RuvidaMente
From BABÀ to BITTER
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BABÀ Ring-shaped yeast cake usually soaked in rum, originally from Poland but very much associated with Neapolitan pastrymaking, now typical of Naples.
BABBALUCI Small snails, cooked in garlic or tomato sauce.
BACCALÀ Salt-dried cod, which is reconstituted by soaking in water, then boiled (sometimes in milk) as a stew or eaten cold or fried. Italy produces a great deal of baccalà most popular during the Christmas holidays. The word is also often synonymous with wind-dried stoccafisso (see).
BACCELONE Livornese soft ewe's milk cheese. It is traditionally accompanied by fava beans.
BACI "Kisses."chocolate-hazelnut candies, a specialty of the Perugina Company.
BACI DI DAMA "Lady's kisses," chocolate-covered almond cookies, from Piedmont.
BAGGIANO Fava bean, shelled and cooked fresh or dried and reconstituted in water.
BAGNA CAUDA "Hot sauce." Piedmontese dipping sauce made with anchovies and garlic, usually served warm. When almost finished the leftover oil is used to cook eggs.
BAGNOMARIA Double boiler. A technique used to heat food or leftovers.
BAGNUM Fresh anchovies cooked in tomato sauce, a specialty of Liguria.
BAGOSS Lombardian hard grating cheese.
BAICOLI "Little jokes," orange-flavored Veneto cookies, traditionally dipped in red wine.
BALLOTTE Chestnuts boiled and flavored with fennel or bay leaves.
BALSAMICO Balsamic vinegar, the best coming traditionally from Modena. It is made from a cooked grape must known as saba, then aged for several years, with some vinegars dating back a century or more. The finest have a DOC. designation, with the oldest, extra vecchio, being a minimum of 25 years old. Younger commercial versions, made outside of Modena, are widely sold. Once considered a rare gift for close friends and a form of concentrated medicine, balsamic vinegar is now used as a salad dressing, sauce flavoring, and condiment. See: Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia
BAMBORINO Beef flank.
BAMBUZENE DI SANTA CATERINA "St. Catherine's dolls," Ravenna cookie shaped like dolls.
BANANA Banana, a fruit only imported into Italy since the end of World War II.
BANDIERA, LA Apulian dish made with arugula and basil, potatoes and pasta, and tomato — symbolizing the three colors of the Italian flag (green, white, red) also knows as il tricolore.
BAR Italian version of a coffee shop.
BARBA DI FRATE "Monk's beard," a wild bitter grass, used as a salad green.
BARBABIETOLE Beets or beetroots, usually bought at the market already cooked and eaten as a vegetable or salad.
BARBAGLIATA Espresso coffee mixed with cocoa.
BASILICO Basil, one of the most popular of herbs in Italy, requisite to making an authentic Ligurian pesto. It is also best known as the herb in simple pasta dishes like spaghetti con pomodoro e basilico.
BASTARDINO Smyra fig or prickly pear.
BATSOÀ "Silk stockings," a Piedmontese dish of pig's feet in batter, fried in butter.
BATTICARNE Meat pounder.
BATTUTO A mixture of onion, garlic, fatback, and other ingredients added for flavoring a stew or soup. If sautéed, it is called a soffritto.
BAUERNBROT Alto-Adige brown rye bread, similar to those in Austria and Germany.
BAULETTA Small Mantuan bread roll or a cheese-and-ham stuffed ravioli from Friuli.
BAVA, ALLA Any dish in which cheese is melted into thin strands.
BAVARESE Bavarian cream, a cold egg custard, which may or may not have originated in Bavaria. It can be molded and chilled, then decorated with fruit.
BAVETTE Ribbon-shaped pasta. See: Bavette
BAVOSA Blenny fish, usually cooked in soups.
BECCACCIA Woodcock, a small game bird, usually roasted or grilled.
BECCACCINO Snipe, a small game bird, which requires barding with fat to make flavorful before grilling.
BECCAFICO Warbler, a game bird. Also, a Sicilian stuffed eggplant dish.
BEL PAESE "Beautiful Country." A soft, mild Lombardian cow's milk cheese created in 1929 and named after a beloved children's book.
BEN COTTA Well done, referring to the degree of doneness of meat.
BENSONE Lemon-flavored sponge cake, from Modena.
BERGAMOTTO Bergamot, a citrus fruit similar to an orange, usually made into marmalade. See: Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria
BERLINGOZZO Ring cake flavored with anise, from Piedmont.
BESCIAMELLA or BALSAMELLA A rich sauce made from flour, butter and milk. It is used as a layering sauce in lasagna, as well as a pasta sauce or dressing for vegetables.
BEVANDA or BIBITA General term for beverage or drink.
BIANCHETTI Anchovy or whitefish spawn, usually boiled or fried.
BIANCHI DI SPAGNA Large white kidney beans.
BIANCO White.
BIANCO D'UOVO Egg white, used in making fluffy desserts.
BIANCOMANGIARE Jellied white custard flavored with pistachios and almonds.
BICCHIERE A drinking glass.
BICERIN Piedmontese beverage made with chocolate, coffee and milk.
BIETOLA Swiss chard, which is probably not Swiss but native to Italy. It is boiled, seasoned with garlic, oil, and pancetta.
BIGA Bread starter.
BIGIO Bread loaf made with both white and whole wheat flours.
BIGNÈ Pastry puff or fritter, often filled with sweet creams, sometimes with cheese.
BIGOLI Thick spaghetti made with whole wheat or buckwheat flour.
BIOVA Piedmontese lard bread.
BIRALDO Fresh blood sausage.
BIRRA Beer; birreria is a brewery or a place that serves beer.
BISATO Venetian dialect for eel.
BISCOTTI Biscuits or cookies, whose name means "twice baked," referring to the process of baking once, cooling, then baking a while more to achieve a dry, very crisp texture. Biscottini are tiny types.
BISCUIT TORTONI Frozen vanilla mousse confection topped with crushed, sugared almonds, named after the Italian ice cream maker who created it in a Paris cafe.
BISTECCA Beef steak (though the term also applies to veal or pork chop), the best known version being bistecca alla fiorentina, a very thick, well-aged T-bone (lombata) rubbed with olive oil and cooked over charcoal.
BITTER English term used for beverages of bitter flavor.
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