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by Piedmontese grandparents
To preserve unchanged the taste and the gastronomic stimulating advice of our tradition, we rely on the clear memories of Piedmontese grandmothers.
We spied Clelia, Maria, Rina and Luisa helped in the kitchen by her husband "Gianni", in order to reveal and hand down secrets and curiosities of their delicious dishes.

STARTERS
If well begun is half done... the starters of the typical Turin meals promise well, and distribute pleasure and satisfaction to all palates.
The large variety of dishes doesn't fear the comparison with any other regional traditions: stuffed peppers (with bagna caoda a sauce made with garlic, olive oil and anchovies) raw meat salad, Russian salad, anchovies and ox- tongue in green sauce, meat and vegetables soused in vinegar, small ome-lettes, friciulin (small pieces of fried, sweet semolina), pork, donkey and goose salami, just to mention a few.
Below you will find the recipes of the most famous star-ters, tomini al verde and vitello tonnato.


Tomin Eletric for 4 people
Recipe by grandfather Gianni

• 8 small tomini, a particular kind of fresh cheese (similar to cottage cheese)
• parsley (to taste)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of vinegar
• extra- virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 piece of chilly pepper

Season the cheese with a little vinegar and a sprinkle of ground pepper.
Prepare the green sauce by chopping the parsley, the garlic and the chilly pepper; add a small tablespoon of tomato sauce and half a glass of oil, salt and pepper to taste.
Once the ingredients are well blended, pour the sauce. And, after that, as grandfather Gianni suggests, let the dish rest for 24 hours, in order to let the cheese absorb the delicate taste of the sauce.

The term electric is referred to the hot aftertaste that the sauce leaves on the palate: from the traditional definition of tomin fort (strong), that points out the importance of the chilly pepper and the garlic, we arrived to the current one (electric) at the beginning of the XX century, when gas was replaced by electric light.

Vitel tuné for 4 people
Recipe by granny Luisa

• 800 grams of silverside veal
• 2-3 hardboiled eggs
• 10 capers
• 5 anchovy fillets
• 200 grams of tuna fish
• 1 carrot, 1 celery stick, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic
• oil and balsamic vinegar.

Boil the meat with the carrot, onion, celery as well as laurel, rosemary and cloves for about 3-4 hours so that it is imbued with the spicy flavour. To make it even tastier you can add an anchovy cut into small pieces.
In the meantime, prepare the sauce. Chop the hard boiled eggs, the anchovies, capers and tuna and thin it out with some oil. You will obtain a creamy sauce (a sort of enriched mayonnaise), made softer by adding a little meat broth. Finally, before pouring the sauce over the delicate veal, add a little balsamic vinegar to emphasize the brusque taste.

"BAGNA CAODA E POVRON, CHE PARADIS!"
(hot sauce and peppers, what a paradise!)

The symbol dish of Piedmontese cuisine is, no doubt, bagna caoda.A unique dish, typical of autumn, of ancient rural origin, but still able to evoke the rustic atmosphere of the past.You eat it with a real collective rite: table companions sit around a special bowl, diàn o padlòt, with a biova (typical Piedmontese bread) in one hand and a glass of good wine in the other, better if a full-bodied Barbera. As indicated by its name (bagna caoda means hot sauce), it is necessary for the temperature to be kept very high.The scionfietta, a sort of warmer put under the diàn (the bowl) enables it to remain constantly hot. Alternatively, each table companion can taste the sauce using a small individual container heated by a candle, but in this way the convivial aspect of the dish is lessened.

Bagna Caoda for 4-5 people
A recipe by all the grandparents

• 200 grams salted anchovies (about 12)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 200-250 grams olive oil
• 40 grams butter
• plenty of vegetables

In an earthenware pot,heated slowly, melt a mixture of chopped anchovies and garlic, until you obtain a liquid but not homogeneous sauce, diluted with oil (be careful, don't let it fry!). Garlic is the recipe's basic ingredient, but often its intense taste, for "tough men" as general Alfonso Lamarmora asserted, is not appreciated.
To overcome the digestive inconvenience, it is possible, during preparation, to remove the internal part or "core" of the garlic and soak it in cold water, or better, cook it in milk. Vegetables are the fun aspect of the dish. You can choose among the famous "hooked" cardoon of Nizza Monferrato, the typical "topinambur", and then turnips, potatoes, peppers, Savoy cabbages, carrots. Further, you can use eggs and cooking apples. Cut into thin strips or boiled, the fresh vegetables are arranged in various dishes from which the guests help themselves and dip them directly into the sauce, in a chaotic but cordial atmosphere.
The grand final requests a further effort for your stomach. Each guest is expected to have a fresh egg to scramble in the bottom of the pot and to dispute with the others over the tasty leftovers of the sauce.

Agnolotti del "plin" al sugo d'arrosto for 4 people
Recipe by granny Rina

• 500 grams of roast veal
• 500 grams of roast pork
• 2 hind rabbit legs
• celery, onions, laurel, rosemary and garlic
• 500 grams spinach
• 1 nutmeg
• 3 eggs

"Agnolotti", typical of the area of Asti, owe their name (plin) to the pinch made by three fingers (thumb, forefinger and middle finger) on the thin layer of fresh pasta pastry in order to close the stuffing inside it, originally a compound made of festive days' leftovers. Starting from the stuffing (coumàut), roast the meat with the vegetables and the broth, adding white wine to flavour the sauce that will be used on the pasta. Cool the meat and mince it together with the spinach, previously cooked in butter, the eggs and a nutmeg. In the meantime prepare the dough with flour, eggs, oil and salt; roll it out and cut it in long, thin strips. Then place the stuffing on them at regular intervals, close with the technique explained above (plin) and separate the pasta squares with a special utensil.

Gran fritto misto alla piemontese for 4-5 people
Recipe by grandfather Gianni

• Meat: veal slices , sausages, lamb or kid chops , veal or pork liver, lamb chitterlings, veal kidney, frogs, brains, pigs’ trotter and veal spinal cord
• Vegetables, fruits and desserts: aubergines, courgettes, courgette flowers, mushrooms, apples, macaroons, pieces of cold semolina pudding
• Coating: flour, eggs, milk, breadcrumbs and salt.

The birth of this nourishing dish is connected to the saying, typical of the rural people: "you don't waste any part of the pig". In fact, originally, this fried dish was prepared on the occasion of the pig's slaughter. This dish was suitable for feast days and was based on blood-sausage, lung and liver.
New ingredients have been added over the years. After cleaning and cutting meat and vegetables, and after softening the macaroons in the milk, you are ready for the coating. Since each ingredient has to be covered with flour,and some of them also put in a batter of flour, milk and egg or in bread-crumbs, you have to check cooking times and oil temperature carefully. Fry in olive oil, that you can strengthen with some butter.
The golden brown colour will indicate when perfectly cooked.

Il bollito
Recipe by greatgrandmother Clelia

The secret is to let the 14 pieces of meat boil slowly using 4 different pots:one for beef, one for pork, one for the calf's head, tail and tongue and the last (that is the fourth) for the loin.
The most typical sauce used is bagnet verd, a green sauce prepared by chopping parsley, anchovies, capers and garlic, of course. Ingredients are amalgamated using a hard-boiled egg.

Bonet for 4 people
Recipe by grandma Maria

• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of sugar for each egg
• 1 milk cup (mug) for each egg (or 2, it depends if you want a thickermixture)
• 2 spoonfuls of bitter cocoa
• 15 Piedmontese crushed (ground) macaroons
• lemon-peel of half a lemon
• 1 small glass of rum ( in the local slang "cicchet")

Numerous versions on the origin of this name have been given over the years. The dialect term "bonèt" means the hat worn by country men, whose rounded form looks like that of the pudding. The most curious theory, born on the hilly region of the Langhe, is that this dessert is called like that because it is served at the end of the meal, as a sort of closing course. Heat the 2 tablespoons of sugar until it browns in a round hollow tin - the traditional one is made of aluminium - and let it cool. In the meantime, beat the 4 egg whites in a bowl (grilèt) and add the yolks. Then, add the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into the tin and cover with a normal lid: granny Maria maintains that in this way the mixture cooks quickly. Now cook it in a bain-marie, putting the tin in a pot with a little water, to ensure it won't overboil.
Now overturn the tin onto a dish and serve cool.Advice for people with a sweet tooth: taste it with plenty of caramel.

Grissini included!
These crunchy sticks - according to the legend - were born in the court of the Savoy dynasty. The court baker, a certain Antonio Brunero, is said to have invented them at the order of His Majesty's doctor. It was the year 1684 and Vittorio Amedeo, one of the children of the Savoy House and future king, didn't enjoy good health.
A light and digestible type of bread was needed. So, the "ghersino" was created, that is a "ghersa"(long and thin bread) but even smaller. There are two famous types, "stirato" and "rubatà" (hand rolled). The recipe is easy: water, flour, oil and yeast.To make it more crumbly, you can add malt, lard or milk. They must be baked in the oven for 15/20 minutes.