On this day twelve years ago, the indomitable cooking teacher and cookbook author Marcella Hazan left us. That she did so on the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels was no mere coincidence. She had a lot in common with that warrior angel, being a fierce and uncompromising defender of the principles of sound cooking—and not just of the kitchens of her native country, but of any kitchen.
A scientist by nature and training, she was possessed of an endless curiosity that was governed by one overruling standard: taste. How it was done, how it smelled, and how it looked when it landed on the table all mattered. But in the end, all those things served the one thing that really mattered to her, which was how it tasted when it landed on her tongue. Read More