The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone | Book Review
The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone Genres: Food, Memoir, Non-Fiction
Original Publication Date: 2007
Source: I purchased this book
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Find the Author: Goodreads, Amazon
Laura Schenone undertakes a quest to retrieve her great-grandmother’s ravioli recipe, reuniting with relatives as she goes. In lyrical prose and delicious recipes, Schenone takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from the grit of New Jersey’s industrial wastelands and the fast-paced disposable culture of its suburbs to the dramatically beautiful coast of Liguria―the family’s homeland―with its pesto, smoked chestnuts, torte, and, most beloved of all, ravioli, the food of celebration and happiness.
Table of Contents
The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken
The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone is a memoir about the author’s search for the original ravioli recipes of her great-grandmother.
This search leads her to visit Italy and get lessons on ravioli-making.
It also leads the author to reach out to relatives that she hasn’t spoken to in years, because of family estrangements.
Laura loves to cook and make pasta. She especially loves ravioli, which is especially important at Christmastime:
A little square of ravioli is like a secret. You look at the outside and see the neatly crimped dough, puffed up in the center with a lovely pillow of something mysterious inside. It is an envelope with a message. Before you bite into it, all is unknown. And much is still possible.
You’re not supposed to make Christmas ravioli alone, really. It’s too hard. It takes hours of work. Far better you should have people at your side, probably the women of your family – daughters, mothers, and sisters helping you, nagging you, and bumping into you in the kitchen.
Analysis
It turns out that everyone she visits, whether in Italy or the United States, has a different way of making ravioli.
Some use traditional special rolling pins, and some use modern food processors and pasta makers.
This book taught me more about ravioli-making than I ever wanted to know!
But I still enjoyed the book, especially the visits to Italy, and when the author repaired some of the rifts in her own family.
Further Reading
If you’re in a Christmas mood, want to read more about food, or want to read about New Jersey, you may also want to check out:
The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory | Book Review
Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz | Book Review
Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell | Book Review
My Life in France by Julia Child | Book Review
Five-Finger Discount: A Crooked Family History by Helene Stapinski | Book Review
Cheaper by the Dozen by the Gilbreths | Book Review
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Please also check out seasonal memories from my New Jersey blog!
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Christmas at Kingsland Manor | Nutley, New Jersey
Christmas at Zenas Crane Homestead | West Caldwell, New Jersey
The 1970s Yule Log Brings Back Happy Christmas Memories!
The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971) | Television
Delicious Orchards 2023 | Colts Neck, New Jersey
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The Historic Cooper Gristmill | Chester Township, New Jersey
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