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300fixes for when something goes wrong
The cookbook from Giovanni's kitchen

Your grandmother's cooking was never hard. She just never wrote it down.

100 Italian-American recipes from thirty years at my mother's stove in Bensonhurst. Sunday gravy, cutlets, lasagna, Friday fish. Each one comes with the one old trick that makes it work, so it comes out right the first time.

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326 pagesA full-page photo of every dishFree lifetime updates30-day money-back guarantee
What the jar doesn't tell you

They made Italian cooking look complicated, so you'd keep buying it.

The jar

Tomatoes, salt, a little oil and a lot of sugar, cooked flat and sold back to you for five times what a can of whole peeled costs.

The tray

A tray of chicken parm from the place on the avenue is a few chicken breasts, a pot of sauce and somebody else's hour.

The myth

That you need a fryer, a pasta machine or a grandmother from the old country standing behind you. You need a few old tricks.

If your eggplant came out greasy or your cutlets went soft on the plate, that was never your fault. Nobody showed you the old way.

A letter from Giovanni

My mother never wrote a word of it down. So I did.

I was eight when my family came to Brooklyn. My mother Assunta took a small place on 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst, and I started at nine, peeling garlic on a milk crate by the back door, long before I was tall enough to see over the counter.

Thirty years later I am still at that stove. And in thirty years I never once saw her measure anything. How much salt the water takes, when the gravy has cooked long enough, which bread is stale enough for meatballs. It lived in her hands, and nowhere else.

I am not a chef, and I never pretend to be one. What I learned is simpler: the old way is almost always the easier way. She did less than you think, and she did it in the right order.

So I wrote it all down. Her dishes, the ones from my videos, and every small trick that makes them work. Learn the tricks, and the recipes become yours.

Giovanni
Giovanni Moretti in his white cook's jacket, leaning on the counter of his Brooklyn kitchen
Brooklyn, in the kitchen
A trick with every recipe

What the shows tell you, and what my mother did.

Six of the 100 tricks inside. Each recipe carries one.

Fry the eggplant in a deep pan of oil

Salt the slices, press them under a plate and a can for an hour, then brush two spoons of oil on them and bake.

Eggplant, the old way
Tip the sauce over the drained pasta

Drain it a minute early and finish it in the pan, with the sauce and a splash of the water it cooked in.

Spaghetti al pomodoro
Boil the lasagna sheets first

Soak the sheets in the hottest tap water for 25 minutes, and rest the tray half an hour before it goes in.

Sunday lasagna
Fry the cutlets in a deep pan

Bread them, chill them on a rack for 20 minutes, then drain on the rack they chilled on.

Chicken cutlets
Brown the meatballs first

Stale bread soaked in milk, and the meat goes in raw, straight into the simmering gravy for an hour.

Sunday meatballs
Add more tomato paste when it tastes thin

Cook it longer. If it still bites, an eighth of a teaspoon of baking soda, and stir.

Sunday gravy
Built for the kitchen counter

Any page you open, you can cook from.

Every recipe is two pages: the finished dish first, then the whole recipe on one page. No flipping back and forth with wet hands.

1

The finished dish, first

You see what you are making before you start.

2

The pantry, pictured

The twelve things that were always in her cupboard, and what to skip at the store.

3

Short, numbered steps

With the cues to watch for: the sizzle, the colour, the smell of the garlic.

4

Giovanni's trick

The small thing my mother did that makes the dish, and why.

5

If it goes wrong

What you are seeing, why it happened, and how to save dinner.

6

Monday's lunch

What last night's dinner turns into by Monday. Nothing thrown away.

100recipes across 10 chapters
300pages
10stories from the Sunday table
300rescue notes for when it goes wrong
What you'll cook

From Tuesday pasta to the Sunday table.

Total value$150
You pay today$59 $37.99
Get every recipe
Look inside

This is what a recipe looks like.

The eggplant from the video everybody asked about, written out in full.

Baked eggplant layered with tomato sauce and mozzarella

Eggplant, the old way

Salted, pressed, brushed, never fried. Serves 4 · 1 hour pressing · 25 minutes in the oven

You need

2 young eggplants, heavy for their size1 tbsp coarse salt 3 tbsp olive oil1 can (28 oz / 800 g) whole peeled tomatoes, for the weight ½ lemonBasil, a few leaves

Do this

  1. Slice into rounds as thick as your finger, about ½ in / 1.5 cm. Leave the skin on.
  2. Salt both sides, layer in a colander, and put a plate on top with the can of tomatoes on the plate. One hour.
  3. Oven to 425°F / 220°C with the empty tray inside. Wipe every slice dry with a towel.
  4. Brush the oil on the eggplant, not the tray. One layer on the hot tray, no slice touching.
  5. 20 to 25 minutes, turning once, until deep gold. Lemon and salt only at the end.

Giovanni's trick

The weight. Eggplant is a honeycomb full of air, and the air is what drinks the oil. Press the air out and a sponge stops being a sponge.

If it goes wrong

Pale and soft? The slices were crowded and steamed. Use two trays next time, and never cover them.

p. 30

Sample layout. Every recipe in the book follows this two-page format.

From readers

What buyers say about the book.

The book is new, so these are my promises, not reviews. When readers write to me, their words go here, good and bad.

I am not going to invent reviews. When readers write to me, I will put what they say here, exactly as they wrote it.

Giovanni Moretti · the author

What I can promise now: the amounts, the order and the one thing that goes wrong in every recipe, and your money back within 30 days if it is not for you.

Giovanni Moretti · the author

It is a PDF, yours for good, with free updates. There is nothing else to buy and nothing to cancel.

Giovanni Moretti · the author
From the videos

What the videos teach about Giovanni's tricks.

Six tricks from the channel, written out in plain words. The book is brand new, and the videos are where most people meet them first.

Salt the slices, press them for an hour, and the eggplant stops drinking all that oil.

From the book · eggplant

Pull the pasta a minute early and finish it in the pan with the sauce and a little water.

From the book · spaghetti

Soak the sheets in hot tap water instead of boiling them, and the lasagna stays loose.

From the book · lasagna

Rest the cutlets on a rack in the fridge before frying, and the crust stays crisp.

From the book · cutlets

Raw meat into the simmering gravy, and the meatballs stay soft all the way through.

From the book · meatballs

An eighth of a teaspoon of baking soda fixes a sauce that bites. Stir it in and taste.

From the book · gravy
Giovanni
The old way is almost always the easier way. She did less than you think, and she did it in the right order.From the book · Giovanni

That is every trick in the book, written out with the amounts, so you never have to wonder again.

This book is for you if…

  • You've paid for a tray of chicken parm and thought, "I could make this."
  • Your sauce still tastes like the jar.
  • You remember your grandmother's cooking and never got the recipes.
  • You want real dinners that are cheap and on the table in 30 minutes.
  • You cook for people you love and want them asking for seconds.

Skip it if…

  • You want tweezers and restaurant plating.
  • You think Sunday gravy should come from a can.
  • You never plan to turn on the stove.
Regular price $59
$37.99
less than one tray from the pizzeria
Get the book now Instant download · lifetime updates
Finally Written Down

Everything you need to cook it tonight.

  • The 326-page ebook, instant PDF download
  • 100 recipes in 10 chapters, each with Giovanni's trick
  • 100 full-page photos, one for every dish
  • 300 fixes for when something goes wrong, indexed, plus a what's-in-the-fridge index
  • Assunta's pantry: the 12 things always in the cupboard
  • Cups and grams, °F and °C, on every recipe
  • Lifetime access to every future update, free
30DAYS

Cook from it for 30 days. If it does not change how you cook, write to us and you get every cent back. No questions.

Questions

Before you cook.

Anything else, ask us under any video. We read every one.

What exactly do I get?

A 326-page PDF cookbook with 100 recipes, the pantry list, Sunday menus, and an index of every fix. You download it right after you pay, and every future update is free.

Is this a printed book?

No. It is a digital PDF you read on your phone, tablet or computer, or print the pages you want by the stove.

I'm not a confident cook. Is this for me?

That is who I wrote it for. Every step tells you what to look for and smell for, and every recipe has a section for when it goes wrong.

Can I find the ingredients?

Yes. Everything is in a normal supermarket. Where a deli makes a difference, I say so, and I say what to buy if you do not have one.

Are the recipes from the videos in here?

Yes. The recipes from the videos are in the book, written out in full, in numbered steps, with the amounts.

Cups or grams?

Both. Every recipe gives cups and grams, and °F and °C.

What about food safety?

Every meat and fish recipe gives the safe internal temperature, and the leftover notes say how long things keep.

What if I don't like it?

Email partners@thejonmac.com within 30 days of buying and we refund you in full.

Sunday dinner could be the one they talk about.

My mother never wrote it down. I did. All you have to do is cook.

Get the book · $59 $37.99

Instant download · lifetime access · 30-day money-back guarantee