Traditional Milanese cuisine
Milanese cuisine is a cuisine of the plain and of the cold: butter rather than olive oil, rice rather than pasta, and long, slow cooking. Its symbol is the risotto alla milanese, golden yellow from saffron. Legend says it was born in 1574, when an apprentice glassmaker working on the stained glass windows of the Duomo, who used saffron to colour the glass, added it to the rice at his master's daughter's wedding. Made with beef marrow, butter and Parmesan, it is often served with ossobuco, braised veal shank.
The other great classic is the cotoletta alla milanese: a thick veal chop on the bone, coated in egg and breadcrumbs and fried in clarified butter, golden on the outside and pink inside; its origins are disputed with Vienna and its Wiener Schnitzel. Other traditional dishes include the cassoeula, a winter stew of pork and cabbage, mondeghili, meatballs made with leftovers, and, at Christmas, the panettone, the sweet bread with raisins and candied fruit born in Milan and now eaten all over the world.
Tip: look for the "trattorie" and "osterie" serving traditional cooking, especially in the Navigli and Porta Romana areas; the cotoletta "a orecchia di elefante" is the thin, wide version without the bone.
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