Recipes and Recommendations for Imbibing Beauty through Books and Beverages
By Annie Nardone
Pages, Pints, and Pours invites you to cozy up on a chilly night with books of stellar, simple Italian recipes and stories written by actor Stanley Tucci. Pair with my twist on Tucci’s classic cocktail or the herby Italian mocktail.
THE PAGES: Taste—My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
“Acting, directing, cinema, and the theater had always defined me. But after my diagnosis I discovered that eating, drinking, the kitchen, and the table now play those roles. Food not only feeds me, it enriches me. All of me. Mind, body, and soul. It is nothing more than everything.”
—Stanley Tucci
I met Stanley Tucci at a comic book convention ,I held a copy of The Tucci Cookbook. Yes, he’s a famous actor, but better than that, he’s a foodie. His cookbook is filled with personal stories about his recipes and family that were relatable to my husband’s Italian family and I hoped to ask him about his favorite ingredients and go-to dishes. He signed my book while sharing the steps to create a simple tomato sauce and I told him about South Jersey tomato pie. Tucci’s intense joy for cooking is palpable.
So when I found his 2021 book Taste: My Life Through Food, I had an expectation of gathered recipes and witty vignettes of his travels. Taste is a feast, a “food memoir” including memorable meals and the people who inspired them. He also writes of life during the pandemic lockdown and of his life-altering medical diagnosis. Tucci’s book is, no doubt, one of the more honest autobiographies that I’ve read.
Tucci’s writing is a personal conversation with the reader, like standing in the kitchen and stirring sauce together while he regales you with stories and witty asides. Taste is similar in style to Robert Capon’s The Supper of the Lamb. Tucci sets up each chapter by framing the setting: a movie set, a meeting with a Hollywood director to discuss his film Big Night (one of the best depictions of Italian American culture and cooking, wrapped in a story of family loyalty), and Christmas memories with family. Recipes and cocktails are woven into each story.
I add a small caveat about Taste. Tucci writes with a conversational tone; therefore, you will find a bit of salty exclamatory language in the text. You may not notice because the book is so filled with glorious life lived through a man who is well acquainted with sorrow. His love of life’s small beauties such as a simple meal with family is inspiring. He enters every culinary moment with kindness and generosity, from the six-page recipe for timpano (which my family makes every holiday) to jam sandwiches with his son. Tucci expresses gratitude in every experience and his greatest joy is breaking bread in community.
“Food at once grounded me and took me to other places…It allowed me to express my love for the people I love and make connections with new people I might come to love.”
—Stanley Tucci, Taste
PINTS AND POURS
According to Tucci, the Old-Fashioned is a “legendary libation” that was “created in 1806 in upstate New York and is the first drink to be called a ‘cocktail.’” Indulge in proper cocktail cherries for this drink—the traditional Luxardo brand is optimal. My version has a touch of sweetness from the cherry syrup.
There’s a mocktail version as well. Cheers!
The Old-Fashioned
1 teaspoon cocktail cherry syrup
4-5 dashes traditional bitters
2 shots bourbon
Ice
Lemon peel and a Luxardo cherry for garnish
Fill a short cocktail glass (a rocks glass) halfway with ice. Drizzle a teaspoonful of cherry over the ice, then the bitters. Pour bourbon over ice and stir. Add a strip of twisted lemon peel and the cherry.
Tonico Twist
Tonico is Italian for tonic. This refreshing drink contains a few drops of bitters (which is made with an alcohol base) but is considered a mocktail. Alternatively, use a few drops of culinary herbal vinegar.
Few drops of bitters
Tonic water
Ice
Citrus peel
Fill a tall glass with ice. Add a dash of bitters or herbal culinary vinegar to ice. Fill glass with tonic water and garnish with citrus peel.
Annie Nardone is a lifelong bibliophile with a special devotion to the Inklings and medieval authors. She is a Fellow with the C.S. Lewis Institute and holds an M.A. in Cultural Apologetics from Houston Christian University. Annie is a writer for Cultivating Oaks Press and An Unexpected Journal. Her writing can also be found at Square Halo Press, Rabbit Room Press, Clarendon Press U.K., Calla Press, and Poetica. Annie is a Master Teacher with HSLDA and Kepler Education and strives to help her students see holiness in everyday life and art. She lives in Florida with her husband and six cats, appreciates the perfect cup of tea, an expansive library, and the beach with family.
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[All quotes sourced from Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (Simon and Schuster, 2021).]
