Piedmont''s range of antipasti is so vast and varied
that it represents a compendium of regional cooking with
dishes that elsewhere might qualify as main courses.
Classic openers are fonduta (cheese fondue), insalata
di carne cruda (marinated raw beef), finanziera (a bizarre
meat stew), vitello tonnato (veal with tuna sauce) and
bagna caôda (hot bath for raw vegetables). Salads
may consist of greens, asparagus, sweet-sour onions,
beans or wild mushrooms. Red and yellow bell peppers
are eaten with dressings or, like other vegetables, blended
in flans called sformati. Zucchini flowers or Savoy cabbage
(verza) leaves with meat-cheese fillings may be called
caponet. Rice and cheese are used for croquettes, cakes
and fritters. Eggs may be fried sunny side up with truffles
or cooked with vegetables or peppers as frittata or in
an onion custard called tartrà.
Antipasto lists continue with tongue, tripe, fried
pig''s trotters called batsoa (silk stockings), tonno
di coniglio (marinated rabbit tender as tuna) and stewed
snails. Patés and terrines are made of liver
and game birds. Fine pork salumi include salame alla
douja (aged in lard in earthenware vases) and blood
sausages called sanguinacci. Salami is also made from
beef, goose, trout and potatoes. Munched with virtually
everything are grissini, yard-long breadsticks first
baked in Turin in the 17th century.
Pastas are dominated by slender, hand-cut noodles called
tajarin and ravioli-like envelopes called agnolotti,
which take to different forms, fillings and sauces. Flatlands
near the Po around Vercelli and Novara are Europe''s
leading suppliers of rice, notably the prized Carnaroli
for risotto cooked with beans and pork as panissa or
paniscia or with frogs, vegetable or meat sauces or simply
with butter and shaved truffles. Polenta and potato gnocchi
are favored in places, as are hearty soups, such as cisrà,
with chickpeas and pork rind, and tôfeja, with
beans, corn flour, vegetables and pork.
The region raises prized beef of the breed known as razza
piemontese to be braised in red wine, roasted, grilled
or simmered as the base of bollito misto. Recipes abound
for veal, lamb, kid and rabbit, as well as duck, goose,
chicken, capon and pigeon. Pheasant, partridge, hare
and venison are favorites among game. Meats and other
items combine in Italy''s most ambitious fritto misto.
Fried pork liver is the base of a dish called griva.
Tapulone is a stew of donkey meat served around Novara.
Anchovies and tuna flavor many a dish, though fresh fish
is secondary in the diet, with an exception for trout
from mountain lakes and streams.
Piedmont produces quantities of Gorgonzola from Novara,
as well as Taleggio and Grana Padano, DOP cheeses that
are also made in neighboring regions. Piedmont also offers
an intricate array of local cheeses protected by DOP.
Notable are the soft Robiola di Roccaverano (based on
sheep''s milk) and Murazzano (based on cow''s milk with
some goat or sheep''s milk blended in). The little wheels
of Toma Piemontese come from hill towns in the region.
Tome or tume are usually based on cow''s milk, as is
the rare Castelmagno, sharp in flavor and flecked with
blue mold. Bra, named for the town near Cuneo, may be
soft when young or hard with age. The similar Raschera
comes from the heights of the Maritime Alps. A pervasively
pungent fermented cheese is known variously as brôs,
bruss, bruz. Fontina, preferably from Valle d''Aosta,
is widely used in cooking.
Piedmont is a major producer of hazelnuts, protected
under IGP. They are used in pastries, cakes, chocolates
and the nougat called torrone. Chestnuts are roasted
or candied as marrons glacés. Among a wealth of
biscuits, pastries and desserts, standouts are corn flour
(meliga) cookies, the chocolate or coffee flavored custard
cake called bonèt, cream cooked with caramel as
panna cotta, an opulent chocolate cake called torta gianduia
and fluffy zabaione, which supposedly originated here.
Piedmont boasts the greatest number of classified wines,
with 8 DOCGs and 43 DOCs, including the regionwide appellation
of Piemonte to classify premium wines. The Nebbiolo grape
of Barolo and Barbaresco also makes aged reds in the
northern towns of Gattinara, Ghemme and Carema. Popular
reds are Barbera and Dolcetto. Notable whites are the
dry Gavi and Arneis and the sweet, bubbly Asti Spumante
and its relative Moscato d''Asti. Turin is the world
capital of vermouth, fortified wine flavored with herbs
and spices.
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