- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Clarkson Potter (May 11 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0767901444
- ISBN-13: 978-0767901444
- Product Dimensions: 18.5 x 2.5 x 23.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 735 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,301,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
From the first page, Nancy Harmon Jenkins draws you deep into the soul of Tuscany, where she lives part of the year and where tradition heavily shades daily life. Jenkins calls Tuscans "the Yankees of Italy" because they are as frugal and plainspoken as the New Englanders with whom she grew up. Their food is elementally simple, relying heavily on the region's unique, salt-free bread, pane scicco, the intense olive oil that has become famous around the world, and beans slowly cooked in a tall clay pot, or fiasco.
Jenkins enthralls the reader as she discusses Tuscan food and how her friends and neighbors gather, raise, and prepare it. Flavors of Tuscany is dense with good food. There are roasts, the bread-based soup ribollita, crostini, and less-known pleasures such as tomato-studded High Summer Risotto and Braised Sweet Pepper Stew. Jenkins's observations about a fast-changing way of living resonate with anyone who cares about quality of life. Her culinary descriptions may inspire you to build an outdoor brick oven or plan a trip to taste the wines, olive oil, and other special flavors of Tuscany. --Dana Jacobi
From Publishers Weekly
Rarely does an author so comprehensively connect gastronomy to geography as Harmon Jenkins does in this beautifully mapped and lovingly detailed collection of Tuscan delicacies. Having owned a house near Cortona for 25 years, she spends good blocks of text introducing us to the landscape and the neighbors from whom she draws inspiration. Foodstuffs are tagged to their specific Tuscan regions (e.g., a Rice and Onion Tart with ricotta, we learn, is typical of the Lunigiana hill in northern Tuscany). Simple ingredients are the hallmark of this cuisine, so these recipes demand the freshest of vegetables and meats, Italian-style flour and, if possible, access to a pig liver or two. This is no cuisine for vegetarians, Harmon Jenkins enjoys pointing out: even the Meatless Ragu includes a couple of ounces of prosciutto. So, pastas with meat sauce, chicken, pork and rabbit claim most of the glory until it's time for the desserts. Drawn from the recipes of Cortona dessert master Emilio Banchelli, these include Fried Rags for Epiphany or Carnival (pastry flavored with sherry and aniseed) and a Rustic Torte of hazelnut. Harmon Jenkins surpasses most regional cookbooks with captivating prose notable for her smart use of similes to bring exotic dishes down to earth. Her Crostini is "what we might call Etruscan egg salad." In addition to a bibliography, there is a section on where to eat when you go to visit, a short chapter on Tuscan wines and one devoted to the only potable that takes priority over vino: olive oil.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Literature among Cookbooks,
By A Customer
This review is from: Flavors of Tuscany (Hardcover)
There are a couple of genre whose excesses are apparent. One is cookbooks, the other is books about Tuscany. Indeed the very word Tuscany seems to have inspired dishware, linens; the list goes on. Given this plethora, it is a genuine delight to read this (or any) book by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. She not only serves up the greatest recipes, which is expected of any cookbook worth its salt, but her writing is charming and most intelligent. This is one book which not only gives the Flavors of Tuscany, but its people, its customs...its reality! Ms. Jenkins surpasses the usual and customary in food writing, she is a social historian who uses food to instill a genuine reality. Great food, even a better read!
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews) 45 of 46 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Literature among Cookbooks,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Flavors of Tuscany (Hardcover)
There are a couple of genre whose excesses are apparent. One is cookbooks, the other is books about Tuscany. Indeed the very word Tuscany seems to have inspired dishware, linens; the list goes on. Given this plethora, it is a genuine delight to read this (or any) book by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. She not only serves up the greatest recipes, which is expected of any cookbook worth its salt, but her writing is charming and most intelligent. This is one book which not only gives the Flavors of Tuscany, but its people, its customs...its reality! Ms. Jenkins surpasses the usual and customary in food writing, she is a social historian who uses food to instill a genuine reality. Great food, even a better read!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Molto Bene!,
By H. Oliver "Italian Soul" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Flavors of Tuscany (Hardcover)
I fell in love with Tuscan food years ago. This book has the recipes I love--I have never found a bad recipe in here, and many of the pages are so dog-eared and dripped-on that you can tell they're the ones used again and again. The wonderful comments, the simplicity of the recipes, the incredible food that results are an invitation to linger outside on a balmy summer night and, like the Tuscans, make dinner an EVENT that everyone enjoys for hours. A little wine, good friends, the setting sun, and good Italian food--Incredible!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Had to have this book!,
By D. Upchurch - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Flavors of Tuscany (Hardcover)
I fell in love with this book at the library. I love the descriptions of Tuscany and the food! It's a great book to inspire you to make something healthy to eat. The pictures are beautiful!
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