RuvidaMente
From UCCELLETTI to ZURRETE
UCCELLETTI SCAPPATI Lombardian dish of cubed veal or pork liver skewered with pancetta and sage, then fried in butter.
UCCELLETTO General term for little bird or fowl.
UCCELLETTO, ALL' "Bird style." Diced or julienned beef slices seared in olive oil and sage, then splashed with white wine.
UMIDO, IN Technique referring to slow cooking in a small amount of liquid, as in brasato, spezzatino, stracotto or stufato.
UNGHERESI "Hungarians." Butter cookies with tips dipped in chocolate glaze.
UOVO Egg; uova is plural.
UVA Grape; uva da tavola table grape; uva passa dried grape to be used for wine; uvetta, uva secca or sultanina are terms for raisin. See: Uva da Tavola di CanicattÍ, Uva da Tavola di Mazzarrone
UVAGGIO A blend or mixture of different grapes.
VACCA Cow, used primarily for its milk to make cheese.
VALDOSTANA, ALLA Any of a variety of dishes from the Val d'Aosta, especially containing the region's fontina cheese.
VALERIANELLA Lamb's lettuce, used for salads.
VALIGINI Cabbage rolls stuffed with meat or vegetables.
VANIGLIA Vanilla, used almost exclusively as a flavoring for pastries and desserts in Italy, both from a bottled extract or, preferably, utilizing the scraped seeds from fresh
vanilla beans.
VAPORE, AL Steamed.
VARI Assorted.
VECCHIA, LA Emilian vegetable and meat gratin.
VECCHIO Old, to describe aged DOC wines; stravecchio, very old, applies to the longest aged Marsala and to some spirits.
VELLUTATA Any soup thickened with egg yolk.
VENDEMMIA Harvest or vintage; vendemmia tardiva or late harvest defines wines from grapes left to ripen fully on the vine.
VENEZIANA, ALLA "Venetian style." Any of a variety of foods cooked as they do in Venice.
VENTRELLE D'AGNELLO DI LATTE Sardinian dish of baby lamb's stomach filled with blood, bread, bacon, onions and spices, sewn up then boiled.
VENTRESCA Belly of tuna fish, preserved in barrels or cans.
VERACE "True," used in a culinary sense to indicate a genuine food or ingredient as opposed to a substitute, particularly the small clam called vongole veraci.
VERDURA Green-leafed vegetables, though the term refers to garden produce in general, including legumes and roots. Italians eat a wide range of vegetables, both fresh and cooked.
Salads, however, are not usually eaten as a main course, and they are usually dressed more simply. Italians grill vegetables, stew them, and fry them. They are often used in pasta dishes.
VERMICELLI "Little worms." Term for very thin spaghetti, less than a tenth of an inch thick, in southern Italy. See: Spaghetti
VERZA Savoy cabbage, usually boiled or sautéed.
VESTEDDA Sicilian soft bun topped with sesame seeds and filled with ricotta and other cheeses, cubes of bacon, and calf's spleen.
VEZZENA Hard Trentino grana-style cheese made in the hills around Mount Vezzena.
VIGNA or VIGNETO Vineyard; vigna may be used under DOC/DOCG for approved single vineyard wines.
VIGNAIOLO or VITICOLTORE Terms for grape grower.
VIGNAROLA A springtime Roman dish made with artichokes, fava beans, new potatoes, peas and often, cured pork, sauteéd in olive oil.
VIMINE Straw used to whip cream.
VINCISGRASSI Lasagna specialty of the Marches containing layers of a sauce enriched with chicken livers, mushrooms and sausage.
VINO Wine; vino da arrosto robust aged red wine suited to roast meats.
VINO NOVELLO New wine, usually red, that must be bottled and sold within the year of harvest.
VIOLINI DI CHIAVENNA "Violins of Chiavenna." Cured, smoked roe-deer or kid hams made around the Valtellina town of Chiavenna. When cut they are held under the chin of the cutter
like a violin.
VIRTÚ, LE "The virtue." Abruzzese soup by tradition containing 49 ingredients according to a legend about seven ladies who contributed seven different ingredients each.
VITALBA Wild clematis shoots, used in soups.
VITE Vine.
VITELLO Veal, the most popular meat in Italy. It is served in many forms, as a roast, as scallopine, as a stew, as chops, and as a stuffed breast. Vitellone beef from young
cattle. See Vitellone Bianco dell'Appennino
Centrale
VITELLO TONNATO "Veal made with tuna." Piedmontese dish of cold slices of veal in a creamy tuna fish sauce. It is usually served as an appetizer.
VITIGNO Vine or grape variety.
VIVACE "Lively," as in lightly bubbly wines
VONGOLE Small clams used mainly in pasta or soups, led by the preferred vongola verace (the "authentic" Venerupis decussata).
VRUOCCOLATA Calabrian dish of boiled pig's head, broccoli neri, olive oil and pecorino cheese baked in an earthenware dish.
ZABAIONE or ZABAGLIONE Fluffy amalgam of egg yolks, sugar and wine (usually Marsala), usually done in a copper pot over an open flame to mount the
confection into a creamy kind of pudding. It is eaten warm like a custard or with cake or in gelato or semifreddo. It might include fresh berries.
ZAFFERANO Saffron, which is grown in small amounts in northern Italy. It is used to flavor a wide range of dishes, and its characteristic yellow color gives color to the dishes
to which it is added.
ZALETTO Venetian cornmeal cookies, made with lemon peel or raisins.
ZAMPONE Modenese pork sausage encased in the skin of pig’s foot (zampa). See: Zampone di Modena
ZENZERO Ginger, though the term is used in Tuscany for hot pepper.
ZEPPOLE "Zeppelins," fried dough puffs, afterwards sugared.
ZERRO Picarel fish.
ZIBIBBO Smyrna grape.
ZICCHI Breadsticks.
ZIMINO Genoese sauce of minced greens and garlic, olive oil usually served with seafood.
ZITI Tubular maccheroni originally from Southern Italy.
ZUCCA Squash, including pumpkin, whose pulp is used mainly as pasta filling; the smaller zucchine are called zucchini, marrows, courgettes; flowers of both are a fried delicacy.
See: Pumpkins
ZUCCHERO Sugar.
ZUPPA Soup, covering a range of vegetable, bean, meat and fish-based recipes, in theory thicker than a classical minestra, though the division isn't always clear; zuppa inglese
custard cake soaked in sweet wine or liqueur.
ZUPPA ALLA PAVESE Lombardian broth poured over fired toast and raw eggs.
ZUPPA DI PESCE Any variety of fish soup.
ZURRETE Sheep's blood pudding.
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