Rome... in the kitchen

Traditional Roman cuisine is based on ingredients of rural and peasant origin.

These have always been dishes made from raw materials from the Roman countryside and the surrounding lands of Lazio. These areas of origin and production have always been considered very fertile and productive, the typical gastronomic specialties of this cuisine were initially intended to satisfy the energy needs of people working in the fields and often consumed in one or at most two daily eating sessions.

The cornerstones of Roman cuisine are first courses, both dry and in broth.

These dishes are often prepared with vegetable or legume condiments (chickpeas, potatoes, broccoli, beans) or with the so-called fifth quarter (of meat). On holidays it is customary to consume lamb and goat or sheep meat, supplied by local farms but also white meats such as chickens, turkeys and rabbits.

Rome has always been an important market for consumption rather than production; however, popular Roman cuisine has had abundant access to typical products of the region: from the fine qualities of oil, to wine, from vegetables to pigs and sheep from the Roman countryside or Umbria (butchers who sold pork were called, in fact, norcini, and until the 1950s they did not sell any from after Easter to November).

Butter in true Roman cuisine is very rare: for fattening and frying, pork lard was used. The condiment of choice was and still remains extra virgin olive oil.

In ancient Rome, cuisine was very simple, based on cereals, cheeses, legumes and fruit. The most used spices were piper cubeba (Java pepper), cumin and ligustico (wild celery). The "main courses" consumed by the rich were based on meat, especially pork, but also fish and shellfish.

Rome also boasts a long tradition in the preparation of pizzas, rustici and fried foods, cooked and sold in the numerous rotisseries, which have now become widely known and frequented also thanks to the phenomenon of mass tourism in the city center.

The fifth quarter is what remains of the cow or sheep animal after the prized parts have been sold to the wealthy: the two front quarters and the two hind quarters.

It is, therefore, everything edible from the innards: tripe (the most prized part is the reticulum, also called cuff in Rome; the abomasum is the lampredotto), kidneys (the kidneys of the animal: they must be soaked in water acidulated with lemon before cooking them), heart, liver, spleen, sweetbreads (pancreas, thymus and salivary glands) and back, brain and tongue. From sheep meat we also take the offal, the set of innards (liver, lungs, heart). From ox meat we use the tail, prepared in the typical dish alla vaccinara.

For pork and veal, trotters should be added to this list. Since ancient Rome, the cuisine of the less wealthy classes has included products from the nearby Agro, farinata and legumes. It is no coincidence that the famous "puls" of the Romans (who for this reason were called "pultiferi", that is, polenta eaters) was a porridge of cereals and legumes that in different combinations took on other names and flavors.

Among the legumes, chickpeas were the king, even on the tables of the rich. Wet in oil and served hot in earthenware bowls, they opened the evening meal. Over the centuries, the common people got into the habit of making legume soup the Christmas Eve dish, like pasta, chickpeas and cod.

Typical dishes

For each highlighted dish you can see the recipe

  • The spaghetti cacio e pepe,whose seasoning is a simple sauce of cooking water, pepper and pecorino cheese expertly mixed together.
  • The pasta alla gricia with guanciale, pepper and pecorino cheese
  • The spaghetti alla carbonara with chicken eggs, guanciale, pepper and pecorino cheese. The origin of the dish is still uncertain; some maintain the Apennine derivation of the dish, which would have been invented by the charcoal burners (carbonari in Roman dialect). Others lean towards the allied origin of carbonara, brought by American soldiers, who used bacon and who would have given Roman chefs the idea of ​​the actual recipe.
  • The spaghetti o bucatini all'amatriciana, with guanciale, pecorino and tomato sauce. The dish is originally from Amatrice but imported by the Amatriciani themselves to the capital. A variant of it is the Gricia, also called Amatriciana Bianca.

Roman pasta scheme

Cacio e pepe

Gricia

Carbonara

Amatriciana

  • The rigatoni con la pajata, that is, with the small intestine of a milk-fed calf (the tastiest) or of a lamb or goat, still containing the chyme, a rich and creamy substance
  • The fettuccine alla papalina, seasoned with onion, raw ham, eggs and cream
  • The penne all'arrabbiata, seasoned with tomato sauce, garlic and plenty of chilli pepper
  • The pasta alla zozzona, seasoned with tomato sauce, eggs, pecorino, sausage and guanciale
  • The tiella, originally from Gaeta, it is a savory pie typical of the gastronomy of the homonymous town in Lazio. It is an ancient preparation, of humble origins, with which fishermen combined ingredients from the sea and land between two layers of bread dough
  • The coratella of the lamb with artichokes, It is a traditional dish of popular Roman cuisine, made with leftover cuts of lamb (abbacchio in the local dialect) accompanied by excellent artichokes from the Roman countryside
  • The trippa alla romana, obtained from the cow's stomach, cooked with tomato sauce, flavoured with Roman mint and seasoned with plenty of pecorino romano;
  • The abbacchio alla romana, lamb stew cooked in the oven or in a pan
  • The stracciatella romana, a nutritious soup made with meat broth and a mixture of eggs and Parmesan cheese which, when dipped into boiling broth, transform into soft and tasty flakes
  • The abbacchio brodettato, lamb meat cooked in its own broth to which egg and lemon juice are added
  • The coda alla vaccinara, cow's tail cooked in tomato sauce (also excellent for seasoning pasta
  • The saltimbocca alla romana, Veal slice with raw ham and sage, cooked in butter and white wine
  • The pollo con i peperoni (by tradition on Ferragosto)
  • The tomatoes stuffed with rice baked with potatoes
  • The coppiette di suino,strips of meat seasoned with salt and spices and aged for about two months
  • The Artichokes Roman style (typical of the Easter period)
  • The Artichokes Jewish style (typical of the Easter period)
  • The fried artichokes (typical of the Easter period)
  • The supplì "al telefono" (on the phone) of elongated cylindrical shape, prepared with rice in meat sauce and a mozzarella heart. Al telefono because, once opened, they create a mozzarella thread
  • The white pizza on a slice and generally pizza by the slice, excellent with mortadella
  • The bollito alla picchiapò (stewed beef with tomato)
  • The vignarola (Spring dish with broad beans, romaine lettuce, artichokes and peas)
  • The puntarelle alla romana (chicory-like plant made into a salad, with garlic and anchovies)

Rigatoni alla pajata

Supplì "al telefono"

Artichokes Jewish style

La cucina di festa

The vegetables

  • Romanesco broccoli
  • artichokes
  • asparagus
  • Gaeta DOP olives
  • potatoes (from Leonessa or Viterbo IGP)
  • broad beans
  • pumpkin
  • puntarelle
  • Roman courgette
  • Roman lettuce
  • turnip tops
  • chicory
  • mixture salad
  • legumes (chickpeas, grass peas, lentils, beans)

The fish

  • anchovies
  • cod
  • clams
  • mussels
  • trout
  • cuttlefish
  • octopus
  • fried mixed fish

The cuisine of the Roman Jews

Cheeses and desserts

  • Roman ricotta and Pecorino Romano DOP, together with other aged cheeses and caciottas from the countryside of Reatino and Frusinate
  • the castagnole and the frappe, typical carnival sweets spread throughout central Italy
  • the maritozzo, soft sweet bun (sometimes with raisins), split in half and filled with plenty of fresh whipped cream
  • the pangiallo and panpepato, typical Christmas dessert spread throughout central Italy
  • the pizza cresciuta, Easter sweets from Prenestino and Tiburtino
  • the pizza a solchi (or pizza at soleca), Sabine dessert that goes with cold cuts on Easter morning
  • ice creams, granitas and grattachecca (granita obtained by scraping a block of ice with a special tool, garnished with syrups and fresh fruit)
  • the mostaccioli and other dry sweets based on anise, wine or liqueurs, honey or lard
  • the pizza dolce di Beridde, traditional dessert of the Roman Jews

Frappe

Maritozzi with cream

Grattachecca

Pane

  • the homemade bread of Genzano
  • the Roman ciriola
  • the Sorana donut
  • the Roman white pizza
  • the bread of Lariano
  • the homemade bread of Canterano
  • the bread of Vicovaro
  • the cacchiarelle of Montelibretti

Ciriola

Genzano Bread

Lariano Bread

Soran donuts

Roman white pizza

Vicovaro Bread

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