What to eat Turin? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Among the local products, it is impossible to miss the white truffle of Alba (tartufo bianco

). Sought after in the courts of Europe since the 18th century, this mushroom with its incomparable aroma is one of the most prized in the world. This rarity has a price: between 2,000 and 7,000 € per kilo, almost ten times the price of the black truffle. The thick forests of Piedmont are very popular with the locals for picking mushrooms, such as porcini and morels, which are prized by gourmets.

Piedmont, along with Lombardy, is known for its long tradition of rice production and these two regions produce about 95% of the rice in Italy. The province of Vercelli is considered the European capital of rice production. Varieties include carnaroli, vialone nano and arborio. Riso di Baraggia Biellese e Vercellese has a PDO. Polenta - cornmeal - is also widely consumed.

Meat is an important part of the local cuisine and Piedmontese beef is a breed of cattle known for its excellent meat, lean, tender and very tasty. Other meats include veal, poultry (chicken, duck, etc.) and of course pork, especially in the form of cold cuts. Prosciutto Crudo di Cuneo PDO, a delicious raw ham produced only in the southwestern part of Piedmont, and Bra's sausage made from beef and pork fat are just two examples. Unless you prefer mortadella Bologna PGI or salamini italiani alla cacciatora PDO, made more widely in northern Italy.

Although it has no coastline, Piedmont is nonetheless richly irrigated by a vast network of rivers and alpine lakes that offer a profusion of freshwater fish such as the Tinca Gobba Dorata del Pianalto di Poirino, known in French as tench, with its firm and delicate flesh.

Finally, local cheeses are plentiful thanks to the cattle farms in the vast pastures of the Po Valley and the surrounding Alps. There are many D.O.C. cheeses such as Grana Padano, Taleggio and Raschera, the famous Gorgonzola of Novara, as well as Bra, Castelmagno, Toma Piemontese, Murazzano and Roccaverano Robiola, all of which come in the form of tomatoes with varying degrees of maturation. Butter and cream are used generously in Piedmontese cuisine.

In terms of eating habits, Italians usually have a modest breakfast(colazione), often a pastry and a coffee. Lunch(pranzo) can be more or less generous: sometimes a simple sandwich is enough, unless you prefer a more substantial meal in a trattoria (brasserie), pizzeria or osteria (bistro). At the end of the day, aperitivo is a sacred moment for Italians. The traditional dinner(cena) is rather copious, often consisting of an appetizer, followed by a primo and a secondo with side dishes. Even though it is common to eat lighter in the evening.

An Italian meal will often start with antipasti (appetizers), which are also found during the aperitivo, mixing cold cuts, cheese, vegetables and mushrooms in brine with various sauces. All of this is often accompanied by breadsticks, emblems of Piedmontese cuisine, which were created in 1675 by order of the physician of Victor Amedeo II of Savoy, who had difficulty digesting breadcrumbs.

Among these sauces is the inratable bagna caoda, a rich preparation (olive oil, anchovies and garlic) similar to our anchovy paste, in which a host of vegetables (tomatoes, radishes, carrots, celery, etc.) are dipped. Or try the bagnet ross (tomato, onion, garlic, chili pepper, olive oil) and the bagnet verd (parsley, cooked egg yolk, anchovies, vinegar, bread crumbs) served with bread or as a condiment. The tomino in salsa verde, a small fresh cheese, is topped with this green sauce.

Otherwise you can also find the pizza al tegamino or al padellino. Typical of Turin, this small pizza, quite thick, is cooked in a pan. The dough and toppings are similar to the classic Neapolitan pizza. Otherwise devour a tramezzino. These triangular sandwiches with crustless bread are prepared with infinite care and contain a variety of fillings: meat, cold cuts, cheese, cooked mushrooms, raw vegetables, seafood, fish, etc.

Then we continue with the first course (pasta, rice or soups). If pasta is more common in the south than in the north of Italy, in Piedmont you can enjoy agnolotti, rectangular ravioli stuffed with veal, beef and pork. The agnolotti del plin are accompanied by a butter of sage (burro e salvia). Gnocchi al Castelmagno - made with potatoes - are topped with a creamy sauce of milk, butter and Castelmagno cheese. The sugo d'arrosto is a meat juice bound with butter, prepared with the juices of a pork or veal roast, which is complemented with small vegetables and aromatic herbs. It is served with both stuffed pasta and tagliatelle. In Turin, tajarin, a local pasta that is halfway between spaghetti and tagliatelle, is the best choice.

Of course it is impossible not to mention risotto. One of the most famous is the simple risotto alla piemontese, with white wine, onion and Grana Padano, unless you prefer risotto al barolo, with red wine. There are also variations with porcini mushrooms (porcini), morels (spugnole) or squash (zucca

). Panissa piemontese is a type of risotto with red beans and sausage meat. In Piedmont risottos and pastas are often garnished with a few slices of white truffle. Soups are also traditional primi, such as zuppa alla canavesana, a kale and bacon soup with toasted bread and Grana Padano.

The secondo or main course (meat or fish) in Piedmont is usually prepared with beef, veal or poultry. Among the classics is the brasato al barolo, a beef stew with pancetta, baby vegetables, cinnamon, cloves and red wine. Or try the very popular vitello tonnato, thin slices of poached veal, served cold and topped with a tuna, anchovy, olive oil and caper cream. Carne cruda all'albese is a veal tartar with Grana Padano cheese and sometimes white truffles. Created during the battle of Marengo, fought in June 1800 by Napoleon, pollo alla Marengo (chicken, tomato, mushroom, white wine) is sometimes replaced by veal. A festive dish, anatra farcita alla novarese is a recipe for duck stuffed with a mixture of risotto, sausage meat and small vegetables.

Piedmontese cuisine honors offal. For example, fritto misto alla piemontese contains beef or veal giblets (brains, liver, etc.), sausages, polenta croquettes and zucchini slices, all fried. The bollito misto is a set of beef or poultry pieces - meat and giblets - with sausages and vegetables, cooked in a court-bouillon and served with green bagnet. Finaziera is a dish made of meat and chicken giblets, including the cock's head.

Meat and fish are not automatically served with a side dish. You will have to order a contorno, often with vegetables or mushrooms. Note that pasta and rice are dishes in their own right and never served as side dishes.

Piedmont boasts an ancient and delicious pastry tradition. Examples include the delicate panna cotta, usually with a red fruit coulis, or the zabaione (sabayon), an airy Marsala wine mousse served warm, often accompanied by savoiardi, better known in France as spoon cookies or boudoirs, created in the 14th century for the Savoy court.

There are also baci di dama or lady's kisses, a small cookie made of two hazelnut shells filled with chocolate, or krumiri from Casale Monferrato, butter shortbread shaped like a caterpillar. And don't forget the margheritine di Stresa, vanilla-lemon cookies in the shape of a flower, similar to canestrelli. The bonèt is a flan with cocoa and amaretti powder (bitter almond cookies), flavored with rum. The torta 900 was created at the very end of the 19th century and consists of two layers of airy sponge cake with a chocolate mousse inside.

As you can see, chocolate has a central place in Piedmont and Turin even prides itself on being the Italian capital of chocolate. Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy introduced cocoa to Turin in the 16th century. A product often enhanced with a nut of which Italy is the second largest producer in the world: the hazelnut. The hazelnuts of Piedmont even have a PGI. It will come as no surprise to learn that the Ferrero group, which produces Nutella, was founded in Alba in 1946. The ancestor of Nutella is the cream of gianduia, and with it the gianduiotti, small triangular chocolates reminiscent of the hat of the commedia dell'arte character, Gianduia.

But you can't stop in Turin without tasting the bicerin. Coffee, hot chocolate and milk cream, what better way to warm up inside a beautiful Turinese café? The city has dozens of them. Otherwise cappuccino, espresso, macchiato or corretto are everywhere and generally excellent. The Lavazza group was founded in Turin, while the Bialetti company, to whom we owe the mocha coffee maker, was created in Omegna on the shores of Lake Orta.

Piedmont's wine production is among the best in the world. Barolo, nebbiolo and barbaresco are red wines with a powerful taste, ideal for red meats and hard cheeses of the region. Dolcetto and Barbera are lighter and more versatile. A wine that goes perfectly with bagna cauda is the grignolino rosé, while favorita, gavi and arneis are white wines that are perfect for fish dishes. As an aperitif, choose the famous Italian sparkling wine spumante d'Asti, and for dessert the Muscat of Monferrato.

Another Piedmontese pride, vermouth, is a fortified wine flavored with various herbs and spices, whose modern recipe was created in Turin in 1786, after a German aperitif recipe based on wine and wermut (wormwood in German). Martini is a brand of white vermouth that goes into the composition of Martini Dry, with gin and an olive. Red vermouth was preferred for the Manhattan (whiskey, cherry cocktail), the Negroni (Campari, gin, orange peel) or the Americano (Campari, soda water, lemon slice).