The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family

by Laura Schenone

Book Overview

James Beard Award-winning author Laura Schenone undertakes a quest to retrieve her great grandmother's ravioli recipe, reuniting with relatives as she goes. In lyrical prose and delicious recipes, Schenone takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from the grit of New Jersey's industrial wastelands and the fast-paced disposable culture of its suburbs to the dramatically beautiful coast of Liguria--the family's homeland--with its pesto, smoked chestnuts,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393061469
• ISBN13: 9780393061468
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 326 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

An Ode to Handmade Ravioli

The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken is a wonderful tale of the search for family origins. Laura Schenone was at a point where she wanted a recipe of her own -- not from a cookbook, the newspaper or a TV food expert -- nothing less than an authentic old family recipe. I recognized a kindred spirit, madly rolling ravioli instead of celebrating Christmas morning with her husband and children and then feeling unappreciated as her parents and sister flung the bags of handmade ravioli into the freezer and promptly forgot them. I devoured the chapters where she tested recipes (and recoiled with her upon learning her family's filling actually included raw meat and Philadelphia cream cheese), consulted old cookbooks in the New York Public Library, and compared techniques with her gastronomic mentor, Lou. I relished traveling with her to her ancestral homeland near Genoa where she learned traditional techniques and sampled the finest artisanal Italian foods. I loved that her quest to authenticate her great-grandmother's recipe brought her into contact with far flung distant relatives and gave her a chance to make ravioli with her family's ancestral rolling pin. The only parts of the story that seem to break the narrative flow were the long rehashings of Schenone family feuds and the rambling introspections on the author's troubled relationship with both her father and her youngest sister. Nonetheless, the overall story was an enjoyable look into both the history of ravioli in Hoboken, New Jersey and the way food and family are so closely intertwined. The book concludes with recipes for ravioli, several fillings (including the cream cheese version) and related Italian specialties from the Ligurian region of Italy. Although the author clearly prefers traditional methods, there are detailed instructions for making pasta dough by hand as well as by mixer and for rolling it out by hand as well as with a pasta machine.

Gorgeous, intelligent writing from an excellent cook

It's rare in the food writing genre to find an accomplished literary writer who is also a smart, talented and creative cook, and that's what readers will find in Schenone's new memoir. As a former pastry chef, author of a food memoir and fellow writer, I was smitten with the book from the opening line which is both poetic and evocative. From there, it's a page turner. Schenone is an entirely sympathetic and engagingly curious and thoughtful narrator whose voice is graceful and compelling. I enjoyed her journey from overwhelmed mother of two trying in vain to duplicate her family's famous Christmas ravioli from a cryptic recipe, to intrepid traveler seeking out the origins of the dish, to her final transformation into someone with a deeper understanding of cooking, life, family and these precious handed-down recipes we all treasure but often find baffling and inconsistent with modern life. Her constant soul-searching is fascinating as she sets out on her quest to find the real, authentic ravioli recipe, as are her descriptions of the Italian cooks and their kitchens that she pursues to satisfy a genuine craving for answers; why did her ancestors use something as ordinary as cream cheese in an otherwise authentic recipe for ravioli? What was the original use for the exotic and fascinating old ravioli tool that hung in her childhood home? Is she an 'authentic" Italian, or only a confusing diluted mix of heritages without a strong identity? What can she do to get her children (described here beautifully, foibles and imaginary friends and all)to appreciate "real" food? I could not put this book down and I doubt anyone with a love of old recipes, family stories, quests for something bigger than ourselves, or a yen for a food memoir written with passion and integrity could either. It's on my list of the best books of the year.

A mystery, a cookbook, a travel guide, and a voyage of self discovery

This is a wonderful book on many different levels. A basic clue in the mystery is a pack of Philadelphia Cream cheese listed as an ingredient in a family recipe for ravioli. That cream cheese turns up from time to time in the author's five year search for the "real" version from her Ligurian ancestors. For example, there's a silver pack of cream cheese among dozens of authentic cheeses in a specialty shop in Genoa. There are many other surprises for the author and the reader in this wonderful book. ShSchenone makes one basic point: Italy had a great cuisine in the 1800s and 1900s, but it was reserved primarily for the wealthy and the nobility. Common people ate a very different, much less complex cuisine, and poorer people immigrated to the US. Here they created a new cuisine, a reflection of, but not a duplicate of the "Italian cuisine" of their homeland. Schenone demonstrates the point several times during the course of this fascinating book. Reading how Schenone solved the mystery of how her great grandmother made her ravioli makes this one of the best food books I've ever read. Robert C. Ross 2007 2008

Excellent Christmas gift

I love a mystery. And in her `The lost ravioli recipes of Hoboken' Schenone unravels a mystery through a personal journey to "uncover the truth" behind the treasured family recipe of her great-grandmother. I was hooked from the start intellectually and emotionally (yes, the book made me laugh and cry). I think the only other book I have read remotely like `Lost ravioli' is `How to Make an American Quilt', but I connected with `Lost ravioli' even more. Maybe it is my age (similar to the author's), but certainly the superb writing and many threads that come together in Schenone's latest book. One does not need to be a foodie, an Italian-American or a New Jerseyite to devour this book. One only needs to appreciate outstanding prose and a fascinating story. My husband and I read the book aloud to each other and it is our choice for Christmas gift book this year!

Wonderful storytelling and a wonderful story...

A moving, heartwarming, exciting memoir in which I could find stories, discoveries, and experiences which made me feel as if parts of the book reflected my culture and roots from the other side of the Mediterranean Sea (Eastern Med). This book has the potential to become an international bestseller. It is not just "Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken" but it is "THE" Lost Ravioli Recipe --across cultures! Wholeheartedly recommended !!!