Review: Giada at Home

Giada at Home
by Giada De Laurentiis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Giada at Home / 978-0-30745-101-9

Part cookbook, but with biographical elements that provide interesting insight and reading into the featured chef's adjustment from Italian cuisine to American cuisine, and her fusion attempts with both, this book is an interesting read with several mouth-watering recipes. Many of the recipes feature full-page finished photos, and most of the Italian cuisine dialect is carefully explained to the reader (finally, I now know the difference between prosciutto and pancetta).

It's worth remembering, when considering the purchase of this book, that the recipes here may be challenging for some American palates. Although Giada has tastefully combined American cuisine with her Italian childhood memories, the Italian flavors shine through heavily. Many of the recipes call for ingredients that may not be found outside of the nearest specialty market, almost none of the recipes utilize beef (and even the chicken and pork recipes are fairly sparing on the meat content), and there is a noticeable reliance on salty flavors in the meat and cheese dishes.

Of course, none of this makes the cookbook less worthy of purchase, but like all specialty cookbooks, I would recommend flipping through a few recipes before purchase. Having said that, this is a very nice specialty cookbook - the flavor and variety are appreciated, the writing style is quite engaging, the pictures are beautiful, and the assembly instructions are adequate (although I would prefer pictorial assembly instructions where applicable, but I suppose that's a bit much to ask from a specialty book).

NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.

~ Ana Mardoll

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