LAMPASCIONI or LAMPAGIONI: From the onion family, small, squat and hard with a pleasantly bitter taste. They are used in Puglia, boiled and served as a salad, as a side dish for meat, in frittate or baked with potatoes.

LARDO: lard or back fat (see “Condiments” chapter).

LASAGNE FESTONATE: Lasagne with curly edges.

LASAGNE: Fresh pasta cut into wide strips.

LATTE DI MANDORLE: The juice of almonds, made by pounding the almonds into a paste and then adding water.

LATTEMIELE: (literally, “milk honey”). Lombard name for whipped cream.

LATTERIA: Cow’s milk cheese made in small mountain dairies.

LATTICELLO: The whitish, acidulous liquid reserved after cream has been clarified. Also, the name of the liquid in which mozzarella is kept.

LATTONZOLO: Unweaned piglet.

LATTUGHINO: Lettuce that grows in small bunches with a few tiny, ruffled leaves (the Italian word for lettuce is lattuga).

LATTUME: The seminal liquid of a male tuna. The entire sack is removed from the fish and air-dried. This is very rare and cannot be considered a common product. It is eaten in the same manner as bot­targa, with greens and extra-virgin olive oil.

LECCARDA: Dripping pan for roasts on the spit.

LIE VITARE: To leaven by adding either beer yeast or natural yeast.

LINGUA SALMISTRATA: Beef tongue preserved in brine. Before it can be eaten, it must be de-salted and cooked.

LINGUA: Tongue. Also, cooked salame made of calf’s tongue.

LINGUINE: Long, flat dried pasta about 1/8 in.-wide.

LUGANIGA or LUGANICA: Long, thin sausage.

MACCHERONI: Dried, short, smooth or ribbed tubular pasta.

MAGRO: Literally lean in cookery. It may also refer to a vegetable filling.

MALFATTI: (literally, “badly made”). Spinach dumplings made with cheese, spices and egg yolk. They can be boiled or baked and they are usually served with a dressing.

MALLOREDDUS: Tiny Sardinian dry dumplings made of flour, water, and saffron.

MALTA GLIA TI: Pieces of leftover fresh pasta used in soup.

MANDORLATO: An Easter preparation made mostly with almonds.

MANGIATUTTO: (literally, “eat all”). Thin asparagus, all of which may be eaten, including the stems. Snow peas or taccole are someti­mes given this name.

MANTECATO: Pasta or rice dish to which butter and cheese is added just before it is ready to serve.

MARGARINA: (margarine). A less expensive butter substitute (see “Condiments” chapter).

MARICONDA (LA): Soup with bread dumplings (see “Soups” chap­ter).

MARINATA: Marinade used to preserve flavor or tenderize meat. Marinades can be raw or cooked, quick or long (see also CONCIA or CONCE).

MARITATA: Neapolitan soup of vegetables and meats. The word implied the two are married.

MARITATA: Neapolitan cabbage, escarole, sausage pork fat soup.

MARITOZZO: Sweet bun filled with raisins, pine nuts and candied fruit.

MARRONE: Variety of large and tasty chestnuts obtained by grafting chestnut trees.

MARZAPANE: Marzipan, almond pastry.

MASCARPONE: Rich, dense, fresh, triple-cream cheese made from cow’s milk. Very fresh mascarpone (seldom seen in the US) is vaguely sweet. It is used both in desserts and savory dishes.

MATTARELLO: Rolling pin. A heavy, cylinder-shaped wooden stick for rolling out any kind of dough.

MEINO: Sweet bread made of cornmeal, white flour, baking powder and eggs. Round and squat in shape, it is served dipped in heavy cream.

MELOARANCIO: Old Tuscan dialect word for orange.

MESCIUA: Soup made of chickpeas, beans and wheat, and seasoned with oil, salt and freshly ground pepper.

MESSICANI: Veal rolls stuffed with sausage, eggs and Parmigiano. Two or three are skewered onto wooden sticks and cooked in butter, sage and Marsala.

MEZZALUNA: (literally, “half moon”). Crescent-shaped knife with one handle at each end, used for mincing vegetables, meat and other foodstuffs.

MIGLIACCIO: A special kind of baked, sweet, blood sausage made into a cake. The ingredients are pig’s fresh blood, breadcrumbs, lard, raisins and pine nuts.

MINESTRA: Broth served with the addition of fresh or dried pasta, rice, small dumplings, vegetables, or eggs and grated Parmigiano.

MINESTRONE: Soup made of various vegetables, rice or pasta cooked in broth.

MISSOLTA: Tin can in which agone (see “Fish” chapter) is stored after drying.

MISSOLTITT: Dried and preserved agoni.

MISTICANZA: Mixed salad made of radicchio, watercress, endive, rucola and other types of field lettuce.

MITILI: Another name for mussels.

MOCETTA: Salame from Valle d’Aosta made with meat from cha­mois or deer.

MORSA: Cradle designed to hold a whole bone-in prosciutto to facilitate its slicing by hand.

MORTADELLA DI BOLGNA: Large, cooked salame made of pork and usually mixed with other meats, seasoned with pepper and pistachio nuts. It is easily by its broad pink slices with chunks of white fat and pistachio nuts.

MORTADELLA DI FEGATO: Cooked salame made with liver, pan­cetta, spices and wine.

MORTAIO: A marble, wood or iron bowl used with a wooden pestle, to crush herbs, nuts and more.

MOSTARDA DI FRUTTA: Spicy preserve of whole pieces of fruit in sugar syrup and mustard oil. It may in clued pears, peaches, apricots, watermelon and pumpkin. Intended as the classic accompaniment to bollito misto, it is also mixed into the filling for sweet and savory tortelli.

MOSTO: Must. Grape juice not yet fermented into wine.

MOZZARELLA: Fresh cheese from Southern Italy, mainly from the Campania region. The best quality mozzarella is made with bufala’s milk (a breed not to be confused with the American buffalo). In other parts of Italy, this same cheese is made with cow’s milk, and known under the name for di latte. The mozzarella produced with bufala’s milk is higher in fat content and much more nutritious. Mozzarella has soft and elastic texture, oval-round shape, and white color. Its taste is sweet and milky. It is sold in various shapes: braids, balls, and bite-size pieces.

MUSCIAME: Dolphin fillet air dried. It is eaten thinly sliced and is indispensable in the preparation of capon magro, a typical Ligurian fish salad. Dolphin fishing is forbidden at this time.