Bagna cauda: the recipe for Piedmontese hot sauce

The bagna cauda, or bagna caoda, is a typical preparation of Piedmontese cuisine. The name literally means “hot sauce“: it is actually a delicious soak based on salted anchovies, extra virgin olive oil e Garlic which is served very hot inside Fujitthe typical frying pans or copper with a flame that retains its heat. Bagna cauda is traditionally eaten with raw greenery, especially the Nizza Monferrato humped thistle, but also peppers, fennel, carrots, celery, leeks and spring onions. Less commonly, it is accompanied by cooked vegetablesusually boiled, such as potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, cabbage and beets.

This sauce has little known origins, although most probably ancient: it is believed that it was already consumed at the end of the Middle Ages, when it was prepared by winemakers to celebrate the bleeding of new wine. For a long time, due to the large amount of garlic needed to prepare it, bagna cauda was considered a poor dish, a symbol of peasant tradition and therefore avoided by the wealthy classes. Today it is instead offered in many restaurants and trattorias in Piedmont, and is indeed considered a delicious and convivial dish to be served as single dish or even rich antipasti during a dinner with friends.

As with all traditional recipes, there are many local variants from bagna cauda, ​​which differ mainly in the quality of the oil used (originally it seems that the nut was used), in the way the garlic is used – chopped, sliced, pounded, whole – and by using cooked oils or raw vegetables. In some versions of the recipe, by the way, garlic is cooked in milk, so as to make it more digestible. We have chosen to mince the garlic before letting it wither in a pot with the oil and the anchovies: here is our recipe for making a creamy bagna cauda rich in flavor.

How to prepare Piedmontese bagna cauda

To prepare bagna cauda, ​​start by cleaning the garlic cloves by first removing the outer skin. 1.

Next, cut the wedges in half and also remove the central core 2.

Then chop them finely on a cutting board. 3.

Now focus on the anchovies: desalt them carefully by running them under cold water and pat them dry with paper towel, being careful not to break them. Then in mid-April and deprive them of entrails and bones 4.

Put the minced garlic in a saucepan, preferably earthenware, and add the extra virgin olive oil 5.

Cook over very low heat for a few minutes 6the garlic should not fry or brown.

After a few minutes, also add the anchovies seven.

Continue cooking for about 30 minutes, still over low heat, so that the garlic and anchovies can melt without burning or coloring. 8.

When it becomes dark and creamy, the sauce is ready 9.

Serve the bagna cauda hot, inside the typical fujot or in a terracotta pan, accompanied by a mixture of raw and cooked vegetables ten.

What to combine with bagna cauda

In addition to fresh seasonal vegetables such as cabbage, onion, escarole, turnip or endive, to be eaten raw or cooked, bagna cauda goes well with meat oh cheeses and it is perfect for flavoring different types of dishes, from starters to savory pies.

For what concern wine to pair with bagna cauda, ​​on the other hand, wines with a complex taste such as Barber of Astia typical Piedmont red wine whose fruity and spicy notes enhance the pronounced taste of the sauce.

Tips and variations

To give even more flavor to the dish, you can marinate the anchovies in Red wineas the recipe submitted to the Italian Cooking Academy suggests: just place them in an ovenproof dish, cover them with wine and let them rest for a few minutes before draining and drying them.

If you have trouble digesting garlic, you can make it bagna cauda with cream or al latte, a variation that involves simmering the garlic in cream or milk for about 20 minutes or until thickened. Separately, cook the anchovies in the oil then mix everything together, leaving to cook for another 30 minutes to blend the flavors.

Although garlic is one of the main ingredients of the dish, it is also possible to make a bagna cauda without garlic: just replace it with Jerusalem artichoke, which tastes more delicate and slightly sweet. Boil it in water before adding it to the anchovies, and if you want a smooth consistency, blend the sauce with an immersion blender.

storage

The bagna cauda should be eaten at this time, but alternatively it can be stored in the refrigerator for A few days at most. When ready to serve, heat it for a few minutes in a saucepan: it will become as it has just been done.

History and origins

Although there is no certain information on who invented bagna cauda, ​​just as there is no information on when or where it was born, it seems that the sauce was once prepared in middle ageseven if it was only in 1875 this Roberto Sacchetti, writer and journalist, described the recipe in its current version. They are also believed to have been crucially important to his birth salt roadswhich linked Piedmont to the French salt pans: through these routes, traders obtained the fundamental ingredient of the dish, namely the anchovies.

At first considered “inappropriate” due to its lingering smell, over time the hot sauce was revalued, so much so that today it has its own celebration: every year in Asti the Wet Cauda Dayan event dedicated exclusively to this tasty dish of the Piedmontese tradition.

Curiosity

Traditionally, the bagna cauda was served inside the dian, an earthenware pan placed on the s-cionfetta, an earthenware stove filled with embers that kept it at the right temperature. To respect the conviviality of the dish, the pan was placed in the center of the table, so that each guest could dip the vegetables in it. Today, questions of hygiene and practicality have determined the distribution of fujot, individual terracotta containers also equipped with a stove that keeps the sauce warm.