Tourists who visit Langhe very often ask: “Where can I eat a good and traditional Langhe dish?” To which the guide or local will always give this answer: “Everywhere! It is impossible not to eat well with the many options that Alba and Langhe has to offer!”

The cuisine of Langa is certainly one full of flavours, colours and scents, capable of amazing with its richness, and its variety of courses and ingredients. Visitors often end up falling madly in love with a simple but well-dressed dish of tajarin with meat sauce or a dish of agnolotti al plin with butter and sage.

Describing, in just a few lines, the vastness and the goodness that today the Langhe cuisine offers would be too simplistic and perhaps unfair to it; to fully understand and enjoy it, one must go to lunch or supper in the most traditional of the Langhe eateries: the piola. The dining experience one can experience within a piola of Langa, recalls the old inns of days gone by, and is very different from the restaurants which are too often tourist-oriented or too upmarket. In the past, a piola was an important point of reference for the local communities of these various hillside villages, who would gather inside to eat a dish together, play cards and talk business. Still, nowadays, the piola allows the visitor to taste the dishes of the real traditional and handmade cuisine of Langhe. But let’s not forget the well-known restaurants, often awarded with Michelin’s stars, the small realities of the villages, the trattorie, the wine-bars, which offer a vast range of options in terms of type and cost, to the visitor who can enjoy the excellence of the Langhe cuisine. A great starting point to approach the discovery of its courses, is found in its appetizers; perhaps today a point of excellence of Langhe gastronomy, for what concerns quantity and quality, for the richness of flavours and the simple ingredients used.

What can we say about the great cutting boards served with local cold cuts, ranging from homemade salami, to bacon, air-cured pork meat, and up to the delicious raw ham of Cuneo? As one continues through the appetizers, the choice becomes more and more difficult: one can try the traditional dish of raw meat, beaten with a knife or presented in thin slices called carpaccio, which in the fall season must be paired with the traditional grating of a truffle, possibly the White Truffle of Alba which is the gastronomic pride of the cuisine of the “capital of the Langhe”. One cannot forget the special omelette, with wild herbs, often the early produce of the season, which will colour your dishes. There are also excellent types of flan with fondue, the crepelle with porcini mushrooms, capsicums with bagnèt verde, a green sauce, and anchovies, which seem to melt in the mouth, seasoned with the irresistible green or red sauce, the marinated vegetables, or the dish called tonno di coniglio, rabbit like tuna, very popular in these areas.

A single chapter has to be written for to the queen of the table in autumn and winter months; the bagna cauda, a sauce made with garlic and anchovies, placed in a pot in the middle of the table and kept warm by a little stove fuelled by a candle, where it is possible to dip cooked or raw vegetables. The bravest, at the end of the meal, even try to dip slices of fruit, pears or other fruits in season. Try it! The list is long; we do not want to specifically list all the different appetizers and thus remove the visitor’s curiosity and the pleasure of discovering others, so that everyone can draw a personal list of delicacies. Furthermore, on every table, is inevitably found a wicker basket filled with crispy slices of local bread grown and “His Majesty” the breadstick, a Turin specialty, put on the dinner table of Langhe, made with corn, rye, as well as those made with the hazelnut “Tonda e Gentile” produced here in Langhe of course, that one cannot miss.

The great variety of first courses will make the choice difficult: it will be possible, in fact, to try the small delicious gnocchi, ravioli del plin with butter and sage, or tajarin with meat sauce; the latter two dishes are the true references with which one may deepen one’s knowledge of the ​​Langhe territory. Tajarin are fresh egg pasta noodles whose flavour is enhanced by sauces made with mushrooms, meat or from the traditional “comodino”, a dressing prepared with sautéed vegetables and bacon that are then soaked in red wine. Agnolotti “del plin” are a type of small pasta envelope containing different fillings, ranging from braised meat to vegetables. Their name comes after the typical pinch needed to close them. All the different kinds of risotto are excellent, always enriched with being cooked or simmered with Nebbiolo or Barolo until they evaporate or are prepared with Castelmagno cheese. In autumn, in the Langhe kitchens, the second course is a triumph of meat, especially beef of the Piedmontese variety called Fassona Piemontese, considered the queen of several dishes, such as the traditional “gran bollito”, typical of the hamlet of Carrù. This recipe is rich and simple at the same time and according to tradition it involves the number 7: seven cuts of meat, 7 ornaments also of meat (tripe, head, tongue, etc.), 7 side dips called bagnet, and 7 side dishes. Celebration of the Langhe cuisine comes, along with the famous fritto misto, where an incredible variety of ingredients (from sweetbreads to sausages, zucchini flowers, amaretto biscuits and semolina) exemplify the wealth and originality of some of the oldest Italian cookery. Everything is embellished with stem glasses filled with the excellent wines of Langa, from Dolcetto to Barbera, from Nebbiolo to His Majesty; the Barolo. The cheese trolley, with tome, robiole, soft cheese or others with different aging, all made in cheese factories of Alta Langa, are paired with cugnà or honey.

And finally its unparalleled desserts, being the Langhe home to delights, ranging from the priceless sweetness of the hazelnut cake, to the famous hazelnut variety called Tonda Gentile di Langa, passing by the panna cotta, reaching the superb bonet, the grandmother’s pudding, made with eggs, without forgetting the excellent fresh patisserie… Has this whetted your appetite to learn more and personally test the Langhe cuisine?