The winter ritual of garlic and anchovies
Among the dishes of Piedmont, none is as convivial as the bagna cauda, literally "hot sauce" in Piedmontese, a peasant dish born in the countryside of the Asti, Monferrato and Langhe areas, traditionally eaten in autumn and winter, at the time of the grape harvest and the new wine, when families and friends gathered around the table. It is a sauce made of just three ingredients: garlic, a lot of it, anchovies in salt and extra virgin olive oil, slowly cooked together until the garlic softens and the anchovies melt into a thick, intense cream; some add butter or milk to soften the taste.
The sauce is served hot in the fujot, a small terracotta pot heated by a candle, placed in front of each diner, or in a large pot in the centre of the table, and you dip into it raw and cooked vegetables: the white cardo gobbo of Nizza, peppers, Jerusalem artichokes, cabbage, fennel, celery, boiled potatoes, beetroot and baked onions. At the end, some people cook an egg in what remains of the sauce. The presence of anchovies, a sea fish, in a dish from inland Piedmont recalls the ancient salt roads linking Piedmont to Liguria and the anchovy sellers of the Val Maira, who travelled from village to village with their carts. Every year, at the end of November, the Bagna Cauda Day is held in Asti and in many places in Piedmont and the world.
Tip: drink a young Barbera or Dolcetto with bagna cauda; and plan nothing social for the next day, the garlic is generous.
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