bagna càuda

Bagna càuda or bagna caôda (‘hot sauce’) is a dip made with butter, olive oil, garlic, anchovies and (around Alba) sliced white truffles.

It's served in heated bowls (traditionally in a fondue-like pot in the centre of the table, although now in restaurants you are more likely to get an individual bowl), into which you dip raw, roasted or boiled vegetables such as cardi, artichoke hearts, celery, cauliflower, fennel, Belgian endive, sweet peppers and zucchini with a piece of bread to collect the juices.

The dish grew up along the medieval Salt Roads over the Maritime Alps, along which Liguria used to send Piedmont anchovies, salt and olive oil in exchange for wine.