Marcella Hazan was responsible for bringing authentic Italian cooking to the British and American public. Here, St John’s Fergus Henderson introduces favourite recipes from her 1973 Classic Italian Cookbook
Marcella Hazan single-handedly changed food as I knew it at home. I’m not saying my mum was not a good cook before the arrival of Marcella, far from it, it’s just that Marcella set new benchmarks in cooking and understanding food. Over the years that followed the book’s appearance in our house, my mother has perfected our particular family favourite, Tomato Sauce III. She is a confirmed recipe follower and this is one of the splendid things about all of Marcella’s recipes: they work.
Having changed eating at the Henderson household, Marcella went on to larger things: teaching America how to cook Italian food. I firmly believe the Cal-Ital thing would not have happened without her rigour. And now to the exciting part of my story (a story that should be exciting already).
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