Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and California

March 19, 2010 | By In Article |

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5 Comments so far

  1. T. Young on March 19th, 2010

    I was sent this cookbook and it was an uncorrected proof copy. The images were black and white and looked like they were taken from the net. The binding was flimsy, as were the pages. It was a really bad job. However, I understand that this is an uncorrected proof copy and I can say that the recipes looked really good, the photos, had they been color and glossy were pleasing as well. I simply can’t rate this any higher without seeing a proper copy.
    Rating: 2 / 5

  2. E. K. Moseley on March 19th, 2010

    Giada at Home: Family Recipes from Italy and California by Giada De Laurentiis; this an excellent book full of many ides, but the best thing is all fresh foods and some incorporated ingredetants with Mexico. I love this book for the ease o use.

    I highly recommend.
    Rating: 5 / 5

  3. Noneofyourbiz on March 20th, 2010

    Naturally I was expecting this book to have scrumptious recipes involving cheese and pasta and olive oil, and I’m not disappointed. But the section on desserts is delightful! Cookies and cake to honey-poached pears, the recipes offer a variety of flavors and textures. I can’t wait to try them.
    Rating: 4 / 5

  4. Prism on March 20th, 2010

    I like watching Giada on tv. She’s so personable and fun to watch on tv so I had a feeling her cookbook with portray some of that and it does. Her recipes are simple to follow with minimal ingredients and best of all, PICTURES of the food! I am a visual person so this is always important to me in a recipe book.
    Rating: 5 / 5

  5. fiber farmer on March 20th, 2010

    I really like some of the recipes in this book. I also like the warm feel of the text, the hominess of the narrative and the family pictures. I also like the fact that Giada is trying to mix two cultures and come up with the best of both worlds.

    The difficulty with the recipes for me is that many of the ingredients in the recipes are gourmet-style ingredients that are just not on the radar of a home cook, not in the budget, or simply not available. For a person in a large metro area with access to various ethnic and gourmet markets, and with a sizeable food budget, this book offers some lovely change of pace meals that are somewhat time consuming, but worth the effort. Of the meals I have made, I have had to substitute some of the ingredients in order to make them work in my home. I had to look up what some of them actually were, as there are only sketchy details on them–Cerignola, treviso, orecchiette, to name a few. Granted, this is a book written by an Italian cook, but some explanation would be helpful for the American cook. Perhaps I should watch the Food Network more in order to connect with the “foodie” culture?

    The liberal use of expensive ingredients is the main reason I will not use this book as often as others. Shrimp, capers, gourmet olives, gourmet cheeses, and some of the ingredients that simply do not fit into a typical American household budget. Beyond that, I forsee most of these expensive items being left on the plates of the children in the house, despite the pictures of Giada’s daughter tasting the offerings throughout the book. Wasting food is a tragedy at my house, and wasting expensive food is a deal breaker. Most of the children I know have not been raised to appreciate the finer things in cooking and this is my frame of reference.

    Overall, it’s a good attempt at a different concept in Italian cooking and I will use the book from time to time when I feel up to something new and different. However, my budget simply will not allow for its full use because the ingredients are just not affordable and/or available.

    Rating: 3 / 5

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