Book Review: The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco

If you are a fan of the HBO Sopranos show, or just plain enjoy Italian cooking, then this book is worth owning, or at the very least borrowing from your library. I came across this at the library. I use the library frequently and every now and then visit the cookbook section to see if anything catches my eye. I have enjoyed the Sopranos on DVD and one of the things I enjoy most about the show is their New York accents and authentic pronunciations of Italian food. It’s the way I heard these foods pronounced in the homes of my Italian friends. In fact, some foods I had no idea how to spell the word when I was growing up and now seeing them in the cookbook was an “a ha” experience. For example, phonetically Proshoot, is really spelled prosciutto. Shfooyadell is spelled sfogliatelle. It is that wonderful clam shaped Italian ricotta filled pastry sprinkled with powdered sugar. Gavadell is how Italians pronounce Cavetelli. Moodzrell is how an Italian cook pronounces mozzarella. And so on and so forth. I remember after watching so many episodes of The Sopranos I just had to have Cannoli and I was living in a place at the time where there was no such animal. I was forced to look up the recipe so I could make it myself. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make them, since it was something I always just regarded as an item you buy in an Italian bakery. They turned out excellent and there is nothing like eating a cannoli just filled fresh from the pastry bag.

The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco is an oversized cookbook filled with beautiful pictures. They refer to sauce as gravy, which is indeed what the traditional Italian household calls it. Even Emeril knows it because he calls one of his Italian jar sauces Sicilian Gravy.

The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco is interesting and a good basis for seeing a variety of Italian dishes, although I consider it more of an idea book than the be all and end all of Italian recipes. Some of the recipes seem to take short cuts, and a couple seemed less than Italian. The book is entertaining and would make a great conversation piece for the coffee table or a gift for someone who loves the show or loves to eat or cook Italian food.

The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco contains a wide range of Italian recipes from Appetizers to Desserts. I found the desserts the most interesting because I never thought much about even making them because it seemed like it was in the realm of professional bakers. But if someone’s mama could make it, then why not you?

Reading the book, I was a little unclear as to whether the actor who plays Artie Bucco really was a cook, and I was uncertain if the book just used the Artie Bucco character as the narrator to put the book together or if these really were the words of Artie Bucco. Personally, it didn’t matter enough for me to figure it out, I was just interested in the collection of recipes and enjoyed the diversity and the accompanying pictures. The stories were mildly interesting, but the lists of ingredients did interest me. It helped me determine if I had anything lacking in my pantry to whip up an authentic Italian dish. I have cooked many Italian dishes, but some of these were new to me, and just seeing the combinations of some foods and spices was creatively inspirational.

What I liked least about the book was that I wasn’t certain whether these recipes were really from the actors, or if they were just the face and story to go along with the recipe to make it fit so neatly. What I liked most about the book was the pictures and the actual recipe names and the frequent phonetic pronunciations. I also liked that certain recipes reaffirmed ingredients I had used in Italian recipes, and some recipes had a fresh twist or take or version from those I was familiar with, which I felt just expanded my Italian cooking horizons.

I would recommend at least borrowing this book from your library and seeing if you think it’s worth owning. I don’t own every book I like, that is what the library is for. But The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco is an Italian cookbook I will probably borrow from the library at least a couple of times a year because I find the recipes worthwhile and especially enjoyed trying a couple of the dessert and pastry recipes.