Parmigiano Reggiano
Parmigiano Reggiano — used in 17 ChefEdit recipes across the library. Each recipe explains how to source, substitute, and use it.
Stracciatella Brodo
Stracciatella brodo lives or dies on the broth and the pour. There is nowhere to hide: weak boxed stock gives a thin soup, and a hard boi...
Minestrone
Minestrone lives or dies on sequence. Build the soffritto slowly, add vegetables by density, then add pasta late so the pot stays brothy ...
Eggplant Parmigiana
Campanian-style eggplant parmigiana is not breaded eggplant under marinara and a blanket of cheese. The dish lives or dies on thin, unbre...
Chicken Parmigiana
Chicken Parmigiana lives or dies on contrast: a crisp cutlet, thick tomato sauce, and melted cheese that does not turn the crust soggy. T...
Frittata Pasta
Frittata di pasta is not an omelet with spaghetti dropped on top. The pasta is coated in beaten egg, pressed into a skillet, and fried un...
Polpette Pomodoro
Polpette al pomodoro live or die on texture. The meat mixture must be soft enough to stay tender after frying, but bound enough not to sh...
Beef Carpaccio
Carpaccio di manzo lives or dies on the beef and the cut. There is no cooking step to correct poor sourcing, thick slicing, warm plates, ...
Asparagus Risotto
Asparagus risotto lives or dies on texture: the rice must ripple all'onda, with asparagus that still reads green and fresh. The stock car...
Pumpkin Risotto
Risotto alla zucca is not rice with pumpkin stirred in at the end. The squash has to dissolve partly into the broth so the rice takes on ...
Gnocchi Pomodoro
Gnocchi pomodoro has nowhere to hide: potato, flour, tomato, basil, cheese. The dish lives or dies on dry potatoes and a restrained hand ...
Tortellini in Brodo
Tortellini in brodo has nowhere to hide: tiny meat-filled pasta in clear meat broth, with no sauce to cover weak dough, coarse filling, o...
Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli
Spinach and ricotta ravioli live or die on moisture control. Wet spinach blows open seams, watery ricotta slumps, and thick pasta turns a...
Pasta Pesto Genovese
The dish lives or dies on the pesto, not the pasta shape. Basil should read fresh and green, with the cheese, garlic, pine nuts, and oliv...
Fettuccine Alfredo
Fettuccine Alfredo lives or dies on emulsion, not cream. Hot egg pasta, cold butter, finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and starchy water...
Lasagne Bolognese
Lasagne Bolognese lives or dies on restraint. The ragù is slow and meaty, the besciamella is fluid enough to soften the pasta, and the sh...
Tagliatelle Ragu
Tagliatelle al ragù Bolognese is not red sauce with meat. It is a brown-orange meat sauce built through sweating, browning, deglazing, mi...
Spaghetti Bolognese
Spaghetti Bolognese is a compromise dish, so the sauce has to do the discipline. The ragù should be meat-first, not red-sauce-first: fine...