>
Article snippet: Anyone who likes to cook probably walks around the kitchen accompanied by a chorus of instructions gleaned from years of standing stove-side with Grandma or sitting couch-side with Ina. The best cookbooks play a role too — and the measure of a successful one comes down to this: How long does it stay with you? How long do you walk around with the author’s voice in your head? This spring, more than a few pass that test, needling us not only to, say, use more salt, but reminding us about the meaning and value of home-cooked meals. One thing is very clear when it comes to the kitchen spirit sitting on your shoulder: You want that spirit to speak with authority. Joe Beddia, owner of Philadelphia’s Pizzeria Beddia, a perennial entry in whatever “Best Pizza in America” story is showing up in your Facebook feed, has no problem on that front. It takes a certain kind of confidence to open a pizzeria with no phone, no seating, no by-the-slice ordering and no employees except the guy behind the cash register. The recipe offerings in Beddia’s cookbook manifesto PIZZA CAMP: Recipes From Pizzeria Beddia (Abrams, $29.95), like the items on the menu at his pizzeria, are simple and targeted. His no-cook sauce (uncooked is crucial, he argues, since a concentrated ragu or tomato sauce will overwhelm everything) calls for four ingredients, and one of them is garlic, listed with the command not to buy the pre-peeled kind from China, “for crying out loud!” Beddia isn’t afraid to be opi... Link to the full article to read more