The book begins with an overview of the Italian meal and a full description of the primary ingredients used in Italian cooking. More than two hundred classic recipes follow, beginning with a mouthwatering array of antipasti and culminating in a spectacular variety of desserts. Chapters on cheese-making, stocks and basic sauces, rustic soups, pasta, risotto, pizza and breads, meats, fish and shellfish, and vegetables offer all manner of primo and secondo courses in between. The final section of the book is a compendium of professional techniques, with a detailed discussion of each technique and a description of how it is taught at The International Culinary Center. These "lessons" are illustrated with hundreds of step-by-step photographs, and also include information about restaurant organization and practices. This section may be used in conjunction with the recipes in the book, as an aid when cooking from other cookbooks, or on its own, as inspiration.