In this valedictory recipe collection and teaching book, legendary author and inspirational cooking teacher Marcella Hazan shares invaluable lessons in Italian cooking, including mastering traditional techniques, selecting and using ingredients, and planning and preparing complete Italian menus.

Marcella Hazan is acclaimed, certainly, for her several trailblazing cookbooks. But, first and foremost, she is a teacher. From her first cooking classes, in the 1960s, held in her small New York City apartment kitchen, to the avidly sought-after Master Classes she led in her beautiful Venice home, Marcella has been the authoritative guide to Italian cooking. Now, in a much-anticipated follow up to Marcella Cucina, she brings her warm, conversational, and illuminating teachings into home kitchens everywhere.

Part of what has made Marcella such a beloved teacher and author is her unique ability to present each recipe as a narrative, with subplots, characters, and rich history. This latest collection of 120 tantalizing recipes demonstrates just how many delicious new stories she still has to tell. Alongside her classic recipes are essays offering in-depth information on the techniques that make authentic Italian food so delicious. In a volume whose novel format pulls the reader into class with Marcella, she provides recipes and instructions for everything from fruit to seafood, meats and grains, and a valuable "Master Class" chapter complete with tips and procedures for handling ingredients to get the most flavor out of them. Pure and simple, it is as close as you can get to have Marcella alongside you in your kitchen.

Hazan, the woman credited with teaching Americans that there's more to Italian cooking than spaghetti and meatballs, models her sixth book on her renowned cooking courses. Thus, as readers progress through this work, they'll feel Hazan's censorious presence as they wonder, for example, if they can skip blanching and proceed directly to saut ing rapini, but they'll learn a lot if they can overlook her occasionally blunt manner ("The unbalanced use of garlic is the single greatest cause of failure in would-be Italian cooking"). Hazan gives loads of practical instructions and dozens of fantastic recipes concentrating on insaporire, the act of developing "the flavor of a single or several ingredients." Indeed, insaporire is the focus of many lessons, whether it's making the perfect Italian broth-subtler than stock, yet elegant and versatile-or matching pasta shapes to sauces. Nearly the first hundred pages consist of information-packed paragraphs deriving from Hazan's classes, where she haughtily but knowingly details techniques and ingredients. Next come the recipes, a tasty array of antipasti, pasta sauces, homemade pasta, fish, meat and vegetables. Throughout, readers will find useful notes-"Marcella Says"-in which the famous teacher gives hands-on advice. (Oct.) Forecast: Though aging, Hazan is still teaching and will promote this book nationwide. Her fans will surely want it for their collections. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.