The Silver Spoon

The Silver Spoon http://ca.phaidon.com/the-silver-spoon/ has been Italy's best selling cookbook for over fifty years. It is considered the bible of authentic Italian cooking. Logging in at a dizzying 1263 pages and containing over two thousand recipes, this one is a whopper.
The Silver Spoon is published by Phaidon http://ca.phaidon.com/agenda/, originally a publisher of books about the visual arts, they have branched out and now publish books in a number of styles.

In The Silver Spoon, recipes are divided into sections: sauces, marinades and flavoured butters; Antipasti, appetizers and pizza; first courses; eggs and frittata; vegetables; fish, crustaceans and shellfish; meat and variety meats; poultry; game; cheese; and desserts and baking. There is a final section  that includes menus designed by famous chefs.

In Italy, cooking and food are a rich tapestry that weave the country's cultural history with its traditions. The recipes here are sometimes simple and rustic, and other times sophisticated and complex. They blend ancient tradition with innovative new methods. They focus on the evolution of what Italian cuisine was and is becoming.

The Silver Spoon breaks down the incorrect conception that Italian food is all garlic and tomatoes. It also explores the vast regional differences in style. Italian food is based on fresh local ingredients, therefore the styles vary greatly from the north to the south. In the north, cattle and dairy farming make for a cuisine based on butter meat and cheese, whereas, in the south ingredients like olive oil, tomatoes, eggplant and fish are common staples.

If you want to try some recipes from The Silver Spoon, it is available at most libraries. If you are interested in owning an Italian cookbook that truly covers the whole spectrum, there is none better.