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From CACAO to CERNIA
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CACAO Cocoa, used as both a flavoring for baking and in hot chocolate beverages.
CACCIAGIONE Game procured by hunting (caccia), distinguished as caccia da pelo (furry) and caccia da penna (feathered); also selvaggina.
CACCIATORA, ALLA "Hunter's style," referring to any dish prepared in a rustic, robust style, usually with mushrooms.
CACCIOTTU A sandwich specialty from Sicily made from a roll that is slit, stuffed with salami and cheese, dipped in melted lard and heated through in the oven.
CACCIUCCO Livorno fish stew made with tomato broth and five kinds of seafood (squid, cod, shrimp, red mullet and scallops), to correspond to the five "c's" in the word, seasoned
with garlic, sage and rosemary.
CACIMPERIO Turinese cheese and egg yolk fondue.
CACIO General term for cheese used in southern Italy.
CACIO E PEPE Spaghetti dressed with pecorino cheese and black pepper, a Roman specialty.
CACIOCAVALLO "Horse cheese." A firm buffalo or cow's milk cheese, so called because the globes of cheese resemble a horse's saddlebags.
CACIOFIORE Sardinian soft ewe's milk cheese. See: Caciocavallo Silano
CACIOTTA Campanian soft fresh ewe's milk whey cheese.
CAFFÈ Coffee; caffè espresso is thick and strong from steam pressure forced through fine grounds; espresso is the base of caffè macchiato (with a dab of frothy steamed milk) and
cappuccino or cappuccio with more frothy. See: Italian
coffee
CAGLIO Rennet, used as a jelling agent for custards.
CAJETTES Pasta pellets cooked in broth typical of Piedmont.
CALAMARO Squid, very often breaded and fried and served with tomato sauce, but also stewed or grilled and served with olive oil and lemon. The ink of the squid is used as a
coloring and flavoring for pastas, risotto, and other dishes. Calamaretti are tiny squid often confused with seppie or cuttlefish.
CALDAIA Cauldron.
CALDARROSTE Chestnuts roasted over open coals.
CALDO Hot.
CALZA Cheesecloth.
CALZAGATTI "Cat's stockings," an Emilia-Romagna polenta dish with tomatoes, onions, and beans.
CALZONE Half-moon pastries stuffed with cheese and meats or vegetables, folded and sealed, and then baked in a pizza oven. The dough is very similar to the one used for
pizza.
CAMERIERE Restaurant waiter.
CAMOMILLA Chamomile, used as a form of tea.
CAMOSCIO Young deer meat, usually cooked as a stew.
CANARINO Lemon tisane.
CANDELAUS Sardinian almond-paste cookies.
CANDITO Any foods that are candied, either by cooking in sugar syrup or being rolled in sugar.
CANEDERLI Trentino dumplings made with bread, eggs, flour, milk, onion, spices and the region's specialty speck.
CANESTRATO Originally a southern cheese made with ewe's milk and pressed into a wicker basket. Today the term is generally used to refer to any cheese made with the same
technique.
CANESTRELLI "Small baskets", ring-shaped sweet biscuits from the region of Liguria.
CANESTRELLO Pilgrim scallop, usually fried.
CANNARICULI Calabrian honey fritters.
CANNELLA Cinnamon, used in a wide variety of dishes as a seasoning but mostly for baking desserts and cookies.
CANNELLINI White kidney beans.
CANNELLONI Pasta tubes, similar to manicotti, stuffed with meat and cheese. They take a variety of sauces like tomato or pesto. See: Cannelloni
CANNOLI Crisp pastry tubes filled with pastry cream, a southern Italian specialty. In Sicily they are flavored with Marsala wine.
CANSONSEI Sausage ravioli, typical of the North, usually dressed with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano.
CANTALUPO Canteloupe melon, also melone.
CANTINA Cellars or winery. Cantina sociale, cooperative winery.
CANTUCCI Tuscan almond cookies, usually served with a glass of vin santo. See: Cantuccini
CAPELLINI or CAPELLI D'ANGELO "Angel hair," very thin spaghetti, usually served with a very light sauce of tomato or vegetables. See: Capellini
CAPIEDDI ‘E PRETTI "Priest's hairs," very thin, curly Calabrian pasta.
CAPITONE Large saltwater eel, grilled or stewed with tomato. Also know as anguilla.
CAPOCOLLO See: Capocollo di
Calabria
CAPPON MAGRO Not a caper but a Ligurian layered seafood dish with several kinds of fish and seafood, vegetables, hard-boiled eggs and crackers.
CAPONÈT Small stuffed cabbage or zucchini of Piedmont.
CAPONATA Sicilian vegetable dish made with eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, chili peppers, vinegar and onions.
CAPPA SANTA "Holy cloak." Sea scallop, usually lightly sautéed or grilled. Can also be marinated or eaten raw.
CAPPELLACI Large, flat ravioli, usually stuffed with pumpkin or squash.
CAPPELLETTI Small stuffed pasta shaped like small "hats."
CAPPERI Capers, both brined and fresh, used as a flavoring in many dishes, especially cold antipasti. See: Cappero di Pantelleria
CAPPONE Capon, rooster castrated to heighten flavor of meat, whose age determines that it be boiled or braised or stewed, though it is sometimes cooked on a spit.
CAPPUCCINO Espresso coffee topped with foamed, steamed milk, usually consumed at breakfast.
CAPPUCI GUARNITI Istrian pork and sauerkraut dish.
CAPRA Goat, either roasted, grilled, or, if tough, stewed.
CAPRESE, ALLA "Capri-style," usually referring to a lightly cooked sauce of tomatoes, basil, olive oil and mozzarella. Insalata alla caprese is a fresh salad made with the same
four ingredients, often served as an antipasto.
CAPRETTO Kid, a young goat 1 1/2 to 4 month old, usually roasted.
CAPRICCIOSA, ALLA "Capricious style," referring to any dish prepared at the whimsy of the cook.
CAPRINO Fresh goat's cheese.
CAPRIOLO Roebuck or venison; cervo, the once prized stag, is rare.
CARABACIA Tuscan onion soup.
CARAFFA Carafe.
CARAMELLO Caramel or other candy; caramellizzato caramelized or glazed.
CARBONADE Beef stew cooked in red wine.
CARBONARA, ALLA "Charcoal style", a Roman specialty comprising of a creamy sauce of beaten eggs, grana, pecorino, and pancetta that is cooked directly by the heat of the
spaghetti.
CARCIOFO Artichoke, widely used vegetable, baked, stuffed with breadcrumbs and seasonings, marinated and served cold, and cooked in stews. Carciofi alla giudea ("Jewish style")
are baby artichokes that are fried crisp. See: Carciofo Romanesco del
Lazio, Carciofo di Paestum.
CARDO Cardoon, a thistle similar in taste and texture to artichoke, eaten both raw and baked; also called gobbo.
CARNE General term for meat.
CAROTA Carrot.
CARPA Carp, a freshwater fish at its best in winter. Small carp may be fried.
CARPACCIO Raw beef sliced paper thin and dressed with olive oil and capers, or mayonnaise, created in the 1950s at Harry's Bar in Venice as an antipasto named after the Venetian
artist Vittore Carpaccio, to commemorate an exhibition of his works taking place in Venice at the time.
CARRELLO Food trolley.
CARRETTIERA, ALLA "Trucker's style," spaghetti with a sauce of browned parsley, bred crums, onions, anchovies, garlic and capers.
CARTA DA MUSICA An extremely thin, crisp Sardinian bread, that looks like thin "music paper."
CARTEDDATE Apulian fried ribbons of sweet dough, a regional specialty of Christmas.
CARTOCCIO, AL Food, usually seafood, steamed "in a bag" of parchment or aluminum foil.
CASA VINICOLA Wine house or merchant (commerciante) whose bottlings come mainly from purchased grapes or wines.
CASA, DELLA A specialty of a restaurant, can be both food or wine.
CASALINGA, ALLA "Housewife style." Also alla casereccia, any dish cooked in a homey style or homemade.
CASATIELLO Spicy bread served with eggs in a shell shape decoration, it is a Easter specialty of Naples.
CASCINA Farmhouse, often used for estate.
CASSATA Sponge cake filled with ricotta and candied fruit typical of Sicily and consumed during Lent.
CASSOEULA Casserole.
CASSOLA Sardinian seafood stew, usually containing Saint Peter's fish, octopus, and red chili peppers.
CASTAGNE Chestnuts, usually roasted over coals, boiled, used as a stuffing, and candied. Marrone is the largest and most prized version. See: Marrone di San Zeno, Castagna di Montella, Marrone di Castel del
Rio, Castagna del Monte Amiata, Marrone del Mugello
CASTELMAGNO Sharp blue-veined, cow's milk cheese named after the town where it is made in the region of Piedmont.
CASTRATO Mutton.
CASU MARZU Pungent Sardinian cheese whose name in dialect means "rotten cheese" because of the small black worms allowed to grow in it.
CAVALLO, CARNE DI Horsemeat, also carne equina. Sold exclusevely by designated butchers in Italy, the meat is most often stewed or braised.
CAVATAPPI Corkscrew.
CAVATELLI Apulian pasta made with ricotta, shaped into small, ridged dumplings and sauced with besciamella or tomato.
CAVIALE Caviar, taken from the sturgeon of the Po Valley or imported from the Caspian Sea. Usually consumed fresh, sometimes used as a pasta dressing.
CAVOLATA Pig's feet and cauliflower soup, from Sardinia.
CAVOLFIORE Cauliflower.
CAVOLO Cabbage, featured in a wide variety of dishes, particularly in the northern regions of Friuli and Alto-Adige, whose cuisine as some influence of the bordering countries of
Austria and Germany. Cavolo verza is Savoy cabbage, cavolini di Bruxelles brussel sprouts.
CAVOLO RAPE Kohlrabi, not widely eaten in Italy.
CAZMARR Basilicata stew of lamb offal, prosciutto, and cheese.
CECA Young eel, usually grilled.
CECENIELLO Smelt, usually floured and fried.
CECI Chickpeas, widely used as an antipasto, as a vegetable, in stews, and soups.
CEDRO Citron, similar to lemon, but larger in size.
CEFALETTO Small squid-like sea creature, usually grilled then served cold in a vinegar marinade.
CEFALO Grey mullet.
CELESTINA Clear consommé containing tiny star-shaped pasta.
CENA Supper or dinner; see pranzo.
CENCI "Rags", a dessert from Tuscany made with egg noodles flavored with anise, vanilla, and vin santo, fried in lard and sprinkled with sugar.
CEPPETELLO Oyster mushrooms, used in salads and as an antipasto.
CERASUOLO Cherry-hued rosé (wine).
CEREALI General term for grains.
CERFOGLIO Chervil, used as an herb in salads, soups, and stews.
CERNIA Grouper fish, usually boiled or baked, often cut as steaks and grilled.
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