The Art of Wood-Fired Cooking begins with detailed instructional information on the ins and outs of the wood-burning oven. With cook, teacher, and entrepreneur Andrea Mugnaini's reassuring advice and careful instruction, it's easy to create and cook mouthwatering wood-fired dishes. Mugnaini has spent more than 20 years perfecting the craft of wood-fired cooking. She started Mugnaini Imports in 1989 to bring the Italian style of cooking and living to America through wood-fired, pizza-oven sales. A pioneer of the industry, she founded the first cooking school dedicated to wood-fired cooking. When she is not teaching or in the office, Mugnaini entertains crowds in the Sonoma Wine Country with her live, interactive cooking events. Now she shares the methods she has been teaching through her classes, sharing delicious recipes for pizzas, breads, fish, poultry, meats, vegetables, pastas, and desserts. Fire up the oven and enjoy: Butterflied Shrimp - Zucchini Gratin with Tomatoes and Gruyere - Tuscan-Style Pot Roast with Herbs and Chianti - Focaccia with Onions and Thyme - Limoncello Bread Pudding with Fresh Blackberries Mugnaini (founder, Mugnaini Wood-Fired Cooking School) opens her first cookbook with essentials for starting and working a pizza oven fire, oven temperatures, and cookware. The pizza section features instructions and illustrations for making the dough and baking. Writing for beginners, Mugnaini includes a wide variety of recipes: e.g., Braised Lamb Shanks al Forno and Wood-Roasted Corn-on-the-Cob. For readers with a wood-burning oven, these recipes are perfect for all occasions. ( Library Journal 2010-06-15) The Art of Wood Fired Cooking is filled with instructional information on how to properly fire a pizza oven so anyone can create and enjoy mouthwatering wood fired dishes at home. Andrea Mugnaini shares the method of wood fired cooking she has perfected over the last twenty years for her cooking school, as well as many delightful recipes for pizzas, breads, fish, poultry, meats, vegetables, pastas, and desserts―all of which are absolutely delicious. Now you can fire up the oven and enjoy Wood-Roasted Butterflied Shrimp, Zucchini Gratin with Tomatoes and Fresh Savory, Tuscan Style Pot Roast with Herbs and Chianti, Focaccia with Onions and Thyme, and Limoncello Bread Pudding with Fresh Blackberries. When cooking with fire at home, the possibilities are endless! Andrea Mugnaini started Mugnaini Imports in 1989 to bring the Italian style of cooking and living to America through wood fired pizza oven sales. A pioneer of the industry, Andrea founded the first school dedicated to wood fired cooking. When she is not teaching or in the office, Andrea entertains crowds in the Sonoma Wine Country with her interactive cooking events. Jacket designed by Debra McQuiston Cover photos © 2009 Joyce Oudkerk Pool Having cooked professionally in a wood fired oven for years, and taught student culinarians on the art of the wood fired oven, I found that Andrea captured the art and science of this craft perfectly. The recipes are exciting, the photographs realistic and delicious looking; they make you want to start cooking right away. The Art of Wood Fired Cooking is destined to be a timeless classic. Ron De Santis, Certified Master Chef and Director, The Culinary Institute of America This beautiful cookbook perfectly captures the excitement, the versatility, and the fun that come from using a wood burning oven. Andrea Mugnaini is a gifted teacher, and this book is an example of her clear, step-by-step approach that has convinced thousands of home cooks about the ease of using a wood burning oven. Plainly put, the food from a wood burning oven is vastly superior to the same dish cooked in a gas or an electric oven. It's why we return night after night to cook in our wood burning oven, and have done so for ten years. Hugh Carpenter, Camp Napa Culinary Andrea Mugnaini teaches with such grace and clarity that it makes a subject as potentially daunting as wood fired cooking seem as approachable as flipping pancakes but a lot more exciting. Not only is she an inspiring teacher, she's a fabulous cook, and her wood fired recipes will bring Italy right into your backyard. (P.S. If you don't yet have a pizza oven, don't worry; you can make these dishes in your regular oven too.) Margo True, Food Editor, Sunset magazine Mugnaini emphasizes that you can bake more than just pizza in the wood oven. She does a great job explaining how to regulate the wood oven for many different cooking methods. All of the recipes sound so good a