Traditionally prepared during winter months, bollito misto (lit. mixed boil) is a hearty meat dish of Piedmontese origins, even though nowadays it can be found throughout northern Italy. This elaborate main course consists of several different beef and veal cuts (tagli) as well as various additional meats (ammennicoli or frattaglie).
In Piedmont, bollito misto most often includes beef shoulder or brisket, veal neck or tongue, cotechino pork sausage or zampone stuffed pork trotter, chicken or capon, oxtail, and half a calf’s head. Served immersed in a flavorful, steaming-hot cooking broth, the meat is typically accompanied by an array of different vegetable side dishes, while the traditional condiments for bollito misto include bagnetto verde or salsa verde, a sauce made with parsley, garlic, and mashed anchovies; a spicy onion and tomato sauce known as salsa rossa or bagnetto rosso; and mostarda di Cremona, a jarred sweet and sour candied fruit relish that is preserved in mustard-flavored syrup.
MOST ICONIC Bollito misto
Carne cruda all'albese is an Italian spin on steak tartare, prepared mainly around Alba, a town in the Piedmont region renowned for its precious white truffles. In this version, raw finely chopped beef is flavored with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and garlic.
The dish is often served with thin shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and it is often topped with chopped and roasted Piemontese hazelnuts or the prized white Alba truffle. Due to the fact that truffles are very expensive, fresh wild mushrooms are sometimes used instead.
MOST ICONIC Carne cruda all'Albese
Finanziera is an ancient Piedmontese stew with sweet and sour flavors, invented in the 18th century. Made with less noble parts of animals, it used to be a poor man’s dish, but nowadays it is a real treat for all lovers of offal and entrails.
Prepared with leftovers such as peeled crests, rooster wattles, sweetbreads, calf's brain and veins, slowly simmered with garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, giardiniera (chopped vegetables marinated in vinegar), chicken broth, and sweet Marsala wine, finanziera can be served on its own or as an accompaniment to risottos.
MOST ICONIC Finanziera
Olivier salad is a Russian salad with variable ingredients, but it is typically made with chopped vegetables, meat, and mayonnaise. The key ingredients include diced potatoes, vegetables, eggs, chicken, or ham. This salad is one of the most important appetizers at the New Year's salad buffets in Russia, as well as in some of the other countries of the former USSR.
The original was invented in the 1860s by Lucien Olivier, a chef in the popular Moscow restaurant called L'Hermitage. Olivier guarded the recipe until he died, but it is believed that the recipe was stolen by an employee who watched the chef at work, so the salad is still made today.