To roast a suckling pig, three things are essential: a brick oven, 35 guests and an accordion player. If you're so blessed--or cursed--Toscana Mia (D&M $50) provides a recipe for porchetta al forno, along with dozens more for the traditional Tuscan dishes of Umberto Menghi's childhood.

The errant son, Menghi left Italy in the '60s, made his fortune in the restaurant business, and then found himself nostalgic for the simpler pleasures of his homeland. He bought a 54-acre farm, with the help of family and investors, and turned it into a country inn and cooking school, named Villa Delia, after his mother.

Essays on Tuscany's geography, its cowboys and farmers, the autumn hunting season and mushrooms, olive oil and wine are interspersed with directions for sautéed fennel, salt cod, tripe, true Florentine cannelloni and almond biscotti. 1-55054-721-6 [Louise Donnelly / BCBW 2001]