Mother SauceItalian American Family Recipes and the Story of the Women Who Created Them
From home cook and author Lucinda Scala Quinn, a cookbook containing 100 iconic and beloved Italian-American recipes from the last century.
In America today, everyone loves nonna’s cooking—think spaghetti, lasagna, and pizza. Italian families arrived in the U.S at the beginning of the twentieth century, and mammas brought with them the skills and ingredient know-how to fashion a whole new cuisine in spite of living in poverty and ostracization from their new country. Their fathers, husbands, and sons then monetized these dishes outside the home in the form of Red sauce joints. Rarely are these women actually credited as the true founders of the Italian-American cuisine.
In her latest book, Lucinda Scala Quinn cooks classic Italian-American recipes, and along the way shares their origin and gives credit to the incredible women who developed our cherished Italian dishes. Home cooks and food lovers alike will delight in this masterful collection of America’s favorite comfort foods, from Baked Ziti and Sausage and Pepper Hoagies to Chicken Marsala and Cannolis. With gorgeous recipe shots, archival photos, ingredient sidebars, and cultural essays, Mother Sauce brings nonna’s cooking to kitchens everywhere.
Lucinda Scala Quinn is the author of eight cookbooks, including the best-selling Mad Hungry trilogy. Her mantra is, “cook for the ones you love, teach them to cook for themselves and they will pass it on.” Her passion for cooking took root growing up in an Italian American family, which inspired her to begin cooking professionally at age sixteen. As a late-blooming entrepreneur, she founded the Mad Hungry kitchenware brand which makes multi-use tools for the home cook. For over a decade she oversaw all food content for Martha Stewart Living OmniMedia. She was the host of the television show Mad Hungry: Bringing Back the Family Meal and cohost of Everyday Foodon PBS. Her radio show EatDrink on Sirius FM was an innovative precursor to podcasts. She lives in New York City and can be followed @madhungry.
“Recipes feature the best elements of Italian cooking blended with American ideas and transmuted into culinary creations of their own. . . . The book has the basics covered, from Sunday’s spaghetti and meatballs to stromboli, penne alla vodka, and fettuccine alfredo. Readers will also find dishes not seen in other collections, like creamy lemon spaghetti, mini meatball sandwiches, or Quinn’s brother’s Easter lamb, covered and marinated in a garlicky, herbaceous honey-vinegar blend. Italian classics have a place here too, for those looking for variations on carbonara and amatriciana. Quinn’s irresistible cookbook concludes with an array of desserts, ranging from light to luscious, from granita and sweet taralli to orange olive-oil cake with ricotta frosting and tiramisu.” – Booklist
“Lucinda pays loving tribute to the Italian women who stubbornly kept the food traditions of the old country alive in American kitchens. An indispensable collection of Italian American classics.” – Giada De Laurentiis
“Mother Sauce is a superb, inspiring cookbook drawn from generations of family wisdom. . . . These recipes come from the heart and will find their way into your own repertoire.” – Jody Williams, chef and coauthor of Via Carota
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