For the coffee table or the kitchen? Or both?
- 12 hours ago
- 6 min read
"it cannot be called merely a cookbook but perhaps more appropriately referred to as a work of art." Gail Cooke/Goodreads
It's time to 'review' this book that I acquired some time ago now in a kind of opshop in country Victoria. I 'read' it and put it on my desk to write about some day, and here I am.
It is indeed gorgeous as a book. Gail Cooke, who wrote in Goodreads went on to say:
"It is among the most beautiful books I've seen with a flower and food bedecked cover so inviting that you want to frame it plus gilt-edged pages, and a black velvet ribbon bookmark." Gail Cooke/Goodreads
The black velvet bookmark is the final decadent touch really. One other reviewer said it was so beautiful she was not sure she could bear to cook from it in the kitchen where it would get splashed and smeared with all sorts of things. Which is perhaps a fair point. Although there are plenty of recipes within that would tempt you to make them. And I will come to them.
However, first I really must make mention of the three people responsible for the look of this book - well there's probably a whole team behind them, but these three are the main ones - Lisa Greenberg - the Art Director, who I assume is responsible for the overall design, and the choice of the photographer - Manos Chatzikonstantis and the stylist - Michael Touros. And here a few words on this from Gail Cooke's review because she has it just right:
"The full-color, full-page photographs by Manos Chatzikonstantis are spectacular. When Venice is the subject his photos are far from the norm, always with a different perspective of the familiar, perhaps an unusual time of day revealing the magic of light on water. When he aims a camera at finished recipes, the results are mouth-wateringly perfect."
His photograph below is the best I could find and I just could not find one of the stylist. Which is a little bit odd, as you would think they would be touting their wares somewhere. But here is the photographer with the Art Director looking very serious.
And below two double spreads, to demonstrate a few things. The picture of St. Mark's Square, shows, in a way, what Venice is really like in these days of mass tourism - the book may be beautiful, and many of the photographs - both in colour and in black and white - are either just plain beautiful, evocative, or arresting. And I would put this one in that last category. Arresting - and unexpected. The second spread highlights the design of the book in which every now and then you have a browny gold page, with words from Tessa Kiros' diary, opposite an arty photograph of an aspect of Venice on the opposite page.
Those words from the diary also appear at the beginning of each section. I have been asking myself why they do not entirely captivate me - perhaps she is trying too hard? An example:
"Witness the backstreet small events ... Papà dropping his child off to school by vaporetto. I can see who reads which newspaper. I know the tastes of a gentleman's flowers after a few days & the colour of the old ladies' shopping trollies as they go to the market. One by one they all slip out of home & onto the stage set."
And perhaps that's the theme of the entire book. The stage set that is Venice. My personal experience of Venice is very limited. I spent one night and one day there twenty years ago with friends. We wandered the narrow alleyways and tiny squares away from the major sites, were stunned by the window displays in the expensive shops and dined at night in slightly theatrical space under the stars, where I ate one of the best plates of gnocchi I have ever had:
Yes St. Mark's Square was crowded, but it was easy to get away from those crowds - as long as you had a detailed map - just walk, get lost and then find yourself on the map so that you could get back to your tiny hotel in a tiny square.
"As many times as I went out was as many times as I got lost. But I was never lost. I was always in Venice." says Tessa Kiros and this time she really got it right.
A final word on the design - praise for Murdoch Books - I have a few of their books now and I am always impressed by the look - even if, I assume, this is part of the Murdoch empire.
The food. As everyone points out, and as I myself noticed as I read through it, there are an awful lot of fish and seafood recipes. Well it is on the water. It's a watery place and always has been. I mean water is the whole raison d'être for Venice of the tourists. There are scallops on the cover. And the last 'arty' photograph in the book is of water.
Nevertheless these are probably not the recipes I shall try - seafood is out for David, salt cod is hard to come by, and I am really turned off by the notion of squid ink. I was also turned off by this description of Bigoli in salsa - bigoli is a specifically Venetian thick spaghetti and the sauce is made from anchovies and onion:
"wholewheat pasta with a sauce of anchovies melted with onions till they die gently." Tessa Kiros
'Die gently' surely not! Anyway when you see the actual recipe you find you are to use some salt-packed anchovies. Do they die gently before that? Offstage.
An aside - very few of the recipes I shall mention here are online - you will have to buy the book - or find it in an op shop somewhere. As with Venice, of which, she says - 'you will have to see it yourself.' And if you haven't you should - preferably outside of the main tourist season.
But back to the recipes and the seafood. As I said, I cannot come at squid ink - I do not like squid - other than, sometimes, salted calamari rings and black food might be considered elegant - like black clothes - but I am somewhat repelled as with this. But this is Venice and they love black squid ink there - spaghetti in squid ink is a speciality - as is this Seppie in nero con polenta - Squid stewed with ink. The polenta - a very popular carbohydrate for the Venetians is also often white in colour, not the yellow that we are more used to.
Whilst we are on polenta - the first recipe of the book by the way, which I declined to feature, but then decided I should find it somewhere if I could. So I found this simple Luganega e polenta - sausages and polenta - pork sausages cooked with pancetta and onions. And back to the seafood - I was more tempted by these gnocchi con scampi, although, of course, I shan't be making it.
I will mention three more recipes for various reasons. Framezzini - which are basically just sandwiches and an example of Cicchetti - the Venitians tapas - mentioned here because it was the first 'real' recipe after the basics like polenta, mostarda al frutta and all those famous Venetian drinks. Then there is Fegato alla veneziana - liver with onions - which is possibly the most famous Venetian dish and Focaccia Veneziana - a brioche like cake - not a focaccia - because it was the last recipe in the book.
None of the recipes I have chosen to feature have recipes online. Indeed there are very few of her recipes online. I don't know why this should be. Maybe it's all down to the publisher, although she has the copyright. She doesn't seem to write for any foodie websites or magazines. There are a mere handful on her own website from various of her books - she has written a few - I now have three.
There is nothing wrong with the recipes themselves, and in spite of my not being particularly attracted to the ones I have mentioned here, there are recipes I would like to try - a chicken and tomato dish, some pastas (radicchio lasagne?) and risottos (with cabbage?) or a braised piece of beef in red wine. Or vegetable recipes too.
Perhaps I love the book for its beauty. Maybe less for its food. It's not a book I find that I am bookmarking every page. And it did indeed remind me of Venice and saddened me that I did not see more. Because it is indeed a magical place.
"one of those rare moments when you grasp the magnificence of this world. Yes, Venice is one of those moments." Tessa Kiros
YEARS GONE BY
June 17
2025 - Fear in the kitchen
2021 - Missing
2020 - Missing
2019 - Little bits of brie
2018 - Boiled beef and carrots
2017 - On holiday