If you currently hear the sentence “Because he can!”, it is usually associated with unsavory things, such as buying messenger services or flaunting bling-bling. Not so with Herbert Grönemeyer. The pop star of the nation donated to his Umbrian cook Lorena Autuori, who spoiled him and his producer Alex Silva culinary delights during the mixing of his new album in Italy, a cookbook in German based on the menu of the three-week production, which probably never existed without him had. Because he can do it – but in his case it actually has sympathetic traits.
“Fatto a mano” is the name of the result and brings together 65 recipes that, if you believe the two men, have contributed significantly to the success of the album. With this, Grönemeyer follows two culinary phenomena. On the one hand, he places himself in the long-standing tradition of pop stars who, in addition to music, also bring recipes to fans, on the other hand, he adds another to the unmanageable number of Italian cookbooks.
The former is fondly remembered for the legendary peanut butter and banana sandwich from the Elvis cookbook, as well as Frank Sinatra’s burger recipe: “Call for Dino and tell him to make the fucking burger.” Later, The Voice made an effort took on a more serious streak and, along with his wife Barbara, edited The Sinatra Celebrity Cookbook, a sort of Great American Cookbook, which, however, couldn’t compete with Liberace’s opulent standard work of 1970, Liberace Cooks!. The corny crooner really liked to cook and had the right dish ready for every occasion, from a relaxed backyard buffet to a seven-course menu to be served in the formal dining room.
At most, Loretta Lynn, who was always authentic when cooking, could keep up. In 2004, she summarized the recipes of her life in “You’re Cookin’ It Country”. They tasted so good that Jack White flew to Nashville to try their chicken and dumplings. Whether you would fly to LA to see Snoop Dogg’s cooking is anyone’s guess. “From Gangsta to Gourmet” offers veritable soul food, but on the other hand it also has such calorie bombs that one wonders how the man can stay so slim with all the sweet marinades and monster sandwiches.
With Lorena’s balanced diet, Grönemeyer and Silva didn’t run the risk of getting fat, those with stuffed ones
Pumpkin blossoms to pork shoulder with lemons to strawberry tiramisu indulge in the diversity of Italian cuisine. Yes, one has to qualify, despite all her skills, Signora Autuori cannot reinvent Italian cuisine, and so it mostly stays with the tried and tested classics. Grönemeyer fans may be delighted by that, but it’s hard to say that Autuori’s selection towers above the mass of over 4,000 Italian cookbooks available on Amazon alone. Because while the German, Spanish and overseas kitchens offer room for a lot of innovations, Italian cuisine tends to be told out, the vast majority of recipes that have been tried and tested over generations can hardly be improved, and in most cases even top restaurateurs are content with it, only every now and then there to change a tiny nuance.
If you want to get to know the entire variety of Italian cuisine, you are better served with two classics. “Lechner’s recipe lexicon for Italian cuisine” lists more than 3000 recipes in an unillustrated and unadorned manner and meticulously catalogs the smallest regional differences. Anyone who thinks this is overkill and is looking for more about the peculiarities of the regions is still in good hands with “The Real Italian Kitchen” by Reinhardt Hess and Sabine Sälzer. Thirty years have not allowed this all-rounder to age a bit, it has just been relaunched and still offers the ultimate cross-section of delicacies from Sicily and Tyrol.