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The Silver Spoon | 
 enlarge | Author: Phaidon Press
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy Used: $17.25
You Save: $22.70 (57%)
New (37) Used (24) from $17.25
Rating:  154 reviews
Sales Rank: 5860
Media: Hardcover
Edition: US
Pages: 1264
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5.9
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 7.4 x 2.4
ISBN: 0714845310
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5945
EAN: 9780714845319
ASIN: 0714845310
Publication Date: October 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Cover a little worn, pages and spine good May Contain Library Markings; 100% of this purchase will support literacy programs through a nonprofit organization!
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Amazon.com
First published in 1950 and revised over time, Italy's bestselling culinary "bible," Il Cucchiaio d'argento, is now available in English. The Silver Spoon boasts over 2,000 recipes and arrives in a handsome (and weighty) photo-illustrated edition complete with two ribbon markers. Its chapters make every menu stop from sauces and antipasti through cheese dishes and sweets, with many standout dishes like Genoese Pesto Minestrone, Eggplant and Ricotta Lasagna, Pork Shoulder with Prunes, and Chocolate and Pear Tart; the book also includes a number of "eccentricities," like sections on patty shells and bean sprouts, surely not an Italian dining staple. Meant to be inclusive, the book also offers a wide range of non-Italian, mostly French formulas, supplemented by a few "exotic" and other non-traditional entries. Though the recipe range is vast, it must be said that American readers, anxious to cook this authentic fare, will encounter problems. Translating a cookbook from one language to another requires cultural recasting as well as word substitution, and in this the book's editors have been lax. The problems include non-idiomatic usages, for example, calling for "pans" when "pots" is needed; awkward conversions from the metric system, resulting in requirements like eleven ounces of zite; and the inclusion of ingredients like cavolo nero (Tuscan cabbage), tope (a Mediterranean fish), and pancetta copatta (ham-stuffed pancetta) that are unavailable here and for which no alternatives are suggested. In addition, the recipes themselves are often insufficiently specific or detailed--even seasoned bakers will pause before cake recipes that don't specify pan size--and can also lack yields. Space considerations have also meant printing recipes in single, one-column paragraphs, which can make place-finding while cooking difficult, and there are typos and other goofs (one recipe for four specifies six cups of sliced scallions; another requires that a marinade be "stirred frequently for five to twelve hours"). All this said, many cooks--casual and serious alike--as well as cookbook collectors, will want The Silver Spoon. It's an essential document of the Italian table and as such a classic. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a complete cookbook library without the book--a welcome evocation of a much-beloved repertoire by those who know it best. --Arthur Boehm
Product Description
First published in 1950 and revised over time, Italy's bestselling culinary "bible," Il Cucchiaio d'argento, is now available in English. The Silver Spoon boasts over 2,000 recipes and arrives in a handsome (and weighty) photo-illustrated edition complete with two ribbon markers. Its chapters make every menu stop from sauces and antipasti through cheese dishes and sweets, with many standout dishes like Genoese Pesto Minestrone, Eggplant and Ricotta Lasagna, Pork Shoulder with Prunes, and Chocolate and Pear Tart; the book also includes a number of "eccentricities," likesections on patty shells and bean sprouts, surely not an Italian dining staple.Meant to be inclusive, the book also offers a wide range of non-Italian, mostly French formulas, supplemented by a few "exotic" and other non-traditional entries.Though the recipe range is vast, it must be said that American readers, anxious to cook this authentic fare, will encounter problems. Translating a cookbook from one language to another requires cultural recasting as well as word substitution, and in this the book's editors have been lax. The problems include non-idiomatic usages, for example, calling for "pans" when "pots" is needed; awkward conversions from the metric system, resulting in requirements like eleven ounces of zite; and the inclusion of ingredients like cavolo nero (Tuscan cabbage), tope (a Mediterranean fish), andpancetta copatta (ham-stuffed pancetta) that are unavailable here and for which no alternatives are suggested. In addition, the recipes themselves are often insufficiently specific or detailed--even seasoned bakers will pause before cake recipes that don't specify pan size--and can also lack yields. Space considerations have also meant printing recipes in single, one-column paragraphs, which can make place-finding while cooking difficult, and there are typos and other goofs (one recipe for four specifies six cups of sliced scallions; another requires that a marinade be "stirred frequently for five to twelve hours").All this said, many cooks--casual and serious alike--as well as cookbook collectors, will want The Silver Spoon. It's an essential document of the Italian table and as such a classic. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine a complete cookbook library without the book--a welcome evocation of a much-beloved repertoire by those who know it best. --Arthur Boehm
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| Customer Reviews: Read 149 more reviews...
 Beautiful work - a great accomplishment (with a few nitpicks) November 7, 2005
KH1 (Middle America)
370 out of 395 found this review helpful
_The Silver Spoon_ was originally published in Italy in 1950 by the Italian architectural and design magazine _Domus_. (Italian Title "Il Cucchiaio d'argento." The eighth edition came out in 1997.)The publishers at Phaidon, the British publishing house, have done a remarkable job of translating and designing _The Silver Spoon for American and British cooks. The cookbook combines both traditional Italian recipes, and more contemporary Italian recipes influenced by other cuisines. If I had to make a comparison, I would say that it's much like a Italian version of "The Joy of Cooking," though not nearly as comprehensive.
I have three or four "classical" Italian cookbooks, and many of the recipes in those books are repeated here. I think that I'll hang on to them - but more for the extra information relating to Italian cuisine (which this book lacks) than for the recipes.
The food:
_The Silver Spoon_ is divided into 14 chapters (with a preface):
Eating is a Serious Matter (preface)
Cooking Terms - This chapter is a comprehensive glossary of all of the cooking terms used in the book. It covers terms for ingredients, cookware, and cooking techniques. I especially liked how the authors delineated exactly what they mean for specific terms related to technique; for example, "Brown in a Pan: To cook vegetables over low heat in butter or oil until they go a light golden color. This is particularly common with thinly slice donion or garlic cloves. Meat or vegetables may also be cooked in oil or butter ina skillet over high heat until a rich, even brown in color during the first or final stage of cooking." Equally detailed descriptions are given for everything from "Aceto Balsamico" to "Whisk/Beat". Experienced cooks may find these descriptions unneccesary, but as an amateur, I really appreciated them. The definitions of Italian words "Cacciatore", "Ribollita", etc. are the only indications in the entire book of the origins of any particular dish.
Tools and Equipment - This chapter gives information on the types of cookware necessary for the recipes included, some notes on kitchen organization, and two full-color pages of pictures of the different types of cookware neccessary.
Sauces, Marinades, and Flavored Butters - This chapter includes recipes for nearly every sauce that I've ever heard of - including all of the mother sauces, each with two to ten sauces based on them.
This chapter is divided into the following subchapters:
Hot Sauces
Cold Sauces
Marinades
Flavored Butters ( five pages of recipes for these)
Antipasti, Appetizers, and Pizzas - Include Crostini, Pates, Quiches, Canapes, and many others.
First Courses - Soups, Pasta (fresh and dried), and Rice Dishes
Eggs and Frittata
Vegetables - How to prepare every vegetable under the sun (including some I have never heard of) and salads. The salads chapter seems a bit short, though meat and seafood salads are including in those sections.
FIsh, Crustaceans, and Shellfish - Includes information on serving sizes, cooking techniques, and how to get rid of ligering fish smells in the kitchen. Has seperate subchapters for 32 types of fish, 12 types of shellfish, snails and frogs (5 recipes for frogs alone!)
Meat and Variety Meats - Gives information on Cuts of meat (Both Italian and American) for Lamb, Pork, Beef, and Veal, along with several hundred recipes. Also includes bits on sausages and "Variety Meats", or Offal.
Poultry - The basics (Chicken, Turkey, Duck) with Squab, Capon, and Guinea Fowl also.
Game
Cheese - a short chapter giving first Courses and appetizers using cheese
Desserts and Baking - Gives recipes for every type of pastry imaginable, frostings and sauces, creams, puddings, you name it. An exhaustive chapter. (But nothing on baking bread.)
Menus by Celebrated Chefs - Includes menus with recipes from 23 Italian, Italian-American, and Anglo-Italian Chefs. Includes Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali. (No Pictures in this section, but plenty more recipes. )
The book contains both a list of recipes by ingredient and a comprehensive index.
The recipes are not direct translations from the Italian - the translators have converted ingredients into imperial units and have written the instructions so that they are more descriptive.I found the recipes easy to read and to understand. For the most part, the writing is concise, but instructions are given in such a way that a person unfamiliar with a technique used can easily complete the recipe - the Italian version was apparently written for more advanced cooks.
The design is very well executed. This is a cookbook to be used, and used often. Aspects of the design that I really appreciated were the different colored edges on the paper for each chapter, so that you might turn immediately to the section that you wish to, and the lack of a dust jacket, which I find to be a nuisance on cookbooks that are to be used often.
This is not a cookbook for people who like anecdotes or pictures. The recipes have no introduction except for their Italian names. The pictures are well done - the food is simply displayed in the pan it was cooked in, or on a white plate on a plain background with out garnishes. The pictures are not labeled clearly (The labels are there, but they are tiny - you really have to look for them.) with the name of the dish. There are several line drawings, from the original, I believe, but they serve a decorative purpose only.
I have several very small nitpicks with the the book: the lack of certain regional dishes that I took to be well-known; The printing is light - I would have prefered a solid black, which is easier to read, than the charcoal grey that is used for all of the recipes; I really would have enjoyed information for at least some of the dishes on where they came from, and information on the differences in the regional cuisines of Italy would have been helpful. This information may have been superfluous in an Italian edition, but would be appropriate in an American one. There is also no section on baking breads, which is very strange for a book that claims to cover the whole of Italian cuisine. There is also no coverage of the history of Italian cuisine.
However, all of these problems aren't worth docking a whole star when one takes into consideration the wealth of recipes included. I have only made a few simple salads, but they've turned out deliciously. The design of the book makes it very easy to use in the kitchen - the binding lays open flat, and includes two ribbons to mark your page, and the text is plain and easy to read. This is going to be a really fun cookbook to use, and I'm sure that I'm going to use it for decades.
Great Survey of What Italians Eat. Buy It. November 26, 2005
B. Marold (Bethlehem, PA United States)
187 out of 203 found this review helpful
`The Silver Spoon', the very first translation of an Italian cookbook in its eighth edition, published since 1950. This 2005 translation is based on the 1997 Italian edition published by Editoriale Domus. While there are credits for drawings, photography, and provisions of props, there is no credit for either author or editor in clear sight.
The blurbs on the book's cover tout the volume as `the bible of authentic Italian cooking'. I believe this can mislead some buyers in thinking that the book is devoted exclusively to Italian techniques or that the book has the very best and most definitive demonstrations of Italian cooking techniques. It would be much more accurate to compare this to either `The Joy of Cooking' or `James Beard's American Cookery' in that its emphasis is more on completeness rather than depth or excellence in pedagogical presentation. At 2000 recipes, this volume easily trumps some recent big Italian cookbooks, such as Michele Scicolone's `1000 Italian Recipes' or Mario Batali's `Molto Italiano'. If broad range is what you want, this is exactly the book for you.
What it does not have is any but the slimmest anecdotal information on regionality of dishes or exceptionally well explained techniques for such mysteries as fresh pasta making, bread baking, sausage making, or homemade mozzarella. You may also be surprised to find a large selection of terms and recipes from French, Spanish, Middle Eastern, Russian, and Japanese cuisines. This is all in keeping with a book devoted to be a reference for Italian home cooking. Italian bourgeois amateur cooks, it seems, are just as likely to use the French name for many dishes such as souffle or crepe as the Italian name. This belies the statement I read recently that it is only in America where one finds the fascination with world cuisines, as if all Italians spent all their time eating just the foods of their local province.
The introduction to this volume states that in the course of translating the book, care was taken to convert names of ingredients to designate provisions familiar to the American home. Unfortunately, they were not entirely successful in doing this, as I found multiple references to `Caesar mushrooms' with no explanation of what species of mushroom may be similar in the American megamart. What's doubly odd is that according to `Larousse Gastronomique', Caesar's mushroom is rare today and remarkably similar to a poisonous variety of mushroom. I also found the recipe directions still relatively sparse in detail and not entirely up to date to the latest in American culinary technique. One example is that for the recipe for veal saltimbocca, it calls for salting the meat after the saute. Modern practice recommends salting meat before sauteeing. Similarly, the recipes for fresh pasta or pizza dough are just a bit terse, with no good tips on the finer points of various equipment for kneading, rolling out, and cutting fresh pasta.
All this means is that this is not necessarily a good first book on Italian cooking. Marcella Hazan's books, especially `Marcella Cucina', are far better introductions to classic Italian technique, with Carol Field's `The Italian Baker' being a far superior introduction to Italian breads. But that doesn't say there is not a whole lot to like about this book, whose great strength lies in the great number of variations it gives on common dishes and the coverage it gives to dishes which many Italian cookbooks don't even bother to mention.
This book includes several great chapters on subjects that are almost entirely ignored by modern cookbook writers and Food Network faves. Anyone who has dabbled in Italian cuisine knows a little about timbales, mostly as a dish that is very complicated and done only for major celebrations. All treatments of the dish I have seen up to now reinforce this notion. It was featured as a celebratory dish in Stanley Tucci's movie `Big Night' and as a `tour de force' recipe in an episode of `Mario Eats Italy'. The best recipes I have seen for it are in excellent books on regional cooking and are all very long. This book gives us a whole chapter on timbales with twelve (12) recipes, none of which take more than one page. Another `lost' culinary subject is covered in the chapter on eggs. You expect and get lots of frittata recipes, but you also get ten recipes for shirred (baked) eggs plus recipes for eggs en cocotte, medium cooked eggs, and hard cooked eggs. And, while frittatas are a darling of the Food Network set, I have never seen them do a filled frittata or a frittata cake. You get them here!
One of the most useful items in the book may be the comparison of Italian versus American cuts of beef and the appropriate cooking techniques for each cut.
The chapter on baking and desserts is surprising in its size (about 120 pages) and by the heavy presence of both French and Austrian pastry techniques. Like every other chapter, I would not use this book as a primer on baking and pastry. I would first master my Sherry Yard (`The Secrets of Baking') or Nick Malgieri (`Perfect Pastry') or even the new `Martha Stewart Baking Handbook' before tackling these recipes, but if you really want to know what Nonna in Naples is really cooking, this is where you want to go!
The book is exceptionally well laid out, with color-coded pages by chapter and subchapter, a full index, plus a separate list of recipes. The glossary of culinary terms in the beginning is great, even if the translation is a bit quirky. This is not as definitive a coverage of ITALIAN cooking as the older `Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well' by Pellegrino Artusi, but it is a very, very good source of recipes cooked in Italy today.
Very highly recommended.
 Why is noone in Italy interested in this cookbook? February 26, 2006
James J. Jones (Boulder, CO)
68 out of 82 found this review helpful
Last week I tried my first two Silver Spoon recipes: Bean And Farro Minestrone and Halibut With Olive Sauce. The first item I took to be a soup, but, when finished, it had the consistency of dry oatmeal. The Olive Sauce I thought would be ... well ... an olive sauce. But it started as a thick, dry paste, and, after the prescribed amount of baking time, it remained a paste. I was not so surprised by these results; I puzzled over the recipe's surprising low inputs of liquid. I just assumed that there was a method in the authors' madness.
With these absurd results from a cookbook that has created such a media stir, I started to wonder: How much of The Silver Spoon is publisher's hype and how much is real. So I took a visit to the Italian Internet via 'www.yahoo.it'. There I discovered that:
a) There is indeed a cookbook named "Il cucchiaio d'argento".
b) The local favorite Internet book purveyor shows that it was first published in 1950 - another publisher truth - but it took 47 years to go into Second Edition. That is not exactly the sign of a cookbook that is on every Italian home's shelves. It has not been republished or updated since 1997.
c) When you do a general Yahoo search for Italian websites posting keywords "Il cucchiaio d'argento" "libro" "cucina", you get a lot of results, but you have to page pretty far to get to any that make reference to the Italian equivalent of the Silver Spoon cookbook. A surprising result for a book that is supposed to be a staple in every Italian kitchen, no?
I have therefore started to develop the following thoughts regarding The Silver Spoon:
- The hype did not start with independent media; it started with bogus claims about its uniquitousness in Italian homes invented by the publisher's marketing staff.
- The book beecame additionally interesting to the media (and to stores, and to potential end-users) due to its very large size (1200+ pages), and very many recipes.
- The book is truly the Italian equivalent of the 1950 edition of The Fannie Farmer cookbook or maybe Betty Crocker (or probably some cookbook that was never even as popular as any of those two - it did after all wait 47 years before demand swelled for a Second edition).
- Imagine how much money you could make, if you could get the rights to the 1950 edition of The Fannie Farmer cookbook and make it popular in a country bigger than ours (say China).
- Imagine how much more money you could make, if you published it, as it was published in 1950, as a pure book of words with no pictures, but sold it at the price of modern graphically rich cookbooks.
- Imagine how much more money you could make, if you hired the cheapest of all possible translators to perform the translation (young students, perhaps), and hired no quality control people to check the content before it was published.
Before you buy this book, ask yourself "How often am I tempted to make recipes out of the 1950 edition of my most general cookbooks?" ... and "Do I really believe that no better cookbook on Italian cooking has been published in the last 56 years?"
Best New Cookbook of the Year! November 3, 2005
Ivan Zandelo
61 out of 76 found this review helpful
I love to cook, and Italian is one of my favorites. I love the copy of this I just received. There are 2000 recipes in it and lots of great pictures! I have never seen such a complete and authentic Italian cookbook before.
 At least this is truly Italian... December 11, 2005
Giuseppe Durazzano (Milan, Italy)
43 out of 45 found this review helpful
I am Italian and I am living in Italy.
As the Publisher said "this is a popular wedding gift" for us. This means that this book is often used as a reference book. The recipes are not new yet are honest. They may help you in many occasions.
Bookshops are full of books that pretend to be Italian but, in most of the cases, the only Italian thing is the last name of the author.
So buy The Silver Spoon if like Italian food and you are looking for a complete overview of the way we cook and eat.
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