Old World Italian: Recipes and Secrets from Our Travels in Italy

In breathless prose, Thorisson (French Country Cooking) recalls “charging over the mountains in a car filled with children and dogs” to move from the French countryside to Turin on a whim. That fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants tone never lets up, resulting in a book that is exhilarating if occasionally scattered: a chapter on aperitivi, for example, opens with coffee drinks, and French madeleines pop up among the dessert selections with the justification that Turin was once a French duchy. The recipes are clear-cut and easy to follow, many of which come from Italian chefs and restaurants, such as the lemon meringue cake from Harry’s Bar in Venice and tomato jam from landmark Neapolitan restaurant Mimì alla Ferrovia. Characters like Frenky Vergnano, whose family owns Italy’s oldest coffee roasting company, also pitch in. (He contributes an artichoke risotto recipe.) As the title indicates, these are largely familiar, classic recipes, or, as the author deems them, “the universally beloved ones... the ‘Ultimate Best of Collection’ ”—and cover stalwarts including eggplant parmigiana, saltimbocca with sage and prosciutto, and pasta with everything from clams to a Bolognese sauce. The author’s husband contributes a mini-essay on coffee and spectacular photographs. This is an impeccably styled record from a keen-eyed outsider looking in. (Sept.)