The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual

by Frank Castronovo, Frank Falcinelli, Peter Meehan

Overview

“Everything I made from the book . . . was surprisingly easy and just as delicious as what I’ve eaten at the restaurants.” —New York Times Book Review

From Brooklyn's sizzling restaurant scene, the hottest cookbook of the season...

From urban singles to families with kids, local residents to the Hollywood set, everyone flocks to Frankies Spuntino—a tin-ceilinged, brick-walled restaurant in Brooklyn's Carroll Gardens—for food that is "completely satisfying" (wrote Frank Bruni in The New York Times). The two Franks, both veterans of gourmet kitchens, created a menu filled with new classics: Italian American comfort food re-imagined with great ingredients and greenmarket sides. This witty cookbook, with its gilded edges and embossed cover, may look old-fashioned, but the recipes are just we want to eat now. The entire Frankies menu is adapted here for the home cook—from small bites including Cremini Mushroom and Truffle Oil Crostini, to such salads as Escarole with Sliced Onion & Walnuts, to hearty main dishes including homemade Cavatelli with Hot Sausage & Browned Butter. With shortcuts and insider tricks gleaned from years in gourmet kitchens, easy tutorials on making fresh pasta or tying braciola, and an amusing discourse on Brooklyn-style Sunday "sauce" (ragu), The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Kitchen Manual will seduce both experienced home cooks and a younger audience that is newer to the kitchen.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781579654153
Publisher:	Artisan
Publication date:	06/14/2010
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	642,958
Product dimensions:	6.48(w) x 9.24(h) x 1.02(d)

About the Author

Frank Castronovo trained with such culinary superstars as Jacques Pépin and France's Paul Bocuse. In 2003, he opened Frankies 457 Spuntino with childhood friend Frank Falcinelli. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.




Frank Falcinelli has worked in Michelin two-star restaurants in France, with chefs Charlie Palmer and David Burke in New York, and was a partner and chef in the New York hot spot Moomba. He lives in Brooklyn with his French bulldog, Frankies mascot Merlin.


Peter Meehan is a food writer and former New York Times restaurant columnist. His most recent book is Momofuku, co-authored with the chef David Chang.

What People are Saying About This

Peter Kaminsky

"If any two chefs can be said to have captured the spirit of our times—big flavor, unfussy yet inspired ideas, perfect technique, and an insanely cool family vibe—it is the Franks. I have cooked my way through these recipes. They taste great and they work." —Peter Kaminsky

Mario Batali

"This time-capsule-worthy cookbook is destined to become a lifestyle mantra for the cooking community and the rest of the country." —Mario Batali

New York Magazine

"All the little old Sicilian ladies in the neighborhood must be seething with jealousy and plotting revenge. Frank Castronovo and Frank Falcinelli make the best meatballs, braciola, and eggplant marinara around." —New York Magazine

Food & Wine

"Radical comfort food" —Food & Wine

Spike Jonze

"I like the Frankies' French toast and I love their sausage cavatelli. But when I met them, I realized the Franks love their food even more than I do. There is a simplicity about their recipes—the kind of food that was made a hundred years ago. And the Franks have big hundred-year-old beards too." —Spike Jonze

Paul Bocuse

"Here is an address you won't want to miss: a place where the food rivals the best and is prepared with great spirit and creative energy....Frankies Spuntino is a tribute to our profession." —Paul Bocuse

Editorial Reviews

The title, the embossed cover,. and this book's gilded-edged pages seem elegantly retro, but there is nothing maudlin or obsolete about the cooking wisdom dispensed herein. The Frankies Spuntino Kitchen Companion & Cooking Manual draws on decades of hard-won expertise by two topflight gourmet chefs and one famed cooking writer. This cookbook showcases the entire menu of Carroll Garden, Brooklyn's reviewer- and customer-acclaimed Frankies 457 Spuntino Restaurant. If the homemade Cavatelli with Hot Sausage & Browned Butter won't snare you, the Cremini Mushroom and Truffle Oil Crostini will.

It is surprising to learn that Castronovo and Falcinelli are in their 40s. On one hand they are pulling off a 20-something hipster vibe these days, lighting up Brooklyn with their Café Pedlar pastry shop and the much lauded Prime Meats steakhouse. On the other hand, their new book, with recipes culled from the Italian eatery they launched in 2004, gives the impression that they are well into their 60s, with many a meatball under their belts. Aided by New York Times food writer Meehan, they have created a heartfelt tribute to red sauce dining, bound in an embossed, gilded, faux-leather cover. Their sauce is simple math: 13 garlic cloves into 96 ounces (six pounds) of tomatoes, plus olive oil, salt, and a dash of red pepper flakes. The meatballs are slightly more complex. Whether it's the handball-size baked version or the fried golf-ball-size, they are seasoned with white pepper and contain both pine nuts and raisins. Other hearty meat options include a pork braciola and sausage with peppers and onions. Vegetarians can get their sauce fix via an eggplant marinara, or pasta choices like gnocchi marinara with fresh ricotta or orecchiette with pistachios. A 13-page chapter entitled "Sunday Sauce" is a revelry in old school family dining. Described as "the meal, the menu, the way of life," the authors expound upon this traditional Sunday dinner of meaty sauce and pasta, listing all the essential ingredients, a time line for shopping and preparation, and a vital recipe for turning the leftovers into lasagna. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

The ingredient lists are short, the recipes are simple, flavorful, and easy to follow.” 
—New York Times

“This witty guide showcases the ‘radically simple’ cooking philosophy of the chef-owners of Brooklyn's Frankies Spuntino. It presents pared-down Italian food full of flavor, not pretense.”
–Bon Appétit

“Everything I made from the book . . . was surprisingly easy and just as delicious as what I’ve eaten at the restaurants.”
–New York Times Book Review
 
“A cookbook that's as useful as it is artfully conceived.”
–GQ
 
“The team behind the popular Brooklyn eatery divulges light Italian secrets in this beautiful tome worthy of any bookshelf.”
–Entertainment Weekly

"When we’re craving the comforts of red sauce classics, the Frankie’s cookbook is full of reliable recipes guaranteed to keep us satiated."
—Time Out New York

“The book is a perfect reflection of the Franks’ philosophy of making the past the hippest part of the present.”
–Food Wine

“This quirky, lovely, intelligent cookbook is worth reading from cover to cover than starting over again.”
–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Unfussy ingredients . . . surprisingly sophisticated.”
–Grub Street

From the Publisher

…the Companion is also a greatest-hits collection of the restaurant's dishes, none of which turn out to be intimidating. Everything I made from the book, from a salad of celery root, fennel, parsley and red onion to sweet-potato ravioli in cheese broth; from meatballs with raisins and pine nuts to wine-stewed prunes with mascarpone, was surprisingly easy and just as delicious as what I've eaten at the restaurants.
—The New York Times

Christine Muhlke