I would appreciate some help translating menus from any of you who are residents of Piemonte. I've been reading the tourist brochure from Tu in Alba and would like to familiarize myself with the menus before we go (in two weeks). Although I know the Italian for many foods and have a good Italian dictionary, some words aren't in my dictionary or the literal translations don't make sense. Thanks.
1. battuta & al coltello (carne crude battuta al coltello, battuta di vitello)
2. Reale (Faraone Reale, Charlotte Reale)
3. tuma (a dialect for Toma?)
4. tonne di coniglio (translates tuna of rabbit?)
5. insalata bergera - what kind of salad?
6. topolino (translates little mouse)
7. muscolo al Barolo - what muscle?
8. scamone - a medallion of meat?
9. costine di maiale - what part of the pig?
10. miscellaneous words: guanciale, coppi, salsine, subric, ollare, friciula, rabaton, catara, grive, sarset (none of these are in my dictionary)
Thanks.
Barbara

This is not much help, but it may take a collective effort. And I might be able to refer someone who travels to the Piemonte frequently who could help.

Reale - - "Royal", so this doesn't actually help you.

tuma is indeed a local dialect for Toma (also known as Tomme in France)

bergera - - given the French influence in the Piemonte, surely this is a "shepherd's salad" - - but again, you will simply have to ask what is on it. I bet that it contains one or more local cheeses.

Hope others have more help to offer you.

Best wishes,

Rex

guanciale = pork cheek

bdg...

These are not the people whose names I am trying to remember... but two regulars on this forum who have posted a lot of Piemonte info are:

"Sampaguita" and "PiedmontPhil" - - you can find both of their e-mail addresses on this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35001771

You might simply e-mail this thread to them.

1. carne cruda buttata al coltello is like a tartare, except that it's more roughly chopped, with a knife (coltello); battuta di vitello would be made with veal.
2. faraona reale seems to be made with truffles in the recipes I've found online; charlotte reale would be a "royal" charlotte, as Rex says, but your guess is as good as mine what its chief ingredient would be.
3. tonne di coniglio may be a version of vitello tonnato (or tonne), which is cold sliced roast veal with, indeed, a tuna-mayonnaise sauce.
6. topolino may - or may not - be a cake/dessert of some kind; the only reference I found was to a cake.
7. muscolo is translated by my online dictonary to "stewing steak".
8. scamone - ??? My trusty online dictionary - http://www.garzantilinguistica.it/ - has never heard of it; online recipes seem to indicate that it's a tender cut of meat, probably beef.
9. costine are chops.
10. coppi are a dry Piedmontese biscuit, probably made with hazelnuts;
salsine - a plural diminutive of salsa or sauce???; subric seems to be a terrine; pietra ollare is steatite or soapstone and is used to make cookware that heats well; friciula is a kind of fried bread; rabaton are a kind of herb-ricotta dumpling; catara???; grive - a kind of meatball(?); sarset are a kind of green, used in salads.

Zerlina is pretty good. Give me a day or two to look at some of the obscure terms as its very busy here in Piedmont now.

Thanks to all of you for your help. Zerlina - I did use the online garzanti linguistica, which I use often, as well as my guidebooks and my 2500 page Italian dictionary before I posted this list. These were the terms I couldn't decipher.
Since my post I've found out that "grive" is a thrush (do they still eat these in Piedmont?)and "costine di maiale" are spare ribs.

I didn't just use Garzanti; I also googled for recipes in Italian using your terms.

I'm not sure about the costine; some recipes seem to indicate that they are chops, in others, spare ribs seem to be a possibility.

As for the Piedmontese grive, the recipe I saw called for pork fat, pork liver, sausage meat, salt, pepper and juniper berries to be mixed together and fried in a mixture of butter and olive oil. It sounds more like a meatball than a thrush to me...

Zerlina - I didn't mean to downplay all the research you did for me. Sorry if that's how my previous post came across. I appreciate your help. My Italian isn't good enough to google recipes in Italian! The reason I mentioned a "grive" is a "thrush" is my son gave me a wonderful little paperback book this weekend "Nonna Genia's Classic Langhe Cookbook". It was originally published in Italian in 1982 and just translated into English this year. It contains 100 recipes from the Langhe from the first half of the 20th century. The recipe titles are in Italian and English and there is a recipe for "Risotto con le grive" or "Risotto with Thrushes". There is also a recipe for "Mock stuffed Grive" which sounds like the recipe you described. The author said the little bundles were called mock thrushes because they tasted like cooked thrushes, which apparently feed on juniper berries. Another word from my original list is in one of the recipes - "sarset", which translates as a valerian salad.