POLPO: A Venetian Cookbook (Of Sorts)

As a frequent (every winter) visitor to Venice, I know this food. This book illustrates better than others I have that Italian food is not actually about simplicity. What is realised is that the pairing of ingredients is genius beyond all other world cuisines, but the putting it together remains deceptively simple. The food is relaxed, slow paced and gentle. This book captures the essence of Italian food, and once the Italian life philosophy is understood, then the cooking can begin. What I love about this book is that the essential understanding is written prior to the cooking beginning. Italian food isn't just about the food, and this is captured here perfectly, for those that understand. For a casual cook that just wants an Italian cookbook, there are better recipe books that just give instructions on the food, but for me, this and the Four Seasons book (did everyone get the Vivaldi joke?) are the best food and recipe books I own. I recognise the food - the cicchetti culture - it isn't just Italian food, it's more Italian than that. Only someone that lived this Italian dream, but was enough of an outsider to see it, could have written this. If you sometimes have Aperol spritz in the afternoon, Campari spritz before dinner, Chianti in the evening, and have a Grappa after a meal, then this (these) books are for you (us). We are no longer outsiders alone.

Excellent book good recipes and history.

This great bok is beautifully constructed, it feels great to hold, has an amazing spine that opens and stays open, has recipes that are fresh, usuable, inspiring and tasty. I first came across this cookbook at a dinner party where the hostess was cooking a pizza that had just rosemary and thinly sliced new potatoes on it. I was msesmerised and it was delicious. I kept the name of the book in the back of my mind and a year later I bought it for myself, I am now just mad for it. We had the book with us on a holiday, each day, we all chose something to make and each evening we were delighted with our choices. Highly recommend the meatballs with what seems like a preposterous amount of fennel seeds. Just magic.

Having visited Polpo the restaurant, and loving the food, I was delighted there was a book available so I could make the dishes at home. Inspired by what I ate, I invited one of my Italian friends over and we tried making a few dishes. The tomato sauce could not be easier, a lot of tomatoes, both canned and fresh, some oil, garlic and oregano boiled down. To go along with it, we made the lamb and pistachio meatballs, as they were a little unusual and putting them in the oven took out the messy job of frying them off in a pan. They are moreish bite-sized of yummyness. Definitely worth making. We also made pizzetta and made a version of the blanca, with asparagus and courgettes. Make sure that you roll it out very thinly as if it's too thick, it won't cook in the middle, though that didn't put my friend off! Also on the menu were the prawns - we could only obtain frozen raw prawns with no shells on, which just didn't work, as there was too much water content that oozed out. It tasted nothing like the ones I tried in the restaurant, so it's worth shopping around for fresh raw prawns. The mozzarella bocconcini - mozzarella dipped in breadcrumbed and deep fried were interesting. The mozzarella just melted out and I had to cut the ball in half as it was quite chewy. All in, the dishes were tasty and it saved me a lot of money from returning to the restaurant. The photos are beautiful food porn and really makes you want to make the items. It's bounded in such a way that you don't have to press the book down and ruin the spine, which is exposed to show the workmanship. The instructions are easy to follow, so if you're a completely new starter to cooking, it's straight forward. My Italian friend said some of the dishes weren't really Italian but i'm not complaining and it does say "of sorts".

Lovely book with interesting recipes . Easy to follow and ingredients easy to get

I've had this cookbook for a couple of years now, and it's one that I never get bored of. The recipes are simple, sometimes labour intensive, but always give you amazing flavour in the end results. It's a proper fancy cook book too, one that you can read from time to time to just salivate over the pictures of food. If you love the Polpo restaurants, and love authentic northern Italian food then you'll love this cookbook. Be warned - there aren't many pizza or pasta recipes here! But there are some awesome fish and rabbit ones to try for those who are more adventurous.

Purchased as a gift for an experienced home cook following a recommendation. I wasn’t expecting such fantastic quality and finishing. Recipes are unusual and well described Expensive but worth the price

I have several Italian cookbooks - including Marcella's opus and a number of Anna Del Conte - but "Polpo" was a real surprise. The main focus on the recipes in this book is simple 'small plate' recipes using quality ingredients and a minimum of fuss in the preparation. The Cicheti (small snacks) include various crostini including anchovy and chickpea and tuna and leek - both of which were easy to assemble, tasty and instant party snacks. While some of the main recipes in the Italian canon are included, there are a number of unusual examples such as Piedmontese Peppers & White Anchovies, Borlotti Beans, Savoy Cabbage & Rosemary Breadcrumbs, and Duck & Porcini Polpette which I am very keen to try soon. The artwork, design and photography in the book is examplary - including it's unusual and striking cover - and I look froward to cooking many of the recipes here for many years to come.

Super beautiful book and easy to follow recipes.

Loved it. Simple, tasty & easy to follow. ☀️

I love the way this book is made. I love the paper. I love the binding. And the content, the recipes, are wonderful. The recipes really do look like something that could be made at home.

La migliore via per conoscere la cucina di Venezia illustrata da fotografie fantastiche e ricette descritte nei particolari. Provatele! Sono fantastiche.

Schöne Bilder und sehr gute Rezepte. Die Optik ist sehr ansprechend! Für Geschenke zu empfehlen!