Speak the kitchen
Italian Cooking Glossary
30 terms you’ll hit in an Italian recipe — what each one means, how to say it, and why it changes the food.
Technique
- Agrodolce/ah-groh-DOL-chay/
- Agrodolce is the Italian sweet-and-sour treatment made by reducing vinegar and sugar into a glaze, often with onions, peppers, or fish.
- Al forno/al FOR-noh/
- Al forno means baked in the oven — used for pasta al forno, pizza, and anything finished under top heat until browned.
- All'onda/all-OHN-dah/
- All'onda means "like a wave" — the correct loose, flowing consistency for risotto when it is spooned onto a plate.
- Battuto/bah-TOO-toh/
- Battuto is the raw, finely chopped mixture of vegetables and fat that becomes soffritto once it is cooked.
- Braciole/brah-JOHL/
- Braciole are thin slices of beef rolled around a filling of breadcrumbs, cheese, garlic, and parsley, then browned and braised in tomato sauce.
- Ghiotta/GYOH-tah/
- Ghiotta is a Sicilian braise of tomato, olives, capers, celery, and onion used for fish and vegetables.
- Gratinato/grah-tee-NAH-toh/
- Gratinato describes a dish finished under high top heat with breadcrumbs or cheese until a browned crust forms.
- Mantecatura/man-teh-kah-TOO-rah/
- Mantecatura is the final vigorous stirring of fat, starch, and liquid — butter or cheese with pasta water — that emulsifies a sauce until it is creamy without cream.
- Ragù/rah-GOO/
- Ragù is a slow-simmered meat sauce built on soffritto, wine, and a small amount of tomato — not a tomato sauce with meat in it.
- Soffritto/soh-FREE-toh/
- Soffritto is the slow-cooked base of finely chopped onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil or butter that starts most Italian sauces, soups, and braises.
- Tostatura/toh-stah-TOO-rah/
- Tostatura is the first step of risotto: toasting the dry rice in fat until the grains are hot and translucent at the edges.
Pasta
- Acqua di cottura/AH-kwah dee koh-TOO-rah/
- Acqua di cottura is the starchy pasta cooking water reserved before draining and used to loosen and emulsify a sauce.
- Al dente/al DEN-tay/
- Al dente means pasta cooked until it is tender but still firm at the center — literally "to the tooth."
- Trafilata al bronzo/trah-fee-LAH-tah al BRON-zoh/
- Trafilata al bronzo means pasta extruded through bronze dies, giving it a rough, chalky surface that grips sauce.
Ingredient
- 'Nduja/en-DOO-yah/
- 'Nduja is a soft, spreadable Calabrian pork salami loaded with roasted chile, spicy enough to season an entire dish with a spoonful.
- Antipasto/an-tee-PAH-stoh/
- Antipasto is the first course of an Italian meal — cured meats, cheeses, marinated vegetables, and bread served before the pasta.
- Caponata/kah-poh-NAH-tah/
- Caponata is a Sicilian sweet-and-sour eggplant relish with celery, olives, capers, and vinegar, served at room temperature.
- Colatura di alici/koh-lah-TOO-rah dee ah-LEE-chee/
- Colatura di alici is the amber liquid drained from barrels of salted anchovies — an Italian fish sauce used a few drops at a time.
- Finocchio/fee-NOH-kyoh/
- Finocchio is fennel — the bulb as a vegetable and the seed as the spice that defines Italian sausage.
- Pangrattato/pan-graht-TAH-toh/
- Pangrattato is toasted breadcrumbs used as a crunchy topping — the "poor man's parmesan" of southern Italy.
- Peperoncino/peh-peh-ron-CHEE-noh/
- Peperoncino is the small dried Italian hot chile, used whole or crushed, that supplies the heat in arrabbiata, aglio e olio, and hot sausage.
- Sugo/SOO-goh/
- Sugo is the general Italian word for sauce, most often a tomato-based one, from sugo di pomodoro to the Italian-American Sunday gravy.
Cut & Cure
- Guanciale/gwahn-CHAH-lay/
- Guanciale is salt-cured, unsmoked pork jowl — the traditional fat of Roman pastas like carbonara, amatriciana, and gricia.
- Insaccati/in-sah-KAH-tee/
- Insaccati are "bagged" meats — everything stuffed into a casing, from fresh sausage to salami.
- Lardo/LAR-doh/
- Lardo is pork back fat cured with salt, rosemary, and spices, sliced paper-thin and eaten raw or melted over hot bread.
- Pancetta/pan-CHET-tah/
- Pancetta is salt-cured, unsmoked pork belly, sold rolled (arrotolata) or flat (tesa), used as a cooking fat and flavor base.
- Prosciutto/proh-SHOO-toh/
- Prosciutto is dry-cured ham; crudo is raw-cured and eaten sliced thin, cotto is cooked ham.
- Salsiccia/sahl-SEE-chah/
- Salsiccia is fresh Italian pork sausage seasoned with salt, garlic, and fennel — sold sweet (dolce) or hot (piccante).
- Sopressata/soh-preh-SAH-tah/
- Sopressata is a coarse-ground, dry-cured Italian salami, made sweet or hot depending on the amount of chile in the mix.