Italy has produced one of the world’s greatest and most beloved cuisines, filled with vibrant flavors and soul-satisfying dishes. Unfortunately, no cuisine has been more misinterpreted than Italy’s. Now, restaurateur Tony May, owner of New York City’s San Domenico restaurant, gives readers a comprehensive cookbook that celebrates Italy’s authentic gastronomic pleasures in a way that only an Italian, devoted to the cuisine of his native country, could imagine. Originally written for culinary professionals, Tony May’s “Italian Cuisine” has now been adapted for the home cook. May takes the reader into the kitchens of centuries of Italian cooks to show the real panorama of Italian food in all its glory. In chapters devoted to breads, antipasti, sauces, meats, vegetables, soups, pasta, fish, poultry, cheeses, and desserts, never-before published recipes mix with time-honored classics to show readers the depth and breadth of true Italian cuisine. Here are just a few examples of the bounty just inside the covers of “Italian Cuisine: " “Chisolini”—flaky fried dough served with antipasti Zucchini blossom soup Crisp fried polenta with borlotti beans and cabbage “Pappardelle” with wild hare sauce Christmas capon stuffed with walnuts Ligurian seafood “caponata” “Tortelli de Carnevale”—sweet, puffy fried beignets In addition to the wonderful recipes and wealth of Italian culinary knowledge, “Italian Cuisine” includes a comprehensive Italian to English glossary of food terms that provides a cook’s quick reference to all things authentically Italian. Throughout, May’s inimitable native Italian voice guides the reader’s hands in a book destined to become a standard volumeon the cookbook shelf. Someone once said that Italians have raised living to an art form; Tony May’s “Italian Cuisine” is certainly evidence of that.
