to cover all bases.)

Schiavelli's recollections often involve his grandfather, Papa Andrea, a Sicilian master chef. The 70 or so recipes in this enchanting book come from him. The Baked Mashed Potatoes made with peas and grated cheese and fennel-flavored Pasta with Chickpeas are delicious everyday dishes. Baked Macaroni, rich with mushrooms, ground meat, and a touch of cinnamon, is for Sundays. Cucciaddatu are the buttery, log-shaped Christmas cookies filled with nuts and raisins that each Sicilian cook makes in his or her own way. Here, cocoa powder, honey, and cognac add nuances to the nubbly filling. The only frustrations with Bruculinu, America are that its compact size makes it hard to keep one's spot while cooking from it, and that the recipes are woven through the text in no logical order; to return to something in particular, it's necessary to consult a list at the back of the book. --Dana Jacobi

Schiavelli, an actor who has appeared in such movies as Amadeus and Ghost, was inspired to write these memoirs by a letter sent to his grandmother from Sicily in 1905. Addressed only to "Carolina Vilardi, Bruculinu, America," the letter actually arrived in his grandmother's hands. Focusing mainly on his cook-extraordinaire grandfather, Schiavelli eloquently demonstrates the primary place of food in the life of his immigrant Italian neighborhood. The total of 70 recipes are grouped by recollection rather than ingredients, and close each chapter. Birthdays were celebrated with the dishes eaten by the mother before she gave birth. Thus he offers, among other dishes, the ubiquitous Spaghetti e Pupetti (Spaghetti and Meatballs) served for his Uncle Charlie's birthday every April 20. Recollections of illness and the evil eye include the recipe for Anneddi cu l'ovu e Tumazzu, small pasta mixed with peas, pecorino cheese and raw eggs, "the ultimate comfort food." Easter included his grandfather's signature dish, Tumala d'Andrea, a mold of rice filled with pasta and meat sauce (similar to the timpani prepared in the movie Big Night). There are recipes for easy-to-make Orange Biscotti, and for the summer, Mannarina, a liqueur made with tangerine zest, sugar and grain alcohol. Schiavelli's authentic Sicilian-American dishes combine with his nicely told tales to capture the atmosphere of his Bruculinu upbringing.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"Vincent's new book is a 'Thousand and One Nights' set in Sicilian-American Brooklyn. An intoxicating adventure savoring good life and great food" (Danny DeVito).

"In the early 1950s, Bruculinu, as the Sicilian immigrants called their Brooklyn neighborhood, was a remarkable place. If the weather was fair, the streets would be teeming with life. Women would be haggling with pushcart vendors in Sicilian and broken English over pieces of fruits and vegetables. Other vendors in horse-drawn wagons would be chanting their wares amid the song of the ragman's bell and the iceman's bellow. Growing up in this place was like having one foot in mid-twentieth-century United States and the other in mid-eighteenth-century Sicily." So begins Vincent Schiavelli's captivating story of coming of age in the Italian section of Brooklyn. In a series of witty vignettes, Schiavelli describes the social customs and secret recipes he learned from his grandfather, a Sicilian master chef, as well as the tenements, gangs, dances, holiday celebrations, and funerals that defined the culture of the neighborhood.

A popular character actor and an accomplished cook, Vincent Schiavelli has made more than 100 films and television appearances, most memorably in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Ghost and Tomorrow Never Dies. He is the author of Papa Andrea's Table, which won a Columbus Citizens Foundation Literary Award. Schiavelli has written articles on Sicilian cuisine for such publications as Saveur and Los Angeles Times. He lives in Los Angeles.

A popular character actor and an accomplished cook, Vincent Schiavelli has made more than 100 films and television appearances, most memorably in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Ghost and Tomorrow Never Dies. He is the author of Papa Andrea's Table, which won a Columbus Citizens Foundation Literary Award. Schiavelli has written articles on Sicilian cuisine for such publications as Saveur and Los Angeles Times. He lives in Los Angeles.