200pp Hardback, Hodder and Stoughton £stg16.99
Maybe it's a genetic predisposition, maybe it's cultural recognition, maybe it's simply great entertainment, but I'm a big Sopranos fan. The best Christmas present in my stocking was the complete third series on DVD. So when I saw the Sopranos Family Cookbook my initial reaction was predictable - what a bare-faced attempt to inveigle me into parting with money for a piece of shoddy merchandising with 'Sopranos' written on the cover. But you know what? This is a real cookery book. As I reluctantly turned the pages I was won over by the purity of the recipes. These are exactly how my mother and grandmother would do it; no gentrified recipes here, no dishes made prettier or daintier to pander to the caprice of fashion, just pure peasant dishes from the Campania.

That's something that distinguishes the Sopranos from the Corleones; geography. Mostly the mob as seen on TV is Sicilian but the Sopranos are Neapolitan, so their cooking is as well. The fiction in the book is that it's written by Artie Bucco, the chef/proprietor of the 'Nuovo Vesuvio' restaurant where Tony Soprano and family eat out. Artie combines the recipes with interviews with the family which usefully elucidate the finer points of Italian cooking that aren't in the recipes. The interviews are where you find the underpinning philosophy and rules of conduct. Don't make your pasta sauce soupy, no grated Parmesan on fish-based sauces, cappuccinos are for mornings only, and Corrado's rule of rules, 'never complain, no one gives a fuck.'

Each chapter features one of the family. Tony Soprano gives us his barbeque tips, Carmela cooks for her family, Janice gives us Sunday lunch, Adriana and Chris tell us about romantic food and Paulie Walnuts gives us the rules for hygiene and sanitary eating, eg. 'if you're around school-age kids wear a face mask and never accept a cookie from them.'

For all its light-heartedness this is a serious book. Michael Scicolone's recipes really work and are clearly laid out making them easy to follow. They're also authentic. There are simple dishes here where he has resisted the temptation to complicate them, for example the chicken baked with potato and lemon - a dish that makes a virtue of simplicity. If you want a book that can sit next to Elizabeth David's Italian Cookery on your kitchen shelf of serious books, this could be it. A happy mix of proper recipes, great photos of the family and insights into their world view.