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Best Province of Cuneo Foods
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Tajarin al tartufo bianco is a pasta dish flavored with the regional star - tartufo bianco d'Alba. This simple dish consists of handmade tajarin (also spelled as taglierini and tagliolini) pasta flavored with butter, pepper, and freshly grated white truffles.
Although truffles bring more than enough flavor, a sprinkle of Parmigiano is often used to finish this delicacy, which becomes even more decadent if paired with a glass of dry red wine.
MOST ICONIC Tajarin al tartufo bianco d'Alba
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Produced in the Grana Valley since the early 1200s and found only in the Piedmont's province of Cuneo, Castelmagno is a semi-hard blue cheese with a crumbly texture, made from cow's milk and sometimes a small addition of sheep's and goat's milk.
It is aged between 2 to 5 months, during which the subtle flavors of Castelmagno become stronger, sharper and more piquant. In the summertime, while the cows are on the pastures in the Alps, this delicious cheese can be found marketed as Castelmagno d'Alpeggio.
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Gnocchi al Castelmagno is a traditional dish and a specialty of Cuneo. It's made with potato gnocchi, butter, milk or cream, and Castelmagno – a local DOP cheese. The gnocchi are cooked and mixed with the sauce consisting of butter, diced Castelmagno cheese, and cream.
The dish is often sprinkled with pepper on top before it's served piping hot. If desired, you can replace half the amount of regular wheat flour with chestnut flour, and the result is a perfect autumnal dish – chestnut gnocchi with Castelmagno.
MOST ICONIC Gnocchi al Castelmagno
Once known as Tuma or Robiola, Murazzano is a fat, soft cheese made with sheep’s milk. It is traditionally produced in the Piedmont province of Cuneo, namely the lush rolling hills of Langhe, a UNESCO World Heritage site nestled along the Tanaro River.
Fresh Murazzano exudes a delicate aroma of sheep's milk and has a mild taste, while more aged cheese tends to become stronger and more piquant. This table cheese is typically enjoyed as an appetizer, often used for Focaccia filling or for preparing the so-called Brus di Murazzano, a type of fermented cheese spread eaten with toasted bread or hot polenta.
Baci di Cherasco are crunchy, irregularly-shaped Piedmontese sweets made with dark chocolate and renowned hazelnuts of the Tonda gentile delle Langhe variety that are first toasted, then crushed together with sugar and cocoa butter.
This specialty from Cherasco has a long tradition - it has been produced since the 1800's, and nowadays they are even protected as a traditional agricultural product. It might be simple, but a combination of dark chocolate and prime quality hazelnuts is enough for a true explosion of flavors, which is even more highlighted when paired with a cup of strong Italian coffee.
Italy has a long tradition of producing hams of exceptional quality, particularly in the north, which is where this prosciutto comes from. Crudo di Cuneo is produced in the provinces of Cuneo, Asti and Turin, located in Piedmont, a region of Italy settled at the foot of the Alps, bordering France and Switzerland.
The regulations impose that only fresh pork legs are used, from Large White, Landrace and Duroc breed of pigs born, raised and slaughtered in the designated region, and fed largely with locally produced cereals. A very meticulous method of curing and drying this variety of prosciutto takes at least 10 months, and the aging doesn't affect the vitamin content of the meat.
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
Salsiccia di Bra is a traditional sausage hailing from Bra in Cuneo, Italy. Although the exact recipe is a secret, certified producers say that the secret of this cylindrical sausage lies in the right amount of lean veal meat, pig's fat, sea salt, white pepper, cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg.
Many producers enrich it further with fennel, garlic, cheese, leeks, white wine, and even prosecco or sparkling wine for Christmas. The combination is stuffed in a small ram's gut, and the sausage is traditionally eaten fresh and raw with a splash of lemon juice as part of antipasti or as a snack during aperitivo (pre-dinner drink).
MOST ICONIC Salsiccia di Bra
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Tajarin al burro is a traditional pasta dish hailing from Piedmont. The dish is made with a combination of local tajarin pasta and butter. The pasta is made from flour and egg yolks, and the burro e salvia sauce is combined with the cooked tajarin.
Before serving, it's seasoned with salt and pepper, and it's recommended to garnish the dish with thinly shaved white Alba truffles.
Serve with
Named after the Lake Raschera which is located at the foot of Mount Mongioie in the Ligurian Alps, and also a type of Alpine hut, this semi-hard fat cheese is traditionally made in the municipality of Magliano Alpi, settled in the province of Cuneo.
It is produced using skimmed cow, goat, and sheep milk. This Piedmont delicacy has quite a distinctive shape because in the past dairymen used mules to transport the cheese from the Alps down to the valleys, so it was more convenient to stack the square-shaped cheeses on top of each other.
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