The book that taught America how to cook, now illustrated with glorious color photography ALL ABOUT PASTA & NOODLES A fresh and original way to put the classic advice of Joy of Cooking to work -- illustrated and designed in a beautiful and easy-to-use new book.
In 1931, a St. Louis widow named Irma von Starkloff Rombauer took her life savings and self-published a book called The Joy of Cooking. Her daughter, Marion, tested recipes and made the illustrations, and they sold their mother-daughter project from Irma's apartment.
I wanted to know how to make pasta from scratch and didn't trust the Internets to tell me.
The Upside
The fresh egg pasta recipe (and the whole-wheat pasta variation) included a simple, full description of how to make and roll the dough that was perfect for my needs.
Also gives clear instructions based on whether you're hand-kneading or using a food processor as well as whether you're hand-rolling or using a hand-cranked pasta machine.
And it includes drying instructions.
The Downside
Man, this book is snobby. Rules for cooking pasta include not breaking the pasta before cooking, throwing out soft or mushy pasta and warming up dishes in the oven before serving. Um, no. I've broken all of these rules and have lived to tell the tale.
Cookbooks are always fun to look at. I got one recipe out of this book that I continue to use. It's a recipe for puttanesca sauce like the kids in the series of unfortunate events make. I really like it. Recommend: anyone who likes to cook