PAGLIATA or PAJATA: The upper part of milk-fed lamb intestines used in Roman cooking.

PAIOLO: Heavy, unlined copper pot with a convex bottom, used for cooking polenta.

PALA: Flat shovel used to slide pizza into a brick oven.

PALOMBACCIO: Wild pigeon.

PAN DE FRIZZE: sweet buns made with cornmeal, white flour, cic­cioli and sugar; a specialty from Friuli.

PAN GIALLO: Sweet bread made with raisins, nuts, candied peel, honey and chocolate, and iced with chocolate; a specialty from Lazio.

PAN MOLLE: See PANZANELLA.

PANCETTA: The salt-cured belly fat of a hog. Pancetta has deep pink stripes of flesh (similar to American bacon) and is used to lard meats and to flavor sauces, soups or other dishes. It may be cured in either a flat or rolled form.

PANDOLCE: Sweet bread packed with candied fruit; a specialty from Genoa.

PANDORO: Sweet bread made with leavened dough, eggs, butter and powdered sugar; a specialty from Verona.

PANE FRATTAU: Sardinian soup made of layers of carta da musica (thin layered crispy bread) sprinkled with grated cheese and covered with broth.

PANE SPEZIALE: A type of bread from Emilia Romagna similar to panforte.

PANE: Bread. See “Bread” chapter for all types.

PANETTONE: The typical Milanese Christmas cake. Sweet bread made with leavened dough, raisins and candied fruit peelings, dome-shaped or flat.

PANFORTE: Sweet bread made with flour, candied fruit, spices, almonds and sugar, baked on paper-thin wafers and sprinkled with powdered sugar; a specialty from Siena.

PANISCIA: Thick soup made with sausage, rice, beans and plenty of freshly ground pepper.

PANISSA or PANICCIA: Polenta made with chickpea flour and seaso­ned with oil and chopped onions.

PANPEPATO: (peppered bread). A sweet bread made of flour, sugar, almonds, pine nuts, orange peel and plenty of freshly ground pepper.

PANSOTTI: typical ravioli from Genoa, stuffed with cooked greens, ricotta, borage, eggs and cheese. They are usually served with a wal­nut sauce.

PANZANELLA: Salad of roasted bread softened in water and vinegar, the salad is made with ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped and dressed with oil and vinegar.

PANZEROTTI: Disks of leavened dough stuffed with mozzarella and a little tomato sauce, folded in half, sealed and fried, served as an antipasto. The term also refers to potato croquettes with a piece of mozzarella in the center.

PAPERO: Florentine word for duck.

PAPPA AL POMODORO: Tuscan soup made of stale, crusty country bread, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, pepper and oil.

PAPPARDELLE: Long, wide strips of fresh egg pasta.

PARMESAN: A type of Parmigiano Reggiano. The word Parmesan is now protected in Europe, as it can only be used when using Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Any reference to Parmesan with another cheesse is illegal.

PARMIGIANA (ALLA): A food term that refers to preparations from the Parma area. In Southern Italy, the term indicates a dish consisting of fried slices of eggplant layered with tomato sauce and mozzarella and then baked.

PARMIGIANO REGGIANO: The choicest type of Parmigiano is a cow’s milk hard cheese made in the region around Parma. Parmigiano Reggiano is produced under the strictest regulations: it must be made with milk produced between April 1st and November 1 1”’ in the provinces of Parma, Reggio, Modena, Mantova and Bologna. It is a hand-made cheese aged at least 18 months before it is sold. Authentic Reggiano has the words Parmigiano Reggiano etched in a continuous pattern of small dots around the entire circumference of the rind. It is eaten on its own, used in cooking and for grating.

PARROZZO: Loaf-shaped cake from Abruzzo, made of flour, almonds, sugar, and eggs, and then iced with chocolate.

PASQUALINA (TORTA): Savory Ligurian artichoke pie made with lots of very thin layers of pastry.

PASSATELLI: Mixture of eggs, bread and grated Parmigiano passed through a ricer and dropped directly into broth.

PASTA ‘NCASCIATA: Timballo of maccheroni and meatballs seasoned with meat sauce and layered with hard boiled eggs, salame, cacioca­vallo, peas and other ingredients, covered with more meat sauce, baked till golden brown, then removed from mold and served.

PASTA AL FORNA: Baked pasta dressed with ragù, and other ingredients.

PASTA ALLA NORMA: Spaghetti with fried eggplant, tomato, and gra­ted, salted ricotta.

PASTA PER SIGILLARE: Dough made with flour and water and used to seal the cover of a pot in order to minimize heat dispersion.

PASTA REALE: Sicilian almond pastry used to make frutta alla mar­torana or to wrap around cakes. It is made from pounded or finely chopped almonds and mixed with the same weight in sugar and a lit­tle glucose. It is colored with food coloring.

PASTA: Spaghetti and maccheroni, penne and cavatelli, ravioli, tor­tellini,fusilli and so on belong to a huge family of ingredients of poor origins and all having in common the characteristic of offering a surprisinly balanced diet. See “Pasta” chapter for details on all types.

PASTELLA: Batter.

PASTICCIO: Pasta layered with ingredients and baked.

PASTIERA: Sweet short pastry filled with ricotta, cooked wheat kernels, candied fruit peelings and orange water. It is prepared over Easter.

PASTISSADA DE CAVAL: Horseman’s stew (see “Meat” chapter)

PECORINO: Sheep’s milk cheese (pecora is Italian for sheep), peco­rino can be mild or sharp in flavor and of soft or hard consistency (the latter is used for grating). In the US, the most common type is peco­rino romano, typical of the Rome area. In Italy, another two common types are pecorino sardo, made in Sardinia, and pecorino toscano, from Tuscany.

PEOCI: Another name for mussels.

PEPERONATA: Dish made of sweet peppers sautéed in oil, onions and a little bit of tomato. Peperonata is an excellent side dish for meats and is better eaten warm or at room temperature. PEPERONCINO: Thin, long and pointed pepper, either red or green. It can be slightly or extremely hot. It may be dried whole, or more or less finely ground.

PEPOSO: Pork shank cooked with tomatoes, wine, herbs and freshly ground pepper.

PERCIATELLI: See bucatini.

PERSICATA: Solid peach jam made in the same way as cotognata.

PESCE: Fish. For various types, see “Fish” chapter.

PESCESTOCCO: Another name for stoccafisso.

PESTO: Cold Ligurian sauce made of basil, garlic, Parmigiano, peco­mo, and oil. It is used on trenette, gnocchi and minestrone.

PETTINE: Utensil used in Romagna to shape pasta dough into short quills (garganelli).

PEVERADA: Sauce for boiled meats made with bread, beef marrow, Parmigiano, broth, salt and pepper.

PEVERE: An old Venetian word for pepper.

PEZZO DURO: A kind of molded ice-cream.

PIADINA: Unleavened pizza dough made of water, flour and strutto. It is baked on a testo-like a thick crepe, and served hot with salame and cheese or folded with sauteed leafy greens.

PIATTO: Plate, dish; also, course as in primo piatto, “first course”.

PICCAGGE: Ligurian dialect word for fettuccine.

PICCATA: Veal scaloppina saut6ed very quickly in a pan with butter and lemon juice, Marsala or other ingredients.

PICCHIETTARE: To insert spices such as cloves, cinnamon, or bay leaves in pieces of meat so that flavor can better spread while cooking.

PIEDINI: Calf’s feet, boiled and used for a salad called nervetti: they can be served as an antipasto.

PIEMONTESE: Inhabitant of the region of Piedmont.

PIGNATTA: Another name for a large pot.

PIGNOLATA: Large amaretti sprinkled generously with pine nuts.

PIGNOLI: See PINOLI.

PINOCCATE: Tiny cakes with a base of sugar and pine nuts; they are commonly wrapped in colored paper.

PINOLI: Pine nuts.

PINZA: Cake made of white flour, cornmeal, fennel seeds, raisins, dried figs, and other dried and candied fruit.

PINZIMONIO: Dip for raw vegetables made of olive oil, ground pep­per and salt. By extension, the raw vegetables served with this sauce are also called pinzimonio.

PISAREI E FASOI: Soup of tiny dumplings made with breadcrumbs, flour and milk, typical of Emilia Romagna. They are boiled and then tossed briskly with cooked beans with a soifritto of pancetta, onions and tomatoes. Pisarei are the dumplings, and fasoi are the beans.

PISSALADEIRA: A kind of pizza covered with onions, anchovies, black olives, and tomato.

PISTUM: Dumplings made of bread, eggs, herbs, sugar and raisins, boiled in pork broth.

PITTA: Calabrian name for pizza. Pitta chicculiata is covered with tomato sauce, oil and peperoncino, whereas pitta maniata is two disks of dough stuffed with slices of hard-boiled eggs, cheese, salame and peperoncino.

PIZZA: a disk of dough topped with tomato and cheese, herbs and various other ingredients, baked in a brick oven. See “Pizza and Focaccia” chapter.

PIZZAIOLA (ALLA): A term used to describe stews and sauces made with tomatoes, capers, oregano and anchovies.

PIZZOCCHERI: Tagliatelle made of buckwheat flour and cooked with potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables, sautded with plenty of butter and slices of bitto (a traditional cheese from Valtellina, a moun­tam area in northern Lombardy).

POLENTA CONCIA OR PASTICCIATA: casserole Polenta layered with sauce, cheese and butter, and then baked.

POLENTA TARAGNA: Polenta made with one half buckwheat flour and one half yellow cornmeal with the addition of bitto. Its name comes from a Lombard word, tarello, the stick used to stir polenta.

POLENTA: Yellow cornmeal, either fine or coarsely ground, cooked with water, and seasoned with butter and Parmigiano. Polenta may vary from soft to a solid consistency depending on its use. In some regions of Italy, white cornmeal or buckwheat flour is used instead of yellow cornmeal.

POLPETTA: (meatball). A mixture of minced meat, bread, herbs, and cheese, shaped into balls, and fried then added to tomato sauce. Often they are made with meat and vegetable leftovers.

POLPETTONE: Meat loaf made with the same mixture as meatballs.

POLVERINO: The floury mixture sprinkled over panforte before it is cooked.

PORCHETTA: The word refers to the preparation of a whole pig the Roman way, that is bound, seasoned, rolled closed, and stitched. It is then roasted in large wood burning ovens to a crisp. It is served sliced like a salame. The expression in-porchette refers also game and other meats prepared the same way prior to roasting or baking although seasoning may be different.

PORCINI: Wild mushrooms with large, meaty, brown caps slightly rounded on top. The stems are fleshy and wider at the bottom.

PORRATA: Sauce prepared in the same manner as agliata, but substi­tuting leeks for garlic.

POTACCHIO: Term used to describe food stewed with herbs, white wine and peperoncino.

PRATAIOLO: White and fleshy mushroom with a pleasant aroma. It can also be hothouse-cultivated.

PRESCINSEUA: Ligurian preparation similar to sour cream.

PROSCIUTTO: Hog’s leg, salted, aged and dressed according to local usage. See “Salame and Salumi” chapter for different types.

PROVATURA: Fresh cheese from Lazio, very similar to mozzarella, eaten as it is, or breaded and fried.

PROVOLONE: Firm cheese with a pungent, somewhat salty flavor. It can also be mild.

PUNTA DI PETTO: Brisket of beef.

PUN TARELLE: Budding tips of a type of chicory cut halfway lengthwise and soaked in cold water until they curl up. They are ser­ved as a salad, dressed with oil, vinegar, garlic and chopped ancho­vies.

PUTTANESCA (ALLA): Pasta sauce made of tomato, black olives, anchovies, capers, peperoncino and basil.