Book review: Massimo Bottura's Never Trust a Skinny Italian Chef

The most amusing thing about this title is that Massimo Bottura is lean (although I wouldn't call him skinny), Italian and a chef. He is also one of the most amusing and interesting chefs I've ever had the pleasure to meet: open-minded, passionate about what he does and well-informed about a range of subjects (among other things, we talked about art and jazz). His restaurant, Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, has three Michelin stars and is No3 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

Bottura has also been called eccentric (which could be a good or bad trait, depending on your point of view) and isn't exactly a standard cookbook, with recipes interspersed around the text and photos. In fact, it's a stretch to call it a cookbook at all - it's more of a book about Bottura's life and philosophy (mainly culinary) with the recipes starting only on page 276.

The first chapter, "Tradition in Evolution", says it all: Bottura rethinks and reworks traditional recipes, making them his own. He writes, "Tradition in Evolution looks at the history, produce and principles of the Emilian kitchen … through the eyes of a mischievous child. Some recipes focus on ingredients, such as Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano, and some, like Tagliatelle with Ragu, work with traditions, honouring, revising and reviving them. Some, like Osso Buco or Cappuccino, attempt to reinvent the wheel by breaking all the rules."

About Caesar salad, he writes, "If Caesar only knew how his name has been used in vain. I can find no evidence that Caesar salad was ever an Italian tradition. It is one of those hybrid recipes, a random collection of Italian flavours, re-designed for the American imagination … I wanted to strip away Caesar's dressing and reconstruct the recipe."

The result isn't anything you'll be whipping up for your weekly ladies' luncheon: it involves "mayonnaise" which contains tomatoes, olive oil and anchovies, but no eggs; egg bottarga (using embryonic [also known as unhatched] eggs); parmesan crisps; and a salad composed of, among other greens, black mustard leaves, beetroot leaves, mustard buds, leek buds and Sichuan button buds.