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Mother Sauce

Italian American Family Recipes and the Story of the Women Who Created Them

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By Lucinda Scala Quinn

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On Sale
Mar 11, 2025
Page Count
320 pages
Publisher
Artisan
ISBN-13
9781648292019

From home cook and author Lucinda Scala Quinn, a cookbook containing 100 iconic and beloved Italian-American recipes from the last century. 

In America today, everyone loves nonna’s cooking—think spaghetti, lasagna, and pizza. Italian families arrived in the U.S at the beginning of the twentieth century, and mammas brought with them the skills and ingredient know-how to fashion a whole new cuisine in spite of living in poverty and ostracization from their new country. Their fathers, husbands, and sons then monetized these dishes outside the home in the form of Red sauce joints. Rarely are these women actually credited as the true founders of the Italian-American cuisine. 

In her latest book, Lucinda Scala Quinn cooks classic Italian-American recipes, and along the way shares their origin and gives credit to the incredible women who developed our cherished Italian dishes. Home cooks and food lovers alike will delight in this masterful collection of America’s favorite comfort foods, from Baked Ziti and Sausage and Pepper Hoagies to Chicken Marsala and Cannolis. With gorgeous recipe shots, archival photos, ingredient sidebars, and cultural essays, Mother Sauce brings nonna’s cooking to kitchens everywhere.    

Genre:

  • “Lucinda pays loving tribute to the Italian women who stubbornly kept the food traditions of the old country alive in American kitchens. An indispensable collection of Italian American classics.”
    Giada De Laurentiis
  • “Mother Sauce is a superb, inspiring cookbook drawn from generations of family wisdom. . . . These recipes come from the heart and will find their way into your own repertoire.”
    Jody Williams, chef and coauthor of Via Carota
  • “Lucinda Scala Quinn is a legend in the culinary field, and I have been inspired by her work for years. I am thrilled and tantalized yet again by her newest offering of heartfelt, straightforward, family recipes.”
    Nicole Rucker, chef and author of Fat + Flour
  • “While there may be other cookbooks preserving Italian-American cooking, no one gets to the heart of this storied cuisine with more passion and perspective than Lucinda Scala Quinn. Using her own very personal family history, spanning five generations, countless relatives and dishes, she puts into focus the creation and evolution of our country’s most beloved recipes. MOTHER SAUCE honors the hard-working, often unrecognized, immigrant women whose grit and gumption paved the way for every delicious swirl of pasta in Sunday gravy, meatball sub and cacciatore we have come to know and adore. With Lucinda's expert guidance and generous approach in the kitchen, these classics are sure to be passed down again and again.”
    Gail Simmons, Food Expert, TV Host and Author of BRINGING IT HOME
  • “Lucinda has a mastery of her craft and is a true custodian of tradition in the American foodways, one deliciously made its own by Italian women.”
    Camille Becerra, author of Bright Cooking

Formats and Prices

Price

$35.00

Price

$45.00 CAD

Format

Hardcover

Format:

Hardcover $35.00 $45.00 CAD

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Lucinda Scala Quinn

About the Author

Lucinda Scala Quinn is the author of eight cookbooks, including the best-selling Mad Hungry trilogy. Her mantra is, “cook for the ones you love, teach them to cook for themselves and they will pass it on.” Her passion for cooking took root growing up in an Italian American family, which inspired her to begin cooking professionally at age sixteen. As a late-blooming entrepreneur, she founded the Mad Hungry kitchenware brand which makes multi-use tools for the home cook. For over a decade she oversaw all food content for Martha Stewart Living OmniMedia. She was the host of the television show Mad Hungry: Bringing Back the Family Meal and cohost of Everyday Food on PBS. Her radio show EatDrink on Sirius FM was an innovative precursor to podcasts. She lives in New York City and can be followed @madhungry.

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