A question about Bagna Cauda

[mudbug]

LOL, shannon - I have SOOOOOOOOOO been there.....

Practice on the unhot neighbors so when Mr Hot is in the neighborhood to fix your stove, visit his SIL, take the census, etc., you are all ready for him and have your moves down cold!

 

[shannon in KS]

LOL, shannon - I have SOOOOOOOOOO been there.....

Practice on the unhot neighbors so when Mr Hot is in the neighborhood to fix your stove, visit his SIL, take the census, etc., you are all ready for him and have your moves down cold!

awww, man, never thought of that... I do need to go pay rent to him, maybe I can splash a little bagna cauda behind my ears STUPID STUPID STUPID! (sorry, Chris Farley flashback )

 

[Shunka]

Shannon, I'm glad that you tried and liked the bagna cauda!!! I'm not sure if I would share with a "not hot" guy though, he may like it and think you like him too!!

 

[Sagittarius]

Bagnacauda / Bagna Cauda denotes "Hot Bath" and dates back to the Salt Route, in ancient Italy ( Liguria, Piedmont & Val d´ Aosta ).

The original documented recipes did not use butter or cream. They used Walnut Oil, and it was served to vineyard laborers and later, served on Christmas Eve, in a Fojot, which is a Terracotta Clay type Fondue Pot, or a Terracotta Clay " Cazuela " and kept heated on a candle or fire, similar to a Swiss or French Fondue.

The general Bagna Cauda, each family having their own recipe for it was and is:

1 Cup of Walnut or Hazelnut Oil or Extra virgin olive oil
12 garlic cloves minced
2 ounces of Salted Anchovies
Salt

The dipping vegetables of this region included:

Cardoon
Carrot
Fennel
Artichokes
Assorted colored Bell Peppers ( after 1580 or 1590 ) and Italian Horn Shaped Peppers

Today, the recipe can include: Extra virgin olive oil, French style butter and cream.

Note: The Butter & Cream could conceal the anchovy and garlic flavors, in a Butter, Oil Ratio.

An updated recipe could include :


1 cup Evoo or Walnut or Hazelnut Oil
approx 1/2 cup of cream and 1/2 stick of French style butter if you wish
12 garlic cloves
anchovies - 2 or 3 ounces
2 golden yellow bells
2 red bells
4 stalks of fennel or celery
4 carrots
2 heads of Endive or Escarole or Chicory etcetra ..
2 Cardoons ( peel the stalks )

It is quite a incomparable legacy and can also be served with Truffles from the Alba region.

Lovely post. Have a nice weekend.

 

[di reston]

La Bagna Cauda is a dipping sauce made in Piemonte, North West Italy, where I live. It's an appetiser/first course favoured especially by the robust recipes well loved by the Piedmontese. However, there are two or three versions.

The basic ingredients for a Bagna Cauda (which, by the way, means 'hot dip') are anchovies, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and butter, but there are two or three versions. It is essentially a very strong flavoured sauce, served hot, in special terracotta dishes made with a bowl on top and a little placement underneath for the small candles to keep it hot.

Method:
for the bagna cauda: 200g salted anchioves
6 very large cloves of fresh garlic
6dl Evoo
90g butter

Vegetables: Chard, with lemon to squeeze
bell peppers - red and yellow
raw cabbage - green or red
leeks
apples
roasted or fried pumpkin
squares of roasted or fried polenta.

Prepare the vegetables as described, and arrange on a large plate at the centre of the table.

Fopr the anchovy dip: Clean the salted anchovies, add the chopped garlic and put in a pan along with the oil and the butter and heat on a very low
heat and stir until the anchovies melt and turn into a sauce. Your aim is to get a light coloured sauce. Then stir until your sauce becomes a light nutty colour. Under no circumstances let the sauce go beyond that, don't let it 'frizzle', but keep it on a very low heat until it turns into a 'cream'. Then dish the sauce into the individual bagna cauda dishes, or, if you don't have any of these, into a central bowl for all to dip into.

For those who don't like the highly piquant flavours of the above rich Bagna Cauda, you can set some aside and add a little milk to soften the flavours.

You need a good Barbera or Barolo to go with it and some good Italian bread.


There are many other ways of serving Bagna Cauda, but the above is the classic one.


di reston


Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

 

[di reston]

I should have said, when I sent my previous post, that that recipe was quoted from 'La Cucina Piemontese' (The Cookery of Piedmont), by Alessandro Molinari Pradelli, published by Newton and Compton Editori. And I've just found another recipe, much milder, given to me by my friend Silvana Sini, brilliant cook, and this version of 'Bagna Cauda' is much milder for those who don't like the strongly flavoured one from 'La Cucina Piemontese':

200g salted anchovies
2 large cloves garlic per person
2 decilitres of milk
100g butter (unsalted)
1 decilitre Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 decilitre of single cream.

Rinse the anchovies and set aside.
Peel and slice the cloves of garlic, first removing the very central part that connects to the root, then soak the sliced garlic in the milk overnight. Next day, rinse and throw away the milk and, using the same quantity of fresh milk, and heat gently until the garlic is soft. Take the garlic out of the milk, and throw the milk away. Now, rinse the anchovies again and add to the butter, EVOO and cream mixture. Heat gently, then blitz with the hand processor. Your Bagna Cauda is now ready to serve. Serve a robust Piedmontese red wine like Barbera or Dolcetto to accompany, and have plenty of rustic bread to hand round.

This is very popular when we invite friends for a 'Merenda Sinoira', a very traditional Piedmontese kind of informal meal, with dishes like Bagna Cauda, then good salami, good pasta, like Agnolotti al Plin, and maybe a sweet dish like Bonet. There's no timeline to these gatherings! Very often, they go on late into the night, and the men talk politics and the women - guess what?: Cooking and recipes!


di reston

Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde

di reston


Enough is never as god as a feast Oscar Wilde