Local Cookbook with Old School Pittsburgh Charm and Style

I am a typical Italian woman. How can you tell this? It is simple—because I am nosy. I come from a long line of nosy women; it is in our genetic makeup. In Pittsburghese, I may be called nebby. Before the judgments are fully put into place let me explain what I mean.

I love to meet people, and yes I do love to talk. To the bane of my husband’s existence, I am queen of the “stop and chat” kind of conversation. Now I am not one to pry into peoples' private lives, but when it comes to food well then it's completely different story.

I am "the food nebby" type of person. I am always interested in what people cook and eat, where they shop for food and any scoop on restaurants that I need to check out. If I find out that you are a foodie, I will chew the fat with you for hours on this subject.

With that little tidbit of knowledge, I need to share with you a completely Pittsburgh foodie moment. I had an opportunity to meet a Pittsburgher who is doing wonderful things for the Italian-American community. She is helping preserve recipes and a way of cooking that is indigenous to the region.

On Jan. 26, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran the article in the food section, “Making sausage: Local Italians gather to preserve meat as well as traditions from the Old Country” by Gretchen McKay.

In this article, it described the traditions surrounding making an Italian-dried sausage called Sopressata. What caught my eye was the food that was prepared once the sausage making was complete. The article further mentioned a local cookbook and that many of the dishes prepared and eaten came from this cookbook. I was amazed!

Many of the recipes that were included in this article are just like the ones that my family makes. I was on a mission. "Home Grown Italian Recipes: A Legacy for Our Family and Friends" was a book that I needed to have in my collection.

I had to find out more information about this cookbook. After several emails and exchanges with the person in charge of mailing out the book, we decided to meet. I met with Karen DeRiso-Panella.

I met her at La Prima Espresso in the Strip District. She told me all about this cookbook and how it got started. Karen and several of her friends are members of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Alpha Phi Delta.

These women decided to collect recipes from family and friends to make a cookbook that would serve as a fundraiser for the fraternity. The money collected provides scholarships for the young men and women who belong to the Alpha Phi Delta Fraternity.

I wanted to know more about her recipes, her family and her background.

Karen grew up on Larimer Avenue in the East End of Pittsburgh. She described to me growing up in this area and her adventures of traveling throughout the city with her dad who was a knife sharpener.

She talks about Larimer Avenue as a “close-knit community” and a neighborhood where “everyone knew everyone.” It was an area mostly settled by Italian immigrants, and it was a typical working-class neighborhood.

Karen is charismatic and charming, as well as a die-hard foodie. Many of the recipes in this book are from her family. She has an extensive knowledge of the city and, specifically, the Italian-American community. It was a wonderful afternoon and a pleasure to meet her.

To say that this is a typical cookbook is an understatement.

It is a collection of stories, family histories and recipes. This is not a cookbook that one lightly peruses through—it is a book that is meant to be read like a novel. It has funny stories as well as the most incredible recipes.

It captures a piece of Pittsburgh food history.

This cookbook contains mostly Italian dishes, but there are others from different genres. The Italian-American recipes that are in this book are the real deal.

Trust me when I say it doesn’t get better than this!!

What I love most about this cookbook is that it typifies Italian-American peasant cooking.

For example, the cook contains several versions of pasta e fagioli (pasta and beans). When this type of cooking was done, cooks used whatever was available to them. So if you had white beans in the kitchen, you used them. Next time, you might use chi-chi beans. If you had some pancetta handy you might use it, but next time you made it you made it without it.

This type of cooking is so forgiving and versatile, yet it is simple and palate-pleasing. The mantra for this type of cooking is “use what is at hand and make do with what you have.”

This is a wonderful cookbook to have in your collection.

It is a great resource to use to expand your cooking repertoire. It supports a good cause and it gives the reader an insight into the world of Italian-American peasant cooking.

Buon Appetito!

To order a copy, email Karen Panella at twinkle@zoominternet.net.

Click here to view the sausage-making video that accompanied the newspaper article.