Piedmont: Italy’s culinary treasure trove

Gastronomy is an everyday passion in the north Italian region of Piedmont. The Piedmontese are fiercely proud of having at their fingertips and in their recipe repertoire some of the finest ingredients, including quality red wines, a range of traditional cheeses as well as cream and milk, exceptional charcuterie, delicate patisserie, the elusive white truffle, and award-winning chocolate. This really is a food lover’s treasure trove, and it is no accident that the Slow Food movement was born here in the town of Bra, just 45 minutes from Piedmont’s capital, Torino.

Piedmont’s cuisine is rich, typically using plenty of butter instead of olive oil, and featuring creamy white sauces as opposed to red tomato-based sauces. If it’s true that you can identify a region’s cuisine by its cooking fat and most used carbohydrate, then in Piedmont it would be all about butter, rice and polenta.

Beef and veal are the meats of choice here. The region is renowned for its eponymous breed of cow, the Piedmontese, which provides beef that is unusually low in cholesterol content for red meat. In season, many game recipes also appear on the menu. Anchovies and other canned fish are a feature of local cuisine, and would have traditionally arrived from the coast, preserved in salt.

The region boasts a pastry tradition recognised throughout Italy, and is respected for the precision and attention to detail in the creation of its dishes. This is cuisine that is elegant, sophisticated and quite obviously influenced by France, with whom Piedmont shares a border, a history, and many culinary traditions.

When it comes to pasta, tajarin is Piedmont’s most famous. Always vividly yellow from the huge quantity of eggs used to make it, the dough is cut into silky, thin ribbons – often served with nothing more than Piedmontese butter and a generous shaving of fresh truffles.

Another typical pasta dish is agnolotti del plin – a delicious Piedmontese version of ravioli, filled with veal, pork, beef, and rabbit or vegetables and sometimes even a little boiled rice. In Piedmontese dialect, ‘plin’ means ‘pinch’, as these ravioli are gently pinched together to seal and give them their unique shape. They are usually served with sage butter, a meaty ragu, or in a rich meat broth.

This is also one of the main Italian regions to feature risotto on the menu. The rice fields of Vercelli and Novara have a long history, and it is in this region that many classic risotto recipes were created and are still enjoyed.

Garlic is not a prevalent ingredient, except for in the lusty, salty bagna càuda, a savoury ‘warm bath’ for dipping vegetables, and among Piedmont’s flagship dishes.  Bagna càuda is a first course that can and often does become a meal. The vegetables used for dipping are typically served both cooked and raw, and commonly include carrots, celery, scented fennel, and two symbols of Piedmont: cardoons, which look like long ribs of celery and taste like globe artichokes; and Quadrato d’Asti, which are square bell peppers admired for their shape and flavour. The idea is everybody at the table dips vegetables into this bath of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies, as it slowly infuses over a low flame into a strong dressing that the Piedmontese also pour over boiled potatoes and polenta. During hard times, polenta was the staple food for many in this region, and the yellow ears of corn can still be seen filling the traditional, triangular wire baskets on every Piedmontese farm during autumn.

One cannot discuss Piedmont’s food without mentioning the white truffle of Alba. Rare and expensive, these truffles have a unique flavour and a powerful scent. Their season lasts from late October through to early January and they are hunted with the help of specially trained truffle dogs. Unlike the more common black truffles, white truffles are only served raw, finely grated in beautifully veined shavings that fall in a rain over a bed of risotto, or tajarin, or fresh eggs fried in lots of butter.

If you visit the region in autumn or winter, it is likely that you will be offered bollito misto. This dish is shared between Piedmont and Lombardy, and rarely eaten outside of restaurants because of the time and expertise required to make it. It consists of all sorts of cuts of beef, veal, poultry, pork and vegetables, boiled together and served from a steaming silver cart. It’s then sliced with care for each diner, and always accompanied by Piedmont's special ‘bathing’ sauces, or bagnetti. This is an epic eating experience and well worth a try. 

Piedmont grows the world’s most sought-after hazelnuts: tonda gentile delle Langhe. Nougat, or torrone, is universal throughout Italy, but it is special in Piedmont because the hazelnuts used are indisputably the best. Once blended with flowing, silky chocolate, hazelnuts become Nutella, the addictive spread born in Piedmont that has conquered the world. Another iconic hazelnut-chocolate marriage from Piedmont is gianduiotti: milk chocolate mixed with a paste of toasted, ground hazelnuts to form trapezium-shaped chocolates.

Torino is northern Italy’s centre of chocolate making. The many art-nouveau cafes and artisanal chocolate shops throughout Piedmont, especially in Turin, offer their own versions of gianduiotti and other regional specialities. Among the best names to look out for are Cafarel, Peyrano, Stratta and Gobino. Some cafes put their own version of Nutella at the bottom of an espresso cup to make a hazelnut-flavoured twist on a Piedmont classic: the bicerin, an indulgent drink made up of layers of espresso coffee, chocolate, and whipped cream. Chocolate-based desserts and chocolate shops throughout Piedmont reflect the recipes passed down by local families over the course of history.

Piedmont is also rightfully famous for the glorious wine country of the Langhe, south of Turin, which produces some of the greatest red wines of Italy: Barolo, Barbera, Barberesco, Freisa and Dolcetto. These wines are of exceptional quality and perfectly matched with the region’s cuisine – especially the local version of steak tartare, carne cruda, the myriad other meat and game dishes, and the rich risotti and pasta dishes that make up this culinary cornucopia. There are also some amazing white wines produced in this fertile region, particularly the aromatic Arneis, which brims with the fragrances of pear, apricot, chamomile and almond; and the crisp, clean-tasting Gavi made from Cortese grapes in the province of Alessandria.

Wherever you are in Piedmont, you are almost certain to find food that will excite you, flavours that astound you, and dishes you will not forget. Buon appetito!

Valentina Harris is an Italian chef and author of over 40 books on Italian food. She is also the specialist lecturer on our Piedmont with Valentina Harris small group tour, your chance to experience the culinary delicacies, art and architecture of Piedmont. You can find out more about truffle hunting in Valentina's blog 'Italy's art of truffle hunting' and more about Italy's King of Wines in 'Why Barolo is Italy’s King of Wines'.