Cooking the Roman Way: Authentic Recipes from the Home Cooks and Trattorias of Rome

by David Downie

Book Overview

Rome is the most beloved city in Italy, if not the world. Rich in culture, art, and charm, the Eternal City is also home to some of the most delicious and accessible cooking in all of Italy. Influenced by both the earthy peasant fare of the surrounding hillsides and the fish from the nearby Mediterranean, Roman food makes the most of local ingredients and simple, age-old techniques. Yet while Italian cookbooks abound, no American book has focused...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060188928
• ISBN13: 9780060188924
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 2.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 8.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Shootout in the Forum. Two excellent books. One Winner

Two books on Roman cooking have appeared within the last eighteen (18) months, which gives us a golden opportunity to proof one against the other to find the better book. The first published last year, the current subject, is `Cooking the Roman Way' by David Downie. The second is the more recently published book `In a Roman Kitchen: Timeless Recipes from the Eternal City' by Jo Bettoja.In general, Downie's book appears to be based more on restaurante, trattoria, and osteria recipes while Bettoja seems to rely more on home cooking recipes. Still, there is a significant overlap of recipe names. I had no trouble at all finding five recipes with the same traditional Italian name, although the English translation of the name may have been a little different. I give high marks to both authors for giving the Italian names of all dishes in both the text and the index.I compared the recipes for five dishes:Gnocchi di Semolino alla RomanaSpaghetti alla CarbonaraCipolline in Agrodolce alla RomanaCarciofi alla GiudiaFrittata con ZucchiniAlthough no pair of recipes was the same, I can find virtually nothing in these five recipes which would suggest that one author was presenting consistently superior recipes. I was slightly annoyed with Downie for specifying white coctail onions in the Cipolline recipe, especially since I have no trouble finding cipolline in my local Pennsylvania megamart. My conclusion that Downie relies on the Trattoria and Bettoja relies on the home is in the sources they cite for their recipes. Both appear to give equal time to the influence of the Jewish quarter on Roman cooking.In Bettoja's case, the focus seems to be on a large number of recipes for each major type of Roman dish. She has, for example, more pasta, artichoke, and fava bean recipes than Downie, and also more dessert recipes. This is ironic since Downie controverts one of my hero Mario Batali's claims that Italians do not go in for sweets.In contrast, Downie includes many seminally Roman recipes which Bettoja simply ignores. He has excellent recipes for making both Pizza Bianco, a certifiable Roman speciality, and fresh fettucini, including sound recommendations on making the fettucini completely by hand and with the assistance of power mixers and power pasta rolling machines. Most surprising of all is that Downie includes the recipe for Gnocchi di Patate while Bettoja does not. My understanding from Mario is that this is a Roman speciality and every trattoria in Rome serves it on Thursday. Alternately, Claudia Roden identifies it as a northern (Friuli) Italian speciality. Since Downie specifically cites potato gnocchi as the Roman canonical dish for Thursday and thereby agrees with Mario, I have to assume that while the dish may be promenant outside Rome, it is certainly a distinctively Roman dish as well.Bettoja is a teacher who runs her own culinary school in Rome while Downie is a culinary journalist, so it surprises me that it is Downie who has the superior sidebars o

Cooking The Roman Way

I just bought this book, and I am so glad I found it. It explains delicious,simple and healthy Italian recipies and is also a fun read. The author goes beyond demistifying Roman cuisine. Every section is easily accessible with interesting stories and beautiful pictures of places I'd like to go. This book is very well organized. It includes clear steps and pictures for making basic components such as fresh artichoke hearts. There are also more complex recipies for more seasoned cooks. I am glad to have this one in my kitchen and know many friends who love Italian food who will be glad to get it too.

An Indispensable book for any Italian food lover

A book on the cooking of Rome was long overdue. Hooray for David Downie and his meticulous research into the myriad secrets of Rome's great culinary traditions! I was enchanted to find a recipe for Vignarola, that incomparable Roman spring vegetable stew, and to discover delicious new pasta dishes such as a mouth-watering concoction of spaghetti with fresh favas, lettuce hearts and pancetta. Not to mention the sublime sweet peppers stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies and the delectable fried artichokes - Roman-style. David Downie vividly brings alive the day-to-day, season-to-season, rich kaleidoscope of the eternal city's trattorias, open-air markets, butchers, bakers and grocers galore.This beautiful book is richly illustrated by Alison Harris's marvellous photographs which admirably capture the essence of Rome and the Romans. Bravo Downie and Harris for an indispensable addition to any food lover or serious cook's library. Cooking the Roman Way certainly tops my Christmas gift list!

buy this book!

A friend sent me a review of Cooking the Roman Way. The reviewer made it sound too good to be true, so I ordered a copy to find out. Even for a passionate but untrained foodie like me, I've got to say that this is a great piece of work -- it's funny and articulate -- a literate cookbook that reads like a cross between fine travel writing and memoir. I have also found a bunch of classic Roman recipes that anyone can do -- bruschetta, spaghetti with garlic and hot pepper, Carbonara, Amatriciana, crostini with anchovies (my girlfriend loved that one in particular). I have been to Rome a couple of times and everything in the book rang true -- the atmosphere, the cooking style, the sites, the sensuality. Now I'm recommending the book to everyone I know, both for their own use and as gifts. What a find. Kudos (or however you say it in Italian) to the the author and photographer!

If you love Italian food as I do, you must buy this book.

The recipes are great. I especially loved the carbonara and the spicy Amatriciana tomato sauce. Finally I have a cookbook with my favorite recipes! I own many Italian cookbooks but I wasn't aware that some of the classics I love are from Rome. A friend gave this book to me as a gift. It's a beautiful book with lavish color photos. I like it so much I'm going to give it to everyone on my Christmas list.