The Chef's Library: Jason Neroni + Cooking by Hand by Paul Bertolli

By Besha Rodell Wed., Nov. 28 2012 at 7:00 AM

Categories: Cookbooks, The Chef's Library

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The Chef's Library is a series in which we ask chefs around town to tell us about their favorite cookbooks. Today, we talk to Jason Neroni, chef at Superba Snack Bar.

Jason Neroni has a lot of beloved cookbooks, but his "favorite of all time" is Paul Bertolli's Cooking By Hand. "His salumi recipes are my benchmark," Neroni says. "The essays are incredible, and the letter to his son is inspiring. And the recipes ... he really, for me, took Italian in a different direction."

That vision of Italian cooking, as well as the focus on salumi, can be seen on Neroni's menu at Superba.

But Neroni's go-to cookbooks also extend to cooking that doesn't make it onto his restaurant menus.

For Chinese cooking, he recommends The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking by Barbara Tropp. " I've had this book for years. I was turned on to it by chef Lee Hefter of Spago. It's such a gem, everything I ever wanted to know about cooking Chinese food is here." A favorite recipe from the book? "Homemade Chinese egg noodles with XO sauce."

Another favorite is Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen. "This is just a great cookbook. She really opened my eyes to some recipes and techniques that I had not thought of before, like a recipe for sweet breads, anchovies with warm potato chips & wild garlic."

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