Eating Your Way Through Abruzzo

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Many Americans, enamored of the so-called "Northern Italian Cooking," have tragically come to equate the equally non-existent "Southern Italian Cooking" with the kind of spaghetti that comes in a can. Nothing could be farther from the truth! The food in Abruzzo is simply unforgettable, and you'll find it at virtually every trattoria you encounter. Here are some specialties you should try to sample:

• spaghetti all'amatriciana
• spaghetti alla chitarra, square strands of pasta served with a tomato sauce that is as tasty as it is simple
• gnochetti con fagioli di Paganica, the local version of pasta e fagioli
• fagioli e cotiche di maiale, stewed beans and pork rind
• prosciutto di cinghiale, wild boar ham
• testicoli di mulo, small round lean pork sausages, so-called because they are always sold in pairs
• pecorino d'Abruzzo, local sheep's cheese
• anything with wild mushrooms
• mozzarelle and scamorze, a naturally dried cheese that is roasted on the grill
• burrata, a truly rare delicacy consisting of a ball of tangy cheese with a soft "butter"-like center
• salame di fegato pazzo, spiced liver salami
• salame di fegato dolce, liver salami made with honey
• roast or grilled lamb (agnello) or pork (maiale)
• Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is an excellent red wine, and you might want to sample rosatello aquilano, a rosé wine, or Corfinio della Valle Peligna, a light white wine. If you haven't ever tried an amaro, the bitter digestive liqueur that Italians are so fond of, you might want to start with Gran Sasso. But beware: the alcohol content is upwards of 70 proof!

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