Piemonte Gastronomie

Piemontese cooking is classic and autumn is the richest season for the Langhe (”tongue”), the land of Barolo wine and the soil of truffles, when it is time to harvest the grapes. King Carlo Alberto once asked the Marches di Barolo for a taste of the wine and was responded by three hundred oxen carts, each with a carrata (800 liters) of the rich wine. True grissino (fresh baked bread sticks) is made by hand, is very crispy and thin and a meter long. It was made for the young prince Amedeo (son of King Vittorio Emanuele II), whose fragile health precluded an adequate diet unless lighter dough was used. Pasta is always made fresh daily using the lightest Ligurian olive oil and incredibly orange Piemontese range eggs. Agnolotti is pasta made with eggs and stuffed with beef, pork or rabbit, flavooured with sausage, parmiggiano, eggs and herbs. Risotto is a rice dish with wide grained rice that may be covered with truffles and comprise the entire meal, enriched with funghi porcini (mushrooms found by pigs), fondue, eels and frogs from the river Po, or little brids on a spit. The secondi (second course) reflects the French influence: Brasato al Barolo (braised beef with barolo) or Finanziera (a stew of boiled meats with pieces of pork, veal, turkey, beef and vegetables accompanied by pickled sauce and sals verde, made with parsley, garlic bread crumbs all drenched in vinegar with hard boiled eggs, olive oil and pepper). Cheeses from the area include Tome delle Langhe and Brus. The best Tome are soft within with a thin pale yellow crust, often conserved with oil and herbs. Brus is the color of Earth and is spread like jam on toast points but it burns. Cambio in Torino boasts a bronze plaque (”Conte di Cavour 1848-1861″) where the table  was reserved for the first meal for the first Prime Minister of Italy. Cioccolati (”chocolate”) was produced in Torino even before the Suisse and the cioccolatiers Giroldi and Giuliano were already famous in 1700, when the Suisse made it their first industry. Peyrano uses nine different types of cocoa in production. Barrati & Milano and Caffarel ae other famous cioccolatiers. The Montblanc, chestnuts and whipped crème, originated in the Varaita Valley in Cuneo and was named after the nearby Mountain Mont Blanc. It is not of French origin.Trifolai (truffle hunters) dig for Piemontese diamongs, the white truffles or Tuber magnotum, at the break of dawn. They grow deep in the soil under trees and are difficult to find. You cannot cultivate or farm them. This is why a kilogram costs US $1400. Truffles are in season all year round. In early autumn, the quarry is the Black truffle (which is lightly colored within) and from October to early Spring, the hunt is on for the White Alba truffle. They may be eaten raw in small quantities when grated over pasta, risotto, eggs, salads or meat dishes. The truffle market is in season in Alba every Saturday morning. No printed menus. Usually the proprietors tell you what is available and is happy to suggest, surprise and stuff you up. Mostly, you need only select from large platters of antipasti carried from table to table. You only have to order the vino. A typical Piemontese meal starts with between four (minimum) and ten or more antipasti. Each is served individually and the dishes are eaten one by one. First come the cold dishes, next the hot ones, and then many home-made pasti. Risotti are popular as Piemonte is the biggest rice producer in Europe. Amateur diners give up here. The cheese plate appears. For dessert, look for hazelnut cakes served with a Moscato Zabaione.