The Emilia cuisine is one of the most appreciated across Italy, offering unforgettable products and recipes. But going into more detail, we would like to suggest five typical dishes from Parma, a city considered a capital of food, good cuisine and recognised by UNESCO in 2015 for its gastronomic traditions. If you intend to visit this splendid jewel of Emilia Romagna, we suggest that you put aside a couple of hours to enjoy a lunch for genuine food lovers.
Torta Fritta
Created as a base food for the poor, torta fritta is served now in trattoria across Parma as a starter. Tasty and delicious, it is perfect alongside cold cuts and cheeses. You can enjoy it as an antipasto, before moving onto the main dish, or you can enjoy it as a main dish with cold cuts. The torta fritta is the Parma version of a type of fried dough that you find across Emilia,such as the gnocco fritto or the crescentine.
Anolini in broth
One of the most typical dishes of Parma, and loved by Parmesans and others, the genuine anolini in broth are shaped like a small disc, 2.8 cm wide, made of two layers of pasta that incase a filling of Parmigiano Reggiano, a little grated bread, egg yolk and beef broth laced with nutmeg. It is traditionally served with hot broth, and is eaten all year, even during the August holidays. It is impossiblem to resist its intense and delicious flavours.
See: the food museums of Parma
Bomba di riso (the rice bomb)
The original recipe for the filling for the bomba di riso includes pigeon: alternatives now include pork or beef. The rice is cooked first, with a classic fried sauce and meat broth, and the meat is cooked separately. Once cooked, half the rice is placed in a tray with a hole in the middle, into which the meat is spooned. The rest of the rice is then placed on top, it is then baked and served with Parmigiano-Reggiano: a veritable festival of flavour.
Rosa di Parma
The Rosa di Parma is one of the city’s most traditional dishes, but you can find it across the whole of Emilia Romagna. This very simple recipe combines beef with our traditional products, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Parma Ham and Lambrusco, worked together to form the filling of the roll. An intense second dish, it is perfect alongside a flacon of good red wine from the area: this is truly one of the most excellent products of the city.
Spongata
A classic Parma cake, the spongata is produced above all in Busseto: a tasty cake made with walnuts, pinenuts, orange peel, plus honey and cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. An aromatic and sweet cake, perfect to cap off our tour of the 5 most typical disches of Parma.
Cover photo: Geco Travels
