Bagna cauda is the Piedmont winter dip of garlic, anchovies, olive oil and butter, eaten warm with raw cardoons, peppers and bread. The dish was UNESCO-nominated.

Bagna cauda dates to 16th-century Piedmont as food of the poor, despised by the rich for its garlic. Anchovies travelled the salt roads from Liguria; garlic was farmhouse staple. The Asti Delegation of the Italian Academy of Cuisine notarised the canonical recipe in Costigliole d'Asti in 2005. The last two weekends of November are Bagna Cauda Day across Piedmont.

Where to eat Bagna Cauda in Turin

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Make it at home

Serves 41 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 whole head of garlic (about 12 cloves), peeled
  • 100 ml whole milk
  • 120g salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and filleted (or oil-packed)
  • 300 ml extra-virgin olive oil, mild Ligurian preferred
  • 30g unsalted butter (optional, for the modern milder version)
  • Cardoons (hunchback cardo gobbo if possible), peppers, fennel, celery, breadsticks

Method

  1. Soak the garlic in milk in a small saucepan over very low heat for 15 minutes to mellow; drain and discard milk.
  2. Return garlic to the pan with the olive oil and gently warm; do not fry.
  3. Add the anchovies and stir gently until they dissolve, 8 to 10 minutes; never boil.
  4. Stir in the butter at the end if using; the sauce should be smooth and barely bubbling.
  5. Pour into a fojot (small terracotta warmer) or a fondue pot and serve at the table with raw cardoons, peppers, fennel, celery and bread.

Editor tip. The classic version skips butter and uses only garlic, anchovies and oil; modern Piedmont households cut with milk first to soften the garlic.

Common allergens: Fish.