Spring into the kitchen with new cookbooks

Born with a ‘Silver Spoon’
“Il Cucchiaio d’Argento” faithfully served Italian households for over half a century. Now an English-language translation has arrived. “The Silver Spoon” (Phaidon, $40) is a glorious mess of a book. Though often considered Italy’s equivalent to “The Joy of Cooking,” “Cucchiaio” was actually a laborious compilation of grandma recipes from throughout Italy. Once I considered “Spoon” in that light, I found it irresistible. Weighing in at a comprehensive 1,263 pages, it largely remains focused on Italian home eating, with more than enough surprise twists (grapefruit crostini) to compensate for an abundance of non-Italian recipes (quiche Lorraine, beef Wellington).

What you shouldn’t do is follow “Spoon” literally: It is rife with inaccuracies, fudged measurements and vagueness (penne with lettuce? What kind of lettuce?), which you can chalk up to either translation glitches or a homespun resistance to precision. If you accept that, and resolve to use the recipes as merely a rough template — a bit like those scribbled notes found in Grandma’s recipe box — it’s a delight. A Barolo and mushroom risotto was heady and pungent, though Mama might wonder why the precious soaking water for dried mushrooms isn’t used to moisten the rice. Loin of pork with juniper was a minor revelation, thanks to the berries’ aromatic punch. Just hope you know how to secure a pancetta-wrapped loin with kitchen twine.

Editors bulked up the stylish, colorful English-language version with menus from celebrated Italian chefs and their expat counterparts, such as Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich. While seemingly tasty, these feel out of place in a work meant to celebrate basic country food. Ironically, “Spoon’s” shortcomings make it a joy for those of us who don’t like to follow recipes by the letter. Its glitches, though, could leave less rebellious cooks floundering.    —Jon Bonné

Soup’s on
Deborah Madison continues her series of nearly-vegetarian cookbooks with “Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen” (Broadway, $20), a gorgeous assembly of soups for every season and mood.  Vegetable soup doesn’t seem the most exciting topic, but Madison’s passion combined with innovative takes on old standards makes even split-pea soup (with lemon, rosemary, and smoked paprika) seem fresh.

The book begins with basic broths, which can be served on their own or used as bases for some of the other soups. Erase memories of that awful cabbage-soup diet with Madison’s flavorful “dieter’s soup,” featuring miso and a hefty dose of garlic and ginger.  Bean soups, lentil and pea soups, and bread and grain-based soups also get their own chapters. 

Three black-bean soup recipes may seem two too many, but each variation is different enough — a slow-cooked Cuban-inspired version with cumin, a quick, zesty version spiked with coconut and lime, and a simpler Boston-style soup with hard-cooked egg. Cooks could try them all in one week without tiring of black beans. 

The book also features recipe sections for each season, matching greens-filled soups to spring and warming roasted-vegetable soups to the fall. Summer’s traditional gazpacho becomes iced soup in three colors, made from red, green, and yellow tomatoes, or white gazpacho made with melon and almonds.  Madison doesn’t discount pre-made soups altogether, either.  Although many of her recipes are simple enough to make from scratch in the same time it takes to heat up a can, she offers a range of improvisations for canned soups and confesses to making a lunch from a can herself, on occasion. 

The spirit of improvisation runs through this book, and you’ll soon find yourself eager to tweak each recipe and come up with some soup ideas of your own.  Vegetable soup will never seem boring again.    —Hannah Meehan Spector

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's Books Editor. Jon Bonné is MSNBC.com's Lifestyle Editor. Joan Wolfe works in the Editorial Development group at MSNBC. Hannah Meehan Spector is a writer in Los Angeles.

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