Fish Dishes
- Acciughe are anchovies a salt-preserved fish common in Northern Italian.
- Bottarga is salt-cured fish roe that is compressed and shaved or sliced onto eggs, vegetables, and pasta.
- Branzino is seabass also called Spigola.
- Calamaro is squid.
- Capasante are sea scallops.
- Cozze are mussels.
- Gambero are shrimp.
- Merluzzo is Altantic cod.
- Ostrica is oyster and for a dozen the plural form is ostriche!
- Pesce spada is swordfish. Pesce spada affumicato is smoked swordfish.
- Polpo in Italy means Octopus (both the animal and the meat).
- Seppia is cuttlefish a common seafood in Venice.
- Tonno means tuna both in the preserved canned form and in steak form (bistecca di tonno).
- Trota is trout and similar to tuna represents both the conserved and fresh forms.
- Vongole are clams, often seen as Spaghetti alle vongole!
Meat Dishes
- Anatra is duck.
- Cervo is venison.
- Cinghiale is wild boar, popular on menus in Tuscany.
- Frattaglie is offal, the entrails and internal organs of animals including cows, pigs, and chickens.
- Guanciale is cured pork jowl, the name comes from guancia the Italian word for cheek: something Italians really do pinch!
- Lardo is cured pork fat. While that might not sound delicious it is when sliced thin on melon.
- Maiale means pork.
- Manzo is beef, mucca means cow, but when it comes to Italian cheese look for latte vaccino because vacca also means cow.
- Pancetta is the bacon of Italy
- Pecora is sheep in Italian. Sheep’s milk by the way makes for some of the best cheese in Italy!
- Prosciutto crudo is raw air-cured ham while Prosciutto cotto is cooked ham a popular pizza topping in Italy.
- Pollo is chicken.
- Salsicca means sausage.
- Tacchino is turkey.
- Vitello is veal.
*For full details please visit ALOR Italy