Stolen Secrets

There are only so many recipes in the world, so in a way, it’s probably inevitable that occasionally someone will repeat one or two. But 10? David Ruggerio, former chef at a couple of big-name New York restaurants and currently the author of “David Ruggerio’s Italian Kitchen: Family Recipes from the Old Country” (Artisan Books, $30), is in hot water after food writer Mimi Sheraton noted on the Brill’s Content Web site (https://www.brillscontent.com/online/cookbook.html) that some of his recipes were virtually identical to those in other previously published cookbooks. The recipes were identical not only in concept, but also in phrasing and even in ingredient amounts.

When she examined further, she found at least 10 recipes that appeared to have been cribbed from a kind of Greatest Hits of Italian Cookbooks--mostly by Marcella Hazan and Giuliano Bugialli. What was even more disconcerting was that many of these recipes--remember, lifted almost word-for-word from the original--had personalized headnotes from Ruggerio, recollecting in some detail how his grandmother had prepared one on Christmas Eve.

Ruggerio denies having stolen the recipes, but his editor at Artisan Books, Ann Bramson, has already written Bugialli apologizing. This is not Ruggerio’s first brush with ill fame. Last year, he pleaded guilty in a credit-card scam at his restaurant.

Hot Cabs

How hot is the market for California’s cult Cabernets? Consider that at a recent Zachys Christie’s California Only wine auction, there were nine lots that went for more than $5,000 a case, and five went for more than $10,000. That’s more than $800 a bottle. But even more astounding is that these are not aged wines--the oldest was only a 1989. In fact, of the six wineries represented, only one has been around for more than a decade.

The top seller was an $11,500 mixed case of Colgin double magnums from the 1993, 1994 and 1995 vintages. Right behind was a half-case of 1996 Screaming Eagle and eight mags of Grace Family from 1989 to 1996 for identical $10,925 bids. A case of 1996 Bryant Family went for $10,580, and a magnum of 1996 Screaming Eagle went for $10,120--of course, it was in its original wooden case.

As a comparison, a search of wine prices on the Internet turned up 1961 Chateau Lafite--a fully mature bottle of what is generally acknowledged to be among the greatest Bordeaux ever--beginning at about $500 a bottle. At least one store charges about the same amount for a bottle of 1974 Heitz “Martha’s Vineyard”--the Cabernet that helped start the whole California wine industry.