Cuisine Cookbook

10 Northern End Italian Cookbooks: Find The Best And Most Popular Northern Recipes Here!

When travelers visit Italy for the first time, they may be surprised to find such a culinary diversity from region to region. Among many popular specialties of some areas, Northern Italian cuisine has its own distinct set of flavors with rich, creamy sauces, heavier butter, and more. Therefore, if you are finding a reliable source for Northern dishes, let’s check out 10 Northern Italian cookbooks we introduce in this article.

A Lombardian Cookbook: From the Alps to the Lakes of Northern Italy

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“This is a gorgeous cookbook! From the gorgeous cover to the quality binding and mouth-watering photos, A Lombardian Cookbook is a book to delight the senses!” – SandrasKitchenNook 

Lombardy is the home to some of Italy’s most famous dishes, including osso bucco, bollito misto, and panettone. Grew up there, acclaimed chef Alessandro Pavoni has shared the secrets to these traditional classics in his first book. All 100 recipes included in this book are the family’s precious treasure that features Lombardy’s luxurious products such as cave-aged cheeses and cured meats, polenta, tender spit-roasted meat and risotto made from rice grown on the plains of the River Po. 

Having learned to cook as a boy standing by his Nonna’s side from an early age, Alessandro understood the power of food to nourish and bring joy. This passion continues to inspire him to create delicious, comforting dishes that will bring a little bit of Lombardy into your own home. 

About the Author: Alessandra Pavoni is the well-known chef of Sydney’s two-chef-hatted Ormeggio at the Spit. 

Roberta Muir is the author of the cheese book 500 Cheeses and co-author of Sydney Seafood School Cookbook. She also is the manager of Sydney Seafood School. Roberta’s passion for food, wine, and foreign culture have led her on adventures in Europe, Africa, Turkey, South East, and Central Asia, North America, and Australia.

Since 1997 she has managed Australia’s leading cooking school, Sydney Seafood School, at Sydney Fish Market. In 2003 she was a member of the inaugural graduating class for the University of Adelaide’s Master of Arts degree in Gastronomy. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter and see more of her work at www.food-wine-travel.com

The Italian Farmer’s Table: Authentic Recipes and Local Lore from Northern Italy

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“Even More Reason To Visit Northern Italy” – Alicia

The Italian Farmer’s Table is a wonderfully illustrated cookbook featuring authentic recipes from over 30 agriturismo (working family farms that provide room & board to travelers) in northern Italy, where the cuisine served exemplifies the farm-fresh movement underway in the United States, the UK, and beyond.

Visitors come from Europe and North America to agriturismo are satisfied in such delights as fresh ricotta cheese made the same morning, prosciutto from free-range pigs, and organic vegetables picked minutes before serving.

As professional chefs who are fluent in Italian, Matteo, and Melissa have recorded over 150 authentic northern Italian recipes from these family farms. A few recipes are even found in cookbooks available outside of Italy.

Full-color photographs and lore about the farms and their residents bring Italy’s beautiful countryside to life and complement such recipes as Onion Tarts, Fried Butternut Squash Ravioli, Piemontese Beef Stew, and Goat Cheese Gnocchi with Walnut Butter. All recipe ingredients are given in both U.S. and metric measurements.

About the Author: Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino is a husband-and-wife cooking and writing team from Connecticut. They graduated from The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan together and worked for a time in Italy.

Their shared passion for Italian food and culture led them on many culinary journeys, including apprenticeships at a Roman bakery, studying winemaking at a Ligurian vineyard, graduating from professional culinary schools in Manhattan and Florence. They worked together at several Italian agriturismo, where the idea for this cookbook was born. Melissa is a recipe tester at the Fine Cooking magazine, while Matt works for a boutique Italian wine company.

Classic Food of Northern Italy

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“Anna Del Conte is considered an expert on Italian food and cooking and this book shows you exactly why. A very good read.” – A_typical_shopoholic

In 1996, the original edition of Classic Food of Northern Italy won both The Guild of Food Writers Book Award and the Orio Vergani prize of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina. In this updated edition, Anna Del Conte goes through classic dishes again to show the best of Northern Italian cuisine in terms of both rustic and sophisticated side.

In this over 150 recipes collection, Anna has chosen the best ideas derived from famous restaurants, elegant home kitchens, rural hostels, and country farmsteads. Many of the traditional dishes may not be familiar, such as flatbread made with chickpea flour, Ligurian Ciuppin, or macaroni pie in a sweet pastry case, but some definitive versions of popular dishes such as Pesto, Ragu, and Ossobuco are still presented.

Her recipes are carefully researched and tested since she wants to provide the home cook with a trusted and essential companion. 

About the Author: Anna Del Conte is widely recognized as the master of Italian cooking. She wrote several cookbooks, including Italian Kitchen, Cooking with Coco, Gastronomy of Italy, and Anna Del Conte on Pasta. In 1994 she won the prestigious Premio Nazionale de Cultura Gastronomica Verdicchio d’Ora prize for the distribution of knowledge about authentic Italian food.

She was also awarded the Guild of Food Writers Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011. In 2016 Anna appeared on the BBC program The Cook Who Changed Our Lives with Nigella Lawson. Anna lives near her family in Dorset.

Northern Italian Cooking

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“Northern Italian Cooking is the best cookbook of its type. Everything I have made from this cookbook has gotten rave reviews. The recipes are clear, concise, and easy to follow. The ingredients are easy to find and readily available. Buy this cookbook.” – Sue C

Filled with delectable, authentic recipes, and menu suggestions highlighted by full-color photographs, Caggiano’s book of cooking secrets will enable cooks to master her methods with ease. The sumptuous Northern Italian cuisine can fill any cook’s home from appetizers and soups to main dishes and distinctive desserts. 

About the Author: Biba Caggiano was born in Bologna, which is Italy’s gastronomical capital. Here she grew up cooking the food of her native Emilia-Romagna region. Now she is the chef-owner of the nationally renowned Biba restaurant in Sacramento, California, and host of her international cooking show, “Biba’s Italian Kitchen” on the Learning Channel. She is the award-winning author of six bestselling cookbooks.

Brunetti’s Cookbook

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“Non-Italian people often do not realize that all Italian cooking is not the same. This tome on Venetian cooking is a delight for its accuracy and emphasis on the Venetian cuisine. There are many dishes I’ve had in Venice and nowhere else. If you like Italian cooking this is a must-have cookbook!” – Jamesgb2

In Brunetti’s Cookbook, Donna Leon’s best friend and favorite cook bring these excellent Venetian meals to life. Among over 90 recipes for antipasti, primi, secondi, and dolci, some outstanding dishes are eggplant crostini, orrechiette with asparagus, pumpkin ravioli, roasted artichokes, baked branzino, pork ragu with porcini. 

The recipes are joined by some pieces from the novels, four-color illustrations, and six original essays by Donna Leon on Venice’s food and life. Charming and full of personality, they are the perfect addition to this long-awaited book.

About the Author: The recipes belong to Roberta Pianaro and culinary stories told by Donna Leon.

Roberta Pianaro is a jeweler, a talented cook, and the best friend of Donna Leon, who has enjoyed the fruits of Roberta’s kitchen for more than thirty years. She lives in Venice.

Donna Leon is a New Yorker of Irish/Spanish descent. She first went to Italy in 1965 and regularly returned while pursuing a career as an academic in the States and, later, in Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia. Leon has received both the CWA Macallon Silver Dagger for Fiction and the German Corrine Prize for her novels featuring Commisario Guido Brunetti. She resides in Venice.

The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food

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“If I could have only bought one book to try to cook the foods I remember from Florence and Rome, this is it. Very, very good.” – travel girl

Emilia-Romagna is a fertile land between Milan, Venice, and Florence that known as the best of Northern Italy and gastronomically crucial as any place in the world. To describe the famous of this area’s delicious cuisine, Kasper wrote, “Ask an Italian where to take only one meal in Italy. After recommending his mother’s house, he will more than likely send you to Emilia-Romagna”.

As the first American book to present the food of this singular northern region, The Splendid Table is an Italian cookbook for the nineties. It will take you from Parma, Bologna, Modena, Ravenna, and Ferrara to tiny villages in the Apennines’ foothills, from Renaissance banquet halls to the simplest of farmhouses, offering history, folklore, and substantive cooking tips along the way.

About the Author: Lynne Rosetto Kasper was rated in the top twelve of the best cooking teachers in America in 1988 by The James Beard Foundation. The Splendid Table’s research began a decade ago while Lynne was living in Europe. She explored Emilia-Romagna, working with home cooks, chefs, historians, and the culinary artisans who still make traditional foods in the old ways. Lynne now lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Biba’s Taste of Italy: Recipes from the Homes, Trattorie, and Restaurants of Emilia-Romagna

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“Biba’s recipes are always as delicious as they look on TV” – Ally A

Located in one of Italy’s most prosperous northern regions, Emilia-Romagna has given the world cuisine that is a luscious as it is refined: tasty seafood dishes from the Adriatic waters; hearty, long-simmered ragùs; and creamy pasta shaped into tortellini, anolini, and lasagna. Biba’s frequent family visits to Bologna stimulate childhood memories of growing up in this food-lovers paradise and claims that the kitchen remains the heart and soul of Italian homes.

Featuring more than 250 recipes, from antipasti to desserts, Biba introduces the delicious food of her childhood: homestyle dishes and authentic recipes from humble trattorie and family-run restaurants. From the region’s coastal towns and villages, Biba shares the simply prepared seafood dishes of the local trattoria.

More than a collection of recipes, Bib’s Taste of Italy is also a travel guide with all the names and addresses of her favorite trattorie and restaurants where her favorite dishes can be found.

About the Author: Biba Caggiano is the author of numerous cookbooks including Northern Italian Cooking, Modern Italian Cooking, and Leo Buscaglia’s Love Cookbook with Biba Caggiano, From Biba’s Italian Kitchen, and Italy al Dente. Her cooking show, Biba’s Kitchen, was broadcasted on the Learning Channel. She is the chef/owner of Biba’s restaurant in Sacramento, California, and also lives there.

Biba’s Northern Italian Cooking

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“There is no finer cookbook author than Biba. I can testify from first-hand experience because I lived in Italy and “lived” the food. Biba is the most authentic author one could find. My family loves EVERY on of her recipes!!” – Ann Savage

As an Italian native, Biba Caggiano takes you under her wing with over 200 recipes from Northern Italy in Biba’s Northern Italian Cooking. Simple-to-master methods will have you making tortellini from scratch, authentic pasta sauces, savory meat dishes, and delectable desserts in no time. You are totally able to cook as if you had grown up in a Northern Italian home soon after following this book. 

Your kitchen will be filled with the distinctive smell of homemade Minestrone, Tagliatelle Bolognese Style, Shellfish Risotto, and Basil and Roasted Leg of Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary as if you had learned to make them side-by-side with a real Italian mama. In this new edition of a classic that has sold more than 400,000 copies, readers can find everything from simple dishes for a family meal to more elaborate recipes for special occasions

About the Author: Biba Caggiano was born in Bologna, which is Italy’s gastronomical capital. During her childhood, she lived and learned to cook the food of her native Emilia-Romagna region. Today, she is the chef/owner of the nationally recognized Biba restaurant in Sacramento, California, and host of her own international cooking show, “Biba’s Italian Kitchen” on The Learning Channel. 

Fast and Fresh: Recipes from Northern Italy

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“A Great Chef makes a Great Cookbook!” – AsInfo

As a professional and acclaimed chef specialized in Northern Italy Cuisine, Giovanni Gaudio offers readers an easy-to-use informative cookbook. Recipes covers from bruschetta, antipasti, salads, pasta, meats to desserts with easy instructions, so you just need to pick and choose following your purposes, such as a meal for two, a multi-course dinner party or a delicious salad after work. 

Through this book, Chef Giovanni guides you to make meals only with quality ingredients. This guide is an excellent cookbook for beginners who want to learn about the basics Italian recipes in general but also great for more seasoned home cooks who are interested in recipes from Northern Italy and creative cuisine using fresh ingredients.

About the Author: Giovanni Gaudio is the executive chef-owner of Bocconato Culinary Excursions located in Northern California, a culinary company devoted to creating gourmet experiences through food events, education, and travel to Italy. Born in a large Italian family and the grandson of Italian immigrants, Giovanni has been in the food and wine industry throughout most of his life, including owning Bocconato Trattoria, a Northern Italian restaurant.

There he teaches both food and wine classes, conducts epicurean tours to Northern Italy, and develops recipes and wine programs for other restaurants. Besides that, he has studied both artisanal bread and cheese-making. Chef Giovanni also works as a private chef and a caterer for special events.

Regional Foods of Northern Italy: Recipes and Remembrances

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“One of the best recipe books I’ve encountered for Northern Italian food! Well written and recipes are well written.” – Carol-Anne Abbink

Unlike other books, this is a marvelous cookbook that arouses the essence of Northern Italy’s traditional foods in a beautiful mixture of recipes and tales. Written by Marlena de Blasi, the author of the bestselling “A Thousand Days in Venice”, this book is presented with an elegant collection of recipes and words.

Through the book, your home will be full of the aroma of ancient and divine food, recalling the indescribable essence of this land. Let the adventure begin.

About the Author: Marlena de Blasi is an American living in Venice with her husband. She has traveled many paths in her adopted country and stopping to savor each region’s abundance. As a food and wine journalist and culinary historian, her articles about food and travel have been posted in The International Herald Tribune, The St. Louis Riverfront Times, and Sacramento Magazine. The follow-up of this series is Regional Foods of Southern Italy.

We hope you like this post and finally find out your favorite Northern End Italian cookbooks. Meanwhile, we welcome you to explore our site and discover more cookbook recommendations from the same cuisine below.

Doris Frasier

Hi. I'm Doris! I am a foodie that has traveled to 78 countries and loves trying cuisines from different countries. I try anything related to food and share my opinions on this blog. Send me a message with any requests!
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