The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends by Stanley Tucci

The Tucci Table: Cooking With Family and Friends Reviews

• 
  Lorna

  With my weakness for cookbooks, I could not pass up The Tucci Table: Cooking with Family and Friends by Stanley Tucci. The photographs were beautiful, one of the most poignant being those of a well-worn book with recipes scratched on the page or taped to an index card with family recipes. Stanley Tucci began to think about writing this book with the realization that he and his three beautiful children had been trying to recreate many of the recipes of his late wife, Kate. With the exception of a couple of recipes that were written down, the family was able to preserve her memory through cooking her favorite dishes, most of them recreated on a trial-and-error basis, many of them in this book.
  
  This is a collection of recipes not only from his parents but his wife Felicity Blunt and her sister, Emily, as well as many friends and colleagues. There are also lovely photographs of some pretty tasty foods, some of my favorites being emily's chicken noodle soup, potato and leek soup with fried parsley, cannellini bean and tuna salad with red onion, pasta with mushrooms, basic risotto, israeli couscous with slow-roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions, and always a favorite, fried green tomatoes. His recipes are fun in the sense that the instructions and ingredients may contain "a glug of olive oil, followed by a good pinch of fresh parsley."
  
  This was a beautiful book that captures the magic of eating together as a celebration of what we mean to one another in the sharing a meal. Stanley Tucci says it best:
  
  

  "The dinner table is the anvil upon which we forge our relationships. Be they ties of family, of friendship, of new love or of old, it is a place where we share the events of our day, our feelings, our stories, our memories, and our hopes and promises for the future."
• 
  Cristina

  I am not a fan of cookbooks, actually I strongly dislike them. The authors often include recipes that are too long, too cumbersome, completely unrealistic for 'normal' people.. and with a list of ingredients that would put to shame a Michelin restaurant..
  For this reason when I stumbled into this book written by Stanley Tucci and his wife Felicity Blunt I just loved.. simple, practical recipes, with ingredients that we can easily find in our kitchen, beautiful photos, just the right amount of words and picture. Bravo to both of them!
• 
  Diane

  Stanley Tucci is an actor, known for his roles in The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia. In 1996, Tucci co-wrote and starred in a movie called Big Night, about two brothers who have one night to save their Italian restaurant. The movie has achieved cult status, earning many fans for Tucci and his costar Anthony Shaloub.
  
  Tucci has always loved to cook, and follows his successful 2012 The Tucci Cookbook with a new cookbook, The Tucci Table, filled with recipes from himself, his family and even some famous friends, written with his wife Felicity Blunt, sister of actress Emily Blunt.
  
  From his late friend actress Natasha Richardson, whom he said was "an extraordinary cook who threw some of the best dinner parties I have ever attended', he shares her Pissaladiere, topped with anchovies, onions and olives.
  
  His son Nico's Pasta with Proscuitto, Onions, Peas and Pancetta looks like a winning dish to me, and I appreciated the detailed instructions on the carbonara finish to the dish.
  
  He also tells some funny stories, like the time he asked Felicity what she wanted to cook for a dinner party the following weekend. She decided on a suckling pig, which was problematic since neither had ever cooked one before. They got a whole pig from the butcher, but it was too long to fit on their barbeque spit. So they got out the hacksaw and tried to cut off the pig's head, when their children came home from school to see the carnage.
  
  The book is heavy on Italian food, naturally, and I am tempted to try his Polenta Fries, which Tucci calls a great alternative to French fries. They look delicious.
  
  Tucci formatted the book so that the directions come first, then the ingredients, which may confuse some people. This is a book for confident cooks, more casual cooks who like to go more by instinct than exact measurements. (See glug of olive oil, above)
  
  Reading The Tucci Table is like sitting in Tucci's kitchen, and you can hear his voice as you read his stories about how his mother-in-law makes it this way, and he got this recipe on location in Atlanta for The Hunger Games.
  
• 
  Albert

  Stanley Tucci is an accomplished actor, he is also an accomplished chef; so the writing of a cook book is not so far out of the realm of what should be expected.
  
  But if you think that a cookbook with a celebrity name attached to it is all that The Tucci Table is then you are about to be wonderfully surprised.
  
  The Tucci Table is a glimpse inside the private and intimate life of Stanley Tucci and the people he loves. He shares insights into family and caring that happen to be part of the food he makes and enjoys. Some of the recipes are his and some are friends and family. But what should be felt through it all is the setting of the family dinner, where food is prepared carefully and with the love that one brings to their family. These are not meals meant to impress others, these are the foods meant to bring people home.
  
  The recipes are carefully written so that they can be followed easily. But more than the food, there is a strong and powerful sense of family throughout.
  
  A very enjoyable read and yes I will be trying out some of these meals!
• 
  LibraryKath

  Is there anything this gorgeous man cannot do?
  
  I borrowed it for the Tucci, but the recipes are really straight forward and are delicious dishes. And the book is full of gorgeous photos of both the food and the Tucci family.
• 
  Freda Mans-Labianca

  I like the actor, Stanley Tucci, and now I like the chef too! These recipes are the flavors I am used to, and are not overly complicated. In fact, I made two recipes from the book and enjoyed them both.
  First I made the potato and leek soup with fried parsley.
  The soup was delicious! I will probably not bother with the fried parsley next time, as it was mainly for presentation anyway, but the soup is a definite hit in my home and perfect for the colder months ahead.
  Next I made pasta with prosciutto, onions, peas and pancetta.
  Another huge hit in my home. What's not to love about a dish with bacon in it? Pancetta is basically Italian bacon. YUM!
  I can't wait to browse through again and pick another recipe.
  Plus it was nice to read some of Stanley's thoughts in the book about family and food. His wife also added a few words here and there, and it personalized the cooking even more.
  I love this cookbook. It is a perfect blend of celebrity and food!
• 
  Sara Fukuda

  That’s it, I guess I have to make my own mayonnaise now.
  
  I’ve been steadily reading food books and cookbooks for the last several years as our family culture and appetites grow and my passion for feeding these people well grows to match.
  
  Received this book today for a Mother’s Day present and I’m excited to dive in and try some of the recipes, having already dabbled in some Tucci recipes after reading his memoir.
  
  I can’t in good conscience give this book a rating until we try some recipes.
• 
  Elizabeth (Literary Hoarders)

  Don’t get me wrong. I love cookbooks, and I think Stanley Tucci is great. But this particular cookbook wasn’t what I had expected, recipe-wise. Some recipes were pretty involved, while others were incredibly simplistic. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but overall, I did not find myself saving favorites from this collection like I usually do. No dog-eared images or splattered pages this time.
• 
  Cori

  Italian and British food at their finest, complete with easy-to-follow recipes and suggested ingredient brands + alternatives for those of us who don’t live near a true gourmet market who don’t want to invest in an expensive seasoning for just 1 recipe. I will be adding this to my permanent cookbook shelf.
• 
  Claire

  I read this after reading Stanley's most recent book. There are some great stories in here. The sausage rolls look amazing and this book contains the recipe for THE roast potatoes. Yay! Also a steak with oregano, thyme and rosemary sandwich sounds amazing.
• 
  Amy Bare

  Looked doable and delicious. Plenty of gf/DF options
• 
  Jo Kneale

  Beautiful family cookbook, a blend of Italian and British recipes with clear instructions and photos that just make me feel happy.
• 
  Stephanie

  Nothing outstanding in this celebrity cookbook.
• 
  Hannah Thaggard

  It’s rare to find a cookbook that does NOT require $400 worth of ingredients for every recipe and $5,000 worth of equipment, even rarer to find a celebrity cookbook that does the same. Aside from a few of the meatier products, everything in this cookbook can be found at Ye Old Walmart. The Tuccis have filled their cookbook with complex-sounding but actually quite simple recipes that anyone could pull off. Favorite recipe is the spaghetti vongole, the recipe that I would never make (but would love to…) is the rabbit one
• 
  Jillyn

  I've got to say, this book has a really wide variety of recipes, and a high volume of them too. This cookbook is a nice blend of "a little bit of everything", but draws heavily on Italian, British, and American cuisines. There's a lot of dishes in here that I was familiar with, which helped to set the familial tone that Stanley Tucci wished to give to the reader.
  
  Each recipe comes with a fun little story that introduces the people in Tucci's life, and makes you feel like you know them too. It made the recipes seem more personal, as though this book wasn't mass produced, but given to you as something special. There's a fair bit of humor in this book as well, which made it very easy to flip through for recipes. It's clear that this book was written in love.
  
  The book is divided by course for easy navigation. In addition to anecdotes about Tucci's family, these recipes are paired with tips on how to store these dishes, how to make them better, or how to work with substitutions in a pinch. I really appreciated that for some of the more difficult recipes that step by step photos were included. The photography in this book is lovely, and while there's not a picture for every recipe, there are a lot of photographs.
  
  This is a book that virtually anyone can use. There are some basic recipes for those who are new to the kitchen, and more complex dishes for those of us who have more experience with cooking. A few of the dishes that I most look forward to trying include Isabel's New York Cheesecake Ice Cream, Baked Ham with Mostarda di Frutta, and Pan-Seared Loin of Venison with Red Wine, Juniper and Quince.
  
  This is a solid book for beginners and more experienced home cooks alike who are looking for new meals to share with their families. Thanks to Netgalley & Gallery Books for my copy in exchange for my honest review. This review can also be found on my blog,
  Bitches n Prose.
• 
  Ellen E. Baldwin (Quest Reviews)

  I have to say, I was expecting a cookbook filled with fantastic Italian food, given that Tucci is Italian (at least, I think he is). What this cookbook is, however, is a book of Tucci's family recipes... stuff they eat for breakfast, their favorite hors d'oeuvres, etc., and also the recipes of some of his celebrity friends.
  
  I made one recipe out of this book, and that was Emily Blunt's chicken noodle soup. She claims it helped her nab John Krasinski, so I knew I had to try it out. Possibly Emily just has the magic touch, because mine was so, so. It was flavorful, for sure (you add a dash of barbecue sauce!) but very oily since Emily instructs us to boil the chicken thigh bones in the broth.
  
  Just as the soup was so-so, The Tucci Table is a so, so cookbook. There's nothing in there you can't find online, except the allure of eating the family recipes of A-list and B-list stars.
• 
  Mary

  I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. I love to cook. I love cookbooks. I love to read them cover to cover. The stories are as intriguing to me as the recipes. This was a nice book. Nice stories, a peek into the lives of the Tucci family. We may be related, Stanley and I, as many of his recipes are mine. We cook the same way, old school and rustic. So while I enjoyed the stories, I wasn't able to find anything new in the recipe department. Still, an enjoyable cookbook.
• 
  Emily Joyce

  The Tucci Table is full of recipes that are based on simple, quality ingredients and traditional flavors. These are recipes you might have been lucky to learn amongst family growing up. The instructions are brief and accessible, the ingredients not too intimidating. Nothing in here is unbearably elaborate or trendy. It would be good to own if you wanted a simple, go-to reference for classic meals, or if you like to stare at Stanley Tucci's hands while you drink wine and paste your face over his wife's.
• 
  Leane

  Mouthwatering recipes, clear instructions, excellent pictures, and witty and heart-felt anecdotal notes. Many new recipes to try...
• 
  S.A Reidman

  Growing up, I remember watching movies with the bald guy with the glasses who looked super smart. As I started to select genres that I liked and prefered as one does with age, I was still able to find him in even the strangest of movie selections- of the top of my head, He was reassuring as the doctor in a movie I found utterly boring: The First Avenger, Captain America. He was the reassuring Head designer in that cult classic The Devil Wears Prada. He was frightening in a quiet and menacing way in The lovely Bones and for a while I was hesitant to watch anything else he was in - the mark of a great actor.
  
  Who knew Stanley Tucci was a culinary adventurer and alchemist. I started out with his show, Searching for Italy and his narration, the cinematography, his ancestral journey and the people he chose to interview reignited a love for romanticism of Italy and the Roman expeditions into flavor and experimentation.
  
  And then, I discovered his books and as an amateur cook (doing well I might say) and an amateur baker (doing rather poorly I'll admit) I was eager to dive right into whatever he had writing. Happy to report that not only was I not disappointed - I am famished and headed to the kitchen to make a wholesome mess, drink wine and chuck some of it into the pot while simmering something delicious.
  
  Bon Appetito!
  
• 
  Socrate

  ... soția mea, Kate, a fost o bucătăreasă minunată și generoasă. Copiii noștri - Isabel, Nicolo și Camilla - și cu mine am făcut tot ce ne stă în putință pentru a recrea multe dintre felurile sale de mâncare pentru că, din păcate, cu excepția câtorva, nu au fost niciodată notate. Când le gătim acum o păstrăm mereu prezentă în viețile noastre și, deși erau delicioase, ceea ce le-a făcut cu adevărat speciale a fost faptul că erau parte din ea și că ea le-a preparat pentru noi.
  
  Acum câțiva ani, am avut norocul să o cunosc pe Felicity la nunta surorii ei, Emily. Ori de câte ori am vorbit în acel weekend, conversația ne-a condus inevitabil la mâncare; ce feluri de mâncare ne-au plăcut, unde am mâncat și, în cele din urmă, până la sfârșitul nunții, unde am mânca împreună. Când s-a întâmplat acea masă fatidică, ea a probat o pasiune și o poftă de mâncare și vin care au rivalizat cu ale mele (și poate cu cele ale lui Henric al VIII-lea și Bacchus combinate). Nu am văzut niciodată o persoană atât de suplă să se bucure atât de mult de mâncarea ei. Am fost rapit.
• 
  Brenda

  Pretentious but Beautifully Illustrated with Engaging Stories
  
  My thoughts are a little conflicted about this cookbook. On one hand, it is beautifully illustrated, with helpful step-by-step photos for some of the recipes. It also includes some very nice recipes from celebrity friends. On the other hand, most of the recipes include ingredients that I never have on hand, would probably never purchase and have no way to obtain, including some specific Italian ingredients such as trofiette – I had to look this one up to find out it’s an Italian pasta. For the recipes I found for which I have ingredients, these are extremely simple recipes that most cooks already know by heart.
  
  I’ll have to say, my favorite part of the entire cookbook was the stories. Mr. Tucci has a wonderful way of expressing himself as he interweaves stories into each recipe’s introduction.
  
  I received my advanced reading copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
• 
  Jules

  I picked up this cookbook from the library because during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place, I've been enjoying Mr. Tucci's Instagram cooking and cocktail lessons. This cookbook provides a well-rounded variety of recipes.
  
  I have tried only one and was thoroughly disappointed. The "Blondie" recipe is more like a brown butter cake than a blonde brownie. Based on that I have chosen not to try any of the other recipes.
  
  For more reading recommendations, visit Book Junkie Reviews at
  www.abookjunkiereviews.wordpress.com
  
  
• 
  SKP

  I love Stanley Tucci as an actor, and just found out he’s writing books for Foodies. I got this one at the library, and enjoyed reading through it. It isn’t really my kind of food, but I found a couple of vegetable recipes to try. The photos were beautiful, so even though I might not try making the recipes myself, I still got hungry looking at them. I plan to read his book TASTE —I understand he narrates the audio, and so I will be listening to it. I also plan to take a look at the other cookbook he has out, THE TUCCI COOKBOOK.
• 
  Rob Frazier

  This is the best, most organized, cookbook ever. Not only do you get general cooking instructions as well as the ingredient list. But these are comprehensively laid out in a clear format. There are also detailed stories and descriptions of each dish which let you know what to expect from your dish before you even begin following the beautifully written and easy to understand instructions for preparation.
• 
  Dean

  I thought this was a very sweet Cookbook. I'm a Tucci fan, so anything he does can do no wrong.
  Many of the recipes here were out of the ordinary, and you could probably find much of this in another cookbook. The nice bits for me were the comments and the voice of Mr. Tucci that made it worth reading. I think also the meal and food sensibilities put into the book made it worthwhile.
• 
  Joanna

  As I have stated before I love a cookbook where the authors voice comes through and this book definitely has that. There are plenty of comments and stories so you can feel like Mr. Tucci is right there in the kitchen with you. The recipes look delicious and not very complex. Looks like there will be lots to add to the repertoire here.