Italian Slow and Savory (2004)
Joyce Goldstein
288 pages, $40

All of a sudden there’s a glut of great books about cooking slowly. In addition to this one, there’s Molly Stevens’s All About Braising (which I’m reviewing tomorrow) and Paula Wolfert’s Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. I own and recommend all three of these books, and it’s a good thing I’m happily married, because if Rachael Ray came over and saw these antitheses to 30-Minute Meals on my shelf, she would probably decline to have sex with me.

Moving on, _Italian Slow and Savory_ is a gorgeously photographed collection of Italian braises, roasts, and slow-cooked vegetable dishes. As with most books of this type, the meat chapter is the, uh, meatiest. I’ve made the pork stew with chestnuts, which was great, and the pork stew with apples, which was less so. The lamb stew with peppers was a hit, although I recommend cooking the mushrooms at the end as a garnish. There are also a number of recipes for *braciole,* braised stuffed beef rolls, something that always looks good but which I’ve never actually tried. There are also appealing pasta sauces, rice casseroles, and so on.

Over on the vegetable side, try slow-roasted onions with balsamic vinegar, “sitting-down” broccoflower (popular prank call in Italy: “Is your broccoflower sitting down?”), and braised radicchio. (Popular prank call in Italy: “Is your radicchio wilted?” I will stop now.)

I do wonder about these slow books. I’m sure they’re very popular with people who mostly read them in bed, because I keep hearing statistics about how the average American meal is cooked in seventeen seconds and most families order Domino’s six days a week. The thing about braises and stews, though, is that you can cook one on Sunday and serve it three times, and it will only get better for spending time in the fridge.

Speaking of Domino’s, this week I got a new Steak Fanatic Pizza flyer, and they’re using a new slogan, which is of course “Steak: It’s What’s For Pizza.” Catchy, isn’t it?