There are a lot of reasons I love to read cookbooks. Sometimes I love the food (cake!) or the chef. Or Maybe it teaches me about a cuisine I know only a little about. And sometimes, reading a cookbook makes me feel like I am coming back home. Reading Big Love Cooking made me feel like that.
I have never been to Little Owl. I haven’t even been to Manhattan since the 1990s, but reading chef Joey Campanaro’s (and co-writer Theresa Gambacorta’s) cookbook, filled with recipes and stories from his restaurant Little Owl, I feel a little like I’ve gotten a chance to experience some of the warmth, the comfort, and the flavor that Campanaro brings to his diners. Big Love Cooking is a celebration of his Italian American heritage, his childhood in South Philly, and his 14 years at Little Owl.
The cookbook is filled with 75 amazing recipes, including the Whole Wheat Pancakes with Berries that Alton Brown loves, the Little Owl Pork Chop with Parmesan Butter Beans, Potato Fontina Fonduta, Veal Marsala, Littleneck Clams with Juicy Bread, Campanaro Family Lasagna, Little Gem Caesar Salad with Panko Crunchies, Sesame Seed Breadsticks, the Brandied Cherry and Apple Strudel based on the one that he made for Arnold Schwarzenegger (who said it was just like his mother’s), and the Gravy Meatball Sliders that Calvin Trillin waxes poetic about in his foreword.
Sprinkled in between all these recipes are the true riches of this cookbook—the stories Chef Campanaro shares of his family, of learning to cook from his mother and grandmother, the moments that make you feel like an insider in his family kitchen. He shares how to butcher a chicken, what kind of flour he likes for his hand-made pasta, the recipe for his seafood spice mix, how to make a genuine Italian Sunday gravy, what it takes to make the best biscuits.
And the pictures! Photographer Con Poulos has captured the warmth of Little Owl, of these gorgeous dishes, and of the people around Campanaro laughing and loving and eating. And the food? Seeing these photos makes me want to lick my computer screen. That shot of the Philly Cheesecake with Blueberry Agave Sauce? I want to get a print of it framed to stare at every day. These photos just underline the warmth and comfort of Little Owl and the food they create there, that feeling of being at home but not having to be the one who cleans up, the joy of being a part of a larger family who feeds you really well.
I can’t get to New York to visit Little Owl any time soon, but with Big Love Cooking, I do get a glimpse into the experience of being there. And I can recreate some of that flavor and comfort here in my own kitchen in the middle of the country, and I can feel the love and belonging that those great Italian American dishes provide. In other words, even here, far away from Campanaro’s restaurant, I can still feel and share the big love in that Big Love Cooking. And that feels good.
Egalleys for Big Love Cooking were provided by Chronicle Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
