Mario Batali's delicious deep dive into American Regional cooking with 250 recipes—from San Diego Fish Tacos to Boston Cream Pie.
Over two years in the making, with Batali searching for truly delicious dishes from all corners of the US, this definitive cookbook features the best America has to offer. With over 250 simple recipes celebrating the treasures of the state fairs and the dishes of the local rotary clubs and ethnic groups. Batali has interpreted these regional gems with the same excitement and passion that he has approached traditional Italian food.
Covering the Northeast/New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, the Heartland, the Southwest, and the Pacific Coast, this book will share everything from the BBQ styles of Texas, the Smokeys and the Carolinas, to the seafood soups from yankee Boston to the spicy gumbos of the Gulf Coast and the berry pies of the Pacific Northwest.
All the dishes are very simple and do-able—from Philly Cheesesteaks to Marionberry cobbler. And while Batali uses recipes passed down through the generations, he also shares hints on what he would add to the recipe to take the flavor up a notch.
This is THE American cookbook you will want to own.
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Publishers Weekly
09/19/2016
Batali is best known for his New York City Italian eateries (Esca, Babbo, and Luca) and cookbooks (Molto Italiano, The Babbo Cookbook, etc.), as well as TV shows such as the foodie chat show The Chew, but he has been branching out lately, and his second book of American food (2014’s America: Farm to Table highlighted local providers) features a solid collection of some of the country’s iconic dishes. The premise is hardly a new one, and Batali offers plenty of expected regional fare: Manhattan clam chowder, crab cakes, biscuits and gravy, fried chicken, and so on. These are pitch-perfect in execution but bring little new to the discussion. The book takes off with the inclusion of quirky, must-try dishes such as black-walnut ice cream from Missouri; Country Captain Chicken from the Charleston, S.C./Savannah, Ga., region; quirky Midwestern fare such as loose meat sandwiches from Iowa, Cleveland’s pierogies, and Nebraska’s runzas (bread pockets stuffed with meat and cabbage); and Maryland’s Smith Island cake. Those culinary details, as well as Batali’s essays on his two-year journey across the U.S. (which include further recommendations), set this volume apart from its peers. Though many of the dishes have been collected elsewhere (Batali’s She-Crab Soup and oysters Rockefeller, among others, do not deviate in the slightest from the classic preparations), Batali fans and collectors of Americana will appreciate this reliable and well-curated compendium. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
"This colorfully illustrated collection celebrates iconic American cooking with generally easily reproduced dishes that will delight people for a family dinner or for a special event . . . Batali makes every dish look like great fun, and it's impossible not to share his enthusiasm. His popularity alone will make this a required purchase . . . but the variety of content will be welcomed by even those who aren't already fans."—Mark Knoblauch, Booklist"Culinary details, as well as Batali's essays on his two-year journey across the U.S. (which include further recommendations), set this volume apart from its peers . . . Batali fans and collectors of Americana will appreciate this reliable and well-curated compendium."—Publishers Weekly
"There's not an ounce of pretense amid the 250-plus dishes that comprise the celeb chef's latest offering. Instead, you'll find Batali's talented take on old-school regional fare."—Modern Farmer
Library Journal
01/01/2017
Celebrity chef Batali (America—Farm to Table) takes on regional American cooking in this weighty new cookbook, which collects the iconic dishes you'd expect to find in a roadside diner or treasured heirloom recipe box. Cowritten with Washington Post copy editor Webster, the book groups more than 250 classics (e.g., New England boiled dinner, Chicago deep-dish pizza, fried dill pickles, gooey butter cake) into eight regional chapters, each of which includes a bonus pickle, preserve, and cocktail recipe. There are plenty of full-page color photographs to entice home cooks, who will find these recipes straightforward, flexible, and easy to reproduce. VERDICT More comprehensive than Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and Cook's Country Eats Local, Batali's heartfelt latest is sure to be popular.
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