About Pellegrino Artusi

You may ask who is Pellegrino Artusi?

Originally a silk merchant, Artusi brought his passion for science, health and food to the entire nation of Italy. Writing only two decades after the unification of Italy, Artusi was the first to include recipes from all the different regions of Italy in a single cookbook (without flattening the differences). He is often credited with establishing a truly national Italian cuisine for the first time, and even the French cook Auguste Escoffier took inspiration from him. 

Artusi published “La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene” (Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well), which is the first Italian national cookbook after the unification of Italy in 1861. The author himself worked on 15 editions of the book starting from 1891. It was an overwhelming success during his lifetime and remains a bestseller today!

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Published in 1891 at the author’s expense, its success was as unthinkable as it was overwhelming. During the following 20 years, the author himself worked on 15 editions and the “Artusi” (by then simply called by the author’s name) became one of Italy’s best read books.

The last edition of the manual, a true watershed in modern gastronomic culture, collects together 790 recipes (each recipe has a number, from 1 to 790) and still today counts a large number of editions and enjoys widespread circulation. The approach is that of a teaching manual (“I practise using this manual,” wrote Artusi, “one simply needs to know how to hold a ladle”), and recipes include considerations and short stories which make Artusi’s manual a masterpiece of wit and wisdom. Artusi’s book has been translated into English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Polish (Japanese 2020).

 

TIMELESS Cooking Tips from Pellegrino Artusi

Practice is the best of all instructors is the matrix of all the teachings, to which Casa Artusi adds a further ten pieces of advice from the manual:

  1. Respect natural ingredients
    Love beautiful and good things wherever you find them and do nor waste God’s gracious gifts [Preface]

  2. Use quality ingredients
    Always choose the finest produce as your ingredients, that way you will give the best impression [Preface]

  3. Use seasonal ingredients
    Prepare [the vegetables] when they are at their best and cheapest; remember though that they have to be of good quality and picked when suitably mature [recipe 423]. Only use undamaged and well ripened fruit, according to the season [Cookery for weak stomachs]

  4. Be simple
    My cooking tends to be simple and delicate as I try to avoid as much as possible food that is too rich and mixed and which might prove difficult for the digestive system[recipe 301]

  5. Be passionate, attentive and precise
    If you don’t aspire to becoming a sophisticated cook...in order to succeed....you only need passion, much care and precise method [Preface]

  6. Be patient
    Be patient and experiment a bit (I do quite a lot!)[recipe 435]. If you don’t immediately succeed, do not worry; it’s a matter of strong will and determination [Preface]

  7. Vary, respecting territory and season
    [The vegetable soup] this is how I would make it according to my taste: you are very welcome to make changes depending on your preferences, your local tradition and resources [recipe 47]

  8. If you must vary, do it with good taste
    ...any dish may be adapted in a variety of ways according to your inclination; but in so doing be cautious not to lose the simplicity, the delicacy and the flavor – the whole matter lies in the good taste of the cook [recipe 540]

  9. Value the simplest of cooking
    This soup, humbly known as the peasant dish,I am certain will be loved by all [recipe 58]

  10. Be mistrustful of cookery books (including mine)
    Don’t trust books on the art of cookery: they are for the most part incorrect or incomprehensible....at the very bestyou might learn some useful notion if you already know the art well enough [Preface]

 

2020 Events in Celebration of Pellegrino Artusi

This year Esperienza presents a series of events dedicated to the bicentennial of Pellegrino Artusi (1820-1911), the father of modern Italian cookery. In collaboration with Casa Artusi (Forlimpopoli, Italy), Artusi expert  Grazia Menechella from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Cooks of Crocus Hill, Eastside restaurant and Terzo restaurant, the goal is nothing less than to bring to life a man whose ideas more than 100 years later are still revolutionary. 

  • March 14: Tasting Menu and Program, Eastside Restaurant, Minneapolis.

  • March 16: Tasting Menu and Program, Terzo Restaurant, Minneapolis.

  • April 7 & 8: Pop-Up Dinner with Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Paul Berglund, Cooks of Crocus Hill, Minneapolis.

  • September 19 - 27: Culinary Tour in the homeland of Pellegrino Artusi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy