Matteo Lane

Comedian Matteo Lane has loads of followers to his stand-up engagements on YouTube. (That’s how I discovered him.) But Lane is very serious about his cooking. I could not resist his recipes or his snarky attitude, which we get not only from the title, but also from Lane’s description of the cookbook as a guide to “how to cook pasta like an Italian, Irish, Mexican homosexual.” (Lane’s no slacker; he’s fluent in Italian, Spanish and French, and he’s not bad in German, show more either.)

Those who know Lane won’t be surprised at how funny this cookbook is, nor will they be surprised at how delicious his recipes for pasta (the cookbook contains nearly exclusively pasta dishes). Lane’s pretty particular about his recipes, so he blasts substituting bacon for pancetta or guanciale, cooking with pasta that’s not bronze cut, using shredded mozzarella from the grocery store and buying Parmesan not made in Italy, much less “the sawdust in the green cans at the grocery store.” See why I adore Matteo? I couldn’t believe the difference bronze-cut pasta makes! I now follow most of Lane’s advice. Not that I’m giving up on using the much cheaper bacon instead of pricy pancetta. (Matteo, I hope you can forgive me, although you probably can’t.) I loved it!

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Chronicle Books in exchange for an honest review. show less

Ooh, I love pasta and I cannot wait to make some of these recipes, except for the pesto recipes, I don't want to die. :)
I love the humour that Matteo interspersed throughout the cookbook. I feel like I know more about their family and the love they share for one another because of the humour Matteo uses.