Q&A about Italian cookery with The Silver Spoon Editor, Emilia Terragni- ANSWERS BACK

[RachelMumsnet]

To celebrate the publication of the revised and updated edition of The Silver Spoon, we're joined this week by The Silver Spoon editor Emilia Terragni for a Q&A about Italian Cookery.

Il cucchiaio d'argento has been a bestseller in Italy for over 60 years: over 2,000 recipes cover the entire Italian territory, and have been continuously updated since the book was published in the 1950s. It is the one cookery book every Italian passes on to their children, teaching them the skills of their parents and grandparents, and allowing them to understand the true nature of Italian cooking. Phaidon brought The Silver Spoon to the world, publishing it for the first time in English. It has become a true international success story, selling over 1million copies globally.

Emilia was born on Lake Como to a big Italian family. Emilia recalls that her mum was, and still is, an amazing cook, and as a family they all enjoyed sitting down together each evening for dinner. The Silver Spoon cookbook was at the heart of her family mealtimes, as it is for so many Italians. She takes great pride in translating and editing the cooking bible she grew up with.

Send your questions to Emilia before the end of 23rd November and we'll be linking to her answers from this page. Phaidon and Flavours holidays are offering Mumsnetters the chance to win a cookery holiday in Italy for two people and runners up prizes of five copies of The Silver Spoon. Click here for more details.

hello Emilia,

my question for you is how does Northern Italian food differ from Southern Italian?

thank you

Can I have a follow up question but on the same lines - which vegetable recipes has she found most successful with children?

Am Italian and use the (Italian 1973) Silver Spoon passed on by my Mother every week. Have given the English version to a number of friends and am intrigued at how different it is in style: much more detailed and, in a way, prescriptive. Odd to me because what I like about my SS is the sensible "you cook every night attitude" that often says "recipe calls for x, but you could also use y". What were the main style changes you made when translating SS for the international market and why?

As the mother of an Italian child (and as an Italian adult who loves vegetables the Italian way but is not keen on them English-style), may I have a go at answering spendthrift question?
I have never met an Italian who does not love vegetables. The key is that, I think, they are not a side or after-thought but a central part of the meal and they are treated as such. Favourites in our house include Ligurian potato and green bean "pie" , aubergine alla parmigiana (MmeLindor: I do not bother with salting or frying them either), creamed vegetable soups (esp. Courgettes, mushroom, broccoli, chestnuts), spinach with pine nuts and sultanas, courgette and potato "pie", etc.
Tbh, when I see how boringly vegetables are presented in the UK (what is this obsession with half-cooking through steaming with no condiments at all or, at the other extreme, drowning everything in cream?) even in smart restaurants, I am not surprised not many people like them in their own right...

Why did it need revising?

I love the fact that loads of the recipes are lovely food that happens to be vegetarian rather than Vegetarian Recipes. So my question is, do you think that Italians are less hung up on the whole 'It's not a proper meal unless there's meat in it' attitude that seems to be common on Mumsnet amongst many meat eaters?

And I hope you've kept the multi page makers. I always use them.

Spot on MildBarkeyPuffin!

Hello,
I'd like to know why my risotto always takes so long to cook!

I always use carnaroli rice, I add it to the pan before the stock and let it sizzle for a minute, and I always use boiling hot stock a ladle at a time.

But I'm lucky if the rice is cooked in thirty minutes, and it's often longer than that.

Yet I always see Italian chefs swearing that a good risotto will be done in twenty minutes. So what's the secret?

Gastro, Leiths say that risotto takes 30 minutes. I don't think I've ever done it in less than say 25 so interested to see if there is another answer from Emilia.

What is your favourite thing to make from the book?

Could you please give me an unsloppy recipe for Gnudi please?

The recipe I have is 500g Ricotta & 100g Parmesan mixed together with black pepper & rolled into balls, then covered in Semolina & left in the fridge overnight. To serve, boiled in salted water untill they float, which is a couple of minutes.

They always taste gorgeous but go very gloopy and are not dinner party presentable

at the english vs Italian ways of cooking veg.

I adore Italian cooking but DP but drive me a bit mad sometimes with his incessant, "can't you just throw some guanciale/pancetta/olive oil/chilli etc in that!"

I am about to buy this book, what would you recommend I cook first?

Emilia, I'm a vegetarian, so is it worthwhile me buying this book?

Hi Emilia,
Not sure if this will be your specialist subject but any ideas on what I can feed my DS (11 months)?! He is really uninterested in food, he seems to enjoy spag bol, chilli, beef curry and basically anything containing beef but he seems to have inherited my tomato allergy so I'm struggling to think of normal-ish family foods to try him on. Thanks :)

I'm lucky enough to live about half the year in southern Italy and I think Italian cooking and ingredients are the best ever (there's nothing like a tomato from Campania). But one thing I do not understand, and that is panettone! Every Christmas, people buy and give these cakes, and they're terrible: dry, tasting faintly of chemicals... I don't understand how people who are so into food and cook and eat so well every other day of the year can happily eat this stuff. Having said that, I have only tasted shop-bought ones (Tre Marie, Bauli, etc.) so my questions are: 1) What's with the taste for panettone? and 2) Can you recommend a good recipe for making one at home, or a good brand to buy?

Actually, I have just thought of another, unrelated question. I love Italian food and love cooking in Italy. But while lunch and dinner are really easy to make, I just don't 'get' Italian breakfast. In the UK I'd have porridge or muesli, but I find both of those hard to get and expensive where we live in Italy. It seems that most people eat those Mulino Bianco biscuits or grab a cornetto on the way to work, but except for special occasions I want something more healthy than that, and something filling -not just fruit. So question 3) what would you suggest as a healthy, filling breakfast that's easily available in a small village in the south?

Thanks! :)

minitoot-I'm in a small town in the south and we eat Special K!

(I completely agree about the Mulino Bianco monopoly. And sooooooo over-sweet. Good in the afternoons when your energy is flagging,but at stupid o'clock in the morning, no way.)

Minitoot Panettone is a Milanese speciality, if you want the real deal my only advise (as an Italian) would be to come to Milan, go to pasticceria Marchesi and give it a try

MmeLindor, I agree with the others that there is no need to salt aubergines, provided they are in season. Therefore, I must admit that I never cook them in the winter.

Netto Italians are late embracing other countries cuisines because there was no immigration to Italy until the early 1980s. Nowadays, in big cities like Milan you'll find Chinese restaurants, Japanese, African, Thai, even Indian now! etc.
Actually nowadays in Milan most people will prefer going out for sushi than pizza (another bugbear of mine: most sushi places are crap here, most pizzerie are crap too).
However, you will also find (a bit like Catherine Tate's comedy sketch) that indeed there is a good rate of Italian people who are a bit prejudiced against "foreign food".

I also don't think that a cornetto is that much less healthy that evil Special K, to be honest.

than.

Ah, Minitoot, the best shop bought Panettone is Maina imho.

Ooooh its all the Italians on here! ciao!!!!!!!

I'd like to know opinons re shop bought pasta (as opposed to Barilla etc, in fact you cant even get Barilla in the UK)

and Ilalian women chunk up eventually, alot later than the birts tho!!!!

Hi Emilia,
My question is about Italian main courses. I used to live in Southern Italy. My experience with food there was that while the antipasti, starters (incl. pasta and risotto) and desserts would make me drool, the main courses were a little boring. Overcooked meat and meatballs mostly. Can you suggest some exciting Italian main courses for me to try out? I'd also be interested to know whether you agree - perhaps it's a regional thing?

mulino bianco are EVIL

Porca, De Cecco is supposed to be the dog's bollocks isn't it? It's what dp buys when it's on offer.

I love love love panettone and could eat it all year. I usually buy Bauli because their advert usually makes me cry.

Pasta: I usually buy spaghetti from Voiello, and the rest is Garofalo, or De Cecco or dalverde.
When I want to treat ourselves I get pasta Cocco.

The "Reginette" from Barilla are nice.