Bagna cauda: shared dipping

Food editor at large Marjan Ippel simply has to visit Italy every year. This year it was Piedmont, the New Tuscany. There she drank the famous Barolo wine and ate bagna cauda, warm bath. Shared dipping in a warm garlic and anchovy sauce.

Most Italy travellers swear by Tuscany. The rolling hills, the picturesque villages scattered across them, the food… But you can find all that in the more northerly region that is much less touristy: Piedmont.

Vitello tonnato

And just as Tuscany has its own culinary specialities, so does the HQ of the slow food movement. From the white Alba truffle to vitello tonnato and Barolo wine.

Another typically Piedmontese dish is bagna cauda, literally ‘warm bath’. I knew something similar from the French Provence as aioli, from which name you can immediately filter out the main ingredient of this cold vegetable dish with a warm dip. Namely garlic. Lots of garlic.

Bagna cauda (warm bath): shared dipping in a warm garlic and anchovy sauce.

But while in Provence the dip consists solely of garlic and oil, in Italy anchovies are added. Which—honestly—is what gives the sauce just that little bit more depth. Another difference: the Provençals usually dip cooked vegetables.

Shared dipping

The Italian version is somewhat like Swiss fondue, with a warmer in the middle for the sauce. Preferably in a seventies-style construction. In that warm sauce, everyone dips raw vegetables, including cardoon (an artichoke variety), as well as bread. Shared dipping. All the more convenient when everyone smells of garlic.

The London-based chef Antonio Carluccio, who also cooks there, grew up in Piedmont and naturally has the ultimate recipe for this warm dip. Take a look here. 

Words: Marjan Ippel