The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Italian Cuisine, the next book in STC's series with The International Culinary Center (also home to The French Culinary Institue), is a comprehensive guide to traditional Italian cooking. In this book, the skills needed to render the flavours and details of classic Italian recipes are expertly taught by Cesare Casella, based on the curriculum of the School of Italian Studies. Following the The Fundamental Techniques format, this fourth book in the series breaks down the traditions and techniques of Italian cooking in a way that will appeal to home cooks as well as those seeking more advanced technical information.
The book's introductory chapter, called "The Flavors of Italy," is a pantry of Italian ingredients, elaborating on the products, their flavours and their uses. The heart of the book is the recipes, a collection of all the traditional forms that comprise the cuisine. The twenty chapters within this section cover the entire Italian meal, beginning with a huge array of first courses and antipasti and culminating in a spectacular variety of desserts.
Chapters on cheese making, stocks and basic sauces, soups, pasta, risotto, pizza, fish and shellfish, meats, and vegetables offer all manner of primi and secondi courses in between, and recipe introductions supply information on regional and local particularities. Ranging from butchering to baking, the recipes provide a well rounded and complete overview of Italian cuisine. The final section of the book, the "lessons", is a comprehensive look at the cooking techniques used throughout the recipes, with a detailed discussion of each technique and a description of how it is taught at the ICC.
The techniques are illustrated by hundreds of step by step photos. The lessons also include information about restaurant organisation and practices that will be useful to readers who work in the industry. This section may be used in conjunction with the recipes in the book, as an aid when cooking from other cookbooks, or on its own, as inspiration.
The lessons are the final instructional step in helping readers to achieve not just a thorough vocabulary of techniques but also the understanding and expertise that turn a home cook into a master of Italian cuisine.
