The changes were made by the author herself as she has said in multiple interviews to reflect the changes in taste - “There were several reasons to change things,‘’ she explained. ''Italian ingredients had become more available, and people want less fat in their food.“ - so it wasn’t done by editors and randomly but on purpose by her.
Just one of the many interviews - THE FORCE IS WITH HER: MARCELLA HAZAN IS THE ESSENCE OF ITALIAN – Chicago Tribune
If that’s true, then she was personally responsible for throwing out good recipes and arbitrarily reducing fat without retesting.
and you know this how???
She said in different interviews that she retested the changed recipes - ever thought about that different people have different preferences and that your’s is not automatically the “best” one.
All in all it’s just a recipe. Recipes are made to be broken.
Yep. And what’s “best” for me likely won’t be “best” for someone else.
If she said that she was lying. Some recipies failed because the fat was arbitrarily cut in half. It’s not a matter of taste that you need a minimum amount of fat for some cooking techniques.
Good she-god, man, that sounds awfully arrogant of you. Do I remember that her son is still around? Have you communicated with him? Sheesh. I know you have a high opinion of your opinion but this seems to go too far.
And while we’re at it, please give us a few recipes from the new book that have destroyed them so the rest of us can try them if we haven’t already. TIA.
Agree. Lipids matter
Maybe it was still eatable but most people comprising this site would vote for the dish not being good anymore
when someone needs to be right about something, rational discussion is not possible and attempting such is a big waste of time.
There’s no right or wrong about matters of opinion.
My personal experience of recipes that failed and were removed from a shoddily revised edition of the two cookbooks most responsible for how I cook isn’t going to be changed by other people’s opinions or the author’s self-serving preface and book-tour comments. At the time I compared a bunch of recipes and in many cases there was no change at all except for the oil and/or butter being cut in half.
Untrue. I think most people - obviously not robert - find that book a figurative bible. It’s the first place I look.
Thread ruiners.
You’re talking robert, right, since he started the side thread two weeks ago. I’d say this subthread is more acceptable than many/most.
Now, I’m confused. What dish? Didn’t robert say he couldn’t remember the particular dish(es)?
I am not aware of any recipe where she removed all fat - fat is a “transporter” of flavor but that doesn’t mean that more fat means more flavor. And any cuisine evolves (not only in cookbooks but also within the day-to-day cooking of country and the amount used by Italians for their cooking has also decreased over the last 50 years.
Not enough fat as the transporter means less flavor. Also olive oil, butter, animal fat all add good flavor and mouthfeel
Oh jeez , I am making the Rick Bayless chili Colorado recipe this weekend . Of course I have to mess with it . Smoking the butt for around 4 hours . Using LARD instead of oil . Then braising in the Chile sauce . Mmmm fat good every now and then .Point taken if you want to use more fat use it . If not don’t . Simple .
But the point is that more fat doesn’t mean automatically more flavor or better mouthfeel
Exactly. I don’t know why this is even being disputed. Or maybe some people cover up inadequate flavor by heaping on the fat.