Cuisine in Abruzzo Introduction

Here in the heart of the Apennines winters are cold and long, even if the Tirrenian and Adriatic Seas offer splendid summers. This explains why dishes are so rich in calories. Traditional dishes are prepared from very simple, basic ingredients: fresh meat with the flavor of mountain pastures, scamorze, butter, fresh sheep cheese and the superb mountain pecorino, pork sausages and salami, mixed salads. To start with, the typical hors-d'euvre: the bruschetta, a slice of local paesano bread barbecued and then seasoned with garlic, extravirgin olive oil and salt. A good first dish is, more often than not, based on the pasta ammassata, a farro soup or a good polenta.Truffle or saffron sauces are a must if you want to add a special flavour to your dishes. As a second dish you might taste roast lamb, local sausages, salami or prosciutto nostrano (local ham) or Campotosto mortadella sandwiched between thick slices of paesano bread and, if you want to finish with something special, a traditional nougat or ferratelle with a good liquor made from local herbs. The kitchenware is rich in pans and earthenware pots, wooden forks and spoons, which, along with the fireplace tools, are necessary to maintain the special flavour of local dishes, since this cuisine is peculiar exactly for the cooking technique. The typical pieces of traditional kitchenware (the celebrated chitarra, the many copper pots) have become highly appreciated as decorations for the modern home, and they are still used in traditional restaurants.