A Tuscany cookbook? Not exactly a new idea. However, the cookery and reading book "Tuscany - a culinary voyage of discovery" by Yvonne Tempelmann and Dania Masotti is really well done. It makes you want to read, look at pictures - and cook.
Tuscany - the epitome of Italy, pleasure and joie de vivre; the projection screen of a better, slower life for stressed managers, politicians and people otherwise worn out by their professional lives. Good food and excellent wine are an essential part of this new happiness. The region between La Spezia, the coast of the Ligurian Sea to the east of Florence and Siena has already turned head-controlled and once ideology-proof 68ers like Joschka Fischer and Otto Schily into the "Tuscany faction" - although they did not give up tough political thinking, from now on super Tuscans and noble Italians were part of it. A start, after all.
The "Tuscan myth" is nourished by dozens of cookery, picture, wine and architecture books of all formats and qualities. The recently published cookery and reading book "Tuscany - a culinary voyage of discovery" by Yvonne Tempelmann and Dania Masotti is one that really succeeds. Because it captures the warmth, color and specialness of the landscape, its people and cuisine without slipping into the common postcard kitsch. The idea of the book is a round trip across the country in 22 stops. Each stop describes a restaurant and its typical dishes for the area, along with its recipes. What they all have in common is what distinguishes Tuscan cuisine: Mostly simple ingredients, traditionally composed, highly aromatic, pretty to look at on the plate - and yet surprisingly simple to prepare. No chi-chi, no luxury, no frills. Whether rabbit in an onion bed, tripe in beef broth, deep-fried zucchini, or crispy baskets with whipped cream and fruit - the 90 or so recipes included are successful even for averagely gifted cooks.
The work is the result of the author's collaboration with Dana Masotti, who has been co-owner and chef of the restaurant "La Chiusa" in Montefollonico - one of the best establishments in the region - for over 20 years. Masotti's first two cookbooks were very successful, and now the two have expanded the concept, traveling from restaurant to restaurant in this book.
The descriptive texts between the recipes are appropriate, informative, without just serving the usual clichés. They are about the people, the restaurant owners and their idiosyncrasies, their character and understanding of their cuisine. In addition, there is enlightenment about the forms of food, the usual menu sequence there, the basic knowledge of pasta and soffrito. The excellent photos by Michael Wissing complement this narrative in the best possible way: simple, beautiful, full of intense colours, but pleasantly unstaged - just like Tuscan cuisine itself. Breadcrumbs and toothpicks belong on the table and thus in the photo; the forks are not a luxury design, but from the dishwasher. Nevertheless, everything is lovingly arranged and put into the picture.
Thus, in a simple and beautiful layout, a book has been created in which one enjoys leafing through, reading and reading on - and in the process quite quickly gets the desire to cook something from it, even if one is not a permanent guest in this region. In any case, I'm having Tuscan tonight.
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Yvonne Tempelmann, Dania Masotti, "Tuscany - a culinary voyage of discovery"AT-Verlag, 300 pages, ISBN: 3038003638, 49,90 €