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Meats & Poultry

Bistecca alla fiorentina, osso buco and saltimbocca are among the best loved Italian meat dishes, but this can be a complicated subject at times, which we've tried to make a bit easier (perhaps especially for the self catering chef) with an entry on the Italian names for cuts of meats. In a restaurant, you may need to know the words for how well you like it done.

Poultry, or pollame, is generally less prominent on restaurant menus, although rather than chicken you're more likely to see duck or pigeon. In parts of rural Italy, you'll see turkeys on farms, as much as for food as for their reputation in keeping vipers at bay.

Cuts of meat

any way you slice it

abbacchio

milk-fed lamb

agnello

lamb

alette

wings

allodola

lark

alzavola

teal

anatra

duck

animelle

sweetbreads

arista

pork roast

arrosticini

lamb kebabs

asado

barbecued meats

asino

donkey or cheese

bargigli

wattles

batsoa

breaded trotters

battuta

steak tartare

battuto

chopped ingredients or steak tartare

beccaccia

woodcock

beccaccino

Common snipe

bisonte

bison

bistecca

steak

bollito misto

boiled meats

bombas

meatballs

bombette

roulades

bovino

bovine, beef

braciola

a chop, a thin steak, or involtini

brodettato

kid or lamb in egg lemon sauce

budello

intestines

bue

steer or ox

buseca

tripe stew

cacciagione

game

calandraca

beef and potato stew

camoscio

chamois, or rupicapra

cappello da Gendarme

gendarme hat-shaped savoury pie

cappon

a capon...or a fish

capra

goat

capretto

kid

capriolo

roe deer

capuzzelle

lamb's head

carne

meat

castrato

young mutton

cavallo

horse

cazzmarr

lamb's (or goat's) innards

centopelli

the third of four cow stomachs

cervello

brains

cervo

deer

cevapcici

Serbo-Croatian kebabs

Chianina

the beef in the bistecca fiorentina

cibreo

cockscombs and chicken giblet stew

ciccia

red meat

cima alla genovese

stuffed breast of veal

cinghiale

wild boar

Cinisara and Modicana

black cattle of Sicily

cinta senese

Tuscan swine

cioncia

a stew made of veal cheek, muzzle, ears and tail

coda

tail (bovine, most likely)

collo

neck

coniglio

rabbit

controfiletto

sirloin

coratella

offal

cordula

lamb intestines

coscia

thigh or leg

costine

ribs

costoletta

chop

cotenna

pork skin

cotoletta

cutlet

creste di gallo

cock's combs

cusciottu

leg

cuz

mutton preserved in fat

Duchessa di Parma

turkey, ham and cheese rolls—or a dessert

durelli

gizzards

fagiano

pheasant

faraona

guinea fowl

farsumagru

rolled steak, stuffed and braised

Fassona

Piedmont's special beef

fegatelli

pigs liver

fegatini

chicken livers

fegato

liver

finanziera

a rich offal dish with truffles and mushrooms

francesina

left over boiled beef with onions and tomatoes

frattaglie

offal, giblets

friscia

Piedmontese meat fritto misto

galatina

galantine

gallina

hen

ganassino

veal cheeks slow cooked in wine

ghisau

stewed beef

gnumerieddi

stuffed lamb's innards on a spit

gola

throat

granelli

testicles

grostl

Alpine hash

guancia

cheek

involtini

roulades

lampredotto

fourth stomach of the cow

leccarda

spit-roasted over a drippings pan

lepre

hare

lesso

boiled meat

lingua

tongue

ljubljanska

cutlet with ham and cheese

lombo

loin

lonza

pork loin

macelleria

butcher's

maiale

pig

mammella

udder

manzo

beef

marro

offal roast

mazzarelle

little bundles of offal

midollo

marrow (beef)

montone

mutton

Mora romagnola

black pigs of Romagna

murseddu

tripe and liver pie

muscolo

muscle, or cheaper cuts of beef

muso

snout (or a really good soup, or a pastry)

musso

donkey

Ndocca 'ndocca

stewed pig parts

nervetti

beef or veal tendons

nodino

chop, or cheese, or cookies

oca

goose

olivette

a veal dish or sweets shaped like big olives

omento

caul (or lace) fat

onto

fat

ortolano

ortolan

osei

little birds

ossi de Mas-cio

boiled pig bones

osso buco

braised veal shank

padellaccia

herby fried pork parts

pajata

milk-fed calf's intestines

pallotte

meat (or egg and cheese) balls

pappagorgia

dew lap (or wattle)

pastissada

horse stew

pecora

ewe

peposo

peppery beef stew invented in the Renaissance

pere e musso

pig's foot and snout

pernice

partridge

petza

beef

pezzata

stewed lamb, or a breed of cattle

picaja

stuffed breast of veal

piccata

sautéed slices served in sauce

piccione

pigeon

polenta e osei

a main course, or a little cake

pollame

poultry

pollo

chicken

polpette

rissoles or meatballs

poppa

udder

porceddu

piglet roasted on an open fire

porchetta

herby slow roast pork

porcino

pork with mustard

porco

pig

potacchio

braised in white wine, rosemary and tomato

puledro

colt

puntine

small ribs

quaglia

quail

quinto quarto

offal

rigaglie

giblets, or an offal stew

rognoni

kidneys

Rosa di Parma

beef stuffed with Parmesan and ham

rosbif

roast beef

rosticciana

Tuscan style barbecued ribs

rosticciata

a hash or stew

rosticciata alla contadina

meat and potatoes, Tyrolean style

s'a ciappa

meat cooked on slate

saltimbocca

'jump-in-the-mouth' veal

sasaka

pork pâté

scaloppine

thin slice of meat

scaramella

stewing beef

scottiglia

mixed meat stew

scottona

meat from a young cow

sfilacci

'threads' or 'scraps' of meat

smacafam

savoury 'hunger smacker' pie

sopa coada

pigeon baked with vegetables and bread

spalla

pork shoulder

spezzatino

stew

spuntature

pork spare ribs

stinco

shank or shin

straccetti

thin slices

stracotto

slow-cooked stew

strutto

lard

struzzo

ostrich

suino

pork

suino nero

black pig

Svizzera

hamburger

tacchino

turkey

tacculas

thrushes

tagliata

sliced steak

testicciola

lamb's head—or skull

testine

lamb's head

tomaxelle

Ligurian veal rolls

torcinelli

lamb's sweetbreads

tordo

thrush

trippa

tripe

uccelli

little birds, or shaped like them

vitello

veal

vitello tonnato

veal in a cold tuna sauce

zampa

trotter

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by glisantigenerali