YouTube sensation and comedian Matteo Lane’s first cookbook comes out in April 2025 from Chronicle Books!
This quirky stand up comedian teaches us “How to make pasta like an Italian, Irish, Mexican Homosexual.” Lol!
Chapters include:
- Family – Three great grandmas and twenty six cousins (Pasta della Mamma, Gram Gram’s Eggplant Parmigiana, etc)
- Rome – City of Guanciale (Pasta alla Carbonara, Cacio e Pepe, Pasta alla Gricia, etc.)
- Sicily and the South – Caffe Granita con Brioche e Pana (Pasta alla Norma, Pasta al Limone, Aglio y Olio, etc.)
- Found Family – Gays (Two Mac and Cheese, Pasta al Pomodoro, Risotto al Zefferano, etc).
The author says his romance with pasta has been his longest and best relationship. Through the book, we learn about his upbringing in a ranch style house near Chicago;
There’s a page on How to Ruin Pasta, where Matteo implores us to never put oil in our pasta water, and teaches us that in Italy, the sauce is a condiment, not something you drown the pasta in. We should all read his notes on “How to Conduct Yourself at an Italian Dinner.” There’s an amusing page on “Things in a Nonna’s House,” a love letter to pig jowls, and notes on how to order coffee in Italy.
There are travel photos from Italy to enjoy as well.
Matteo begins one recipe by noting “I think Italian women and witches shop at the same stores” and then shares how his aunt Cindy cooked her pasta in a cauldron. I love the reminiscenes and childhood stories he shares along the way.
Given that the author is a comedian, one might think he is cracking jokes all throughout the text of the cookbook. No – so much better than that – he tells endearing stories of family members, traditions, and Italians. This is a cookbook you’ll want to read cover to cover, savoring it, whether or not you make any of the recipes. And yes, I intend to make many of these! You can easily adapt them yourself to your vegetarian or vegan diet, or substitute gluten-free pasta as needed.
Like most contemporary cookbooks, the measurements are listed in both metric and Imperial, cups and milliliters, grams and ounces. As far as I can tell, each recipe has a photograph to accompany it. Helpfully, there’s a notation at the top of each dish stating how many people it might serve.
Next time you host a Sunday supper, have this fantastic cookbook on hand to help you craft delicious family meals to share!
Shop for “Your Pasta Sucks” on Amazon (affiliate link).
Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for gifting me an advance reading copy of this new pasta cookbook.
-Carrie
Cookbook Divas
