Panino con Salame Cotto
Piedmont's salame cotto skips the cure, preserved by cooking rather than months in cellar air. Soft and pale, it is cut thick at the Monferrato counter for a working sandwich carried to the fields.
Andrew Lekashman
Panino con Salam d'la Duja
Salam d'la duja on a firm biova: a Piedmontese salame matured submerged in pork lard inside a terracotta crock, kept slack and almost spreadable because the rice-paddy air was too damp to hang it.
Panino con Rosetta
The rosetta is a five-petalled Roman roll baked nearly hollow, a brittle shell around an empty chamber. The sandwich is mostly air, loaded light and eaten before the crust gives in.
Panino con Robiola
Soft fresh robiola, smeared knife-thick on a Piedmont loaf and taken barely cool. The jar the cook reaches for, Bosina, Cocconato or Rocchetta, is rarely the same cheese twice.
Panino con Robiola di Roccaverano
Robiola di Roccaverano DOP (raw goat's milk); tangy, creamy.
Panino con Ricotta Salata
Salted, aged ricotta (firm, grateable) on bread; salty, crumbly.
Panino con Ricotta Romana
Fresh ricotta from Lazio; mild, creamy, slightly grainy.
Panino con Raschera
Raschera comes as a square, the corners a relic of the mules that carried it down the Cuneo mountains. A mild, supple washed-rind wheel that eats cool or slumps to a melt under warmth.
Panino con Ragusano
Ragusano DOP (stretched-curd cheese aged in caves); caciocavallo-like, complex.
Panino con Ragù Napoletano
Meat (often beef rolls—braciole) from Neapolitan ragù (slow-cooked tomato sauce) on bread.
Panino con Radicchio Rosso
Red radicchio (especially Treviso IGP's long, tapered variety) grilled or raw on sandwich.
Panino con Radicchio di Treviso
Treviso radicchio specifically; bitter, slightly sweet when grilled.
Panino con Quarume
Palermo's quarume: mixed veal offal (omasum, abomasum, duodenum) boiled for hours in vegetable broth, packed hot into a rosetta with lemon and pepper. Named for its cauldron, not its organ.
Panino con Quartirolo Lombardo
Quartirolo DOP (soft, tangy, fresh cow's milk cheese); delicate flavor.
Panino con Provolone del Monaco
Provolone del Monaco DOP (aged, sharp provolone from the Lattari Mountains); complex, piquant.
Panino con Provola
Provola (smoked mozzarella-style cheese) on bread; smoky flavor.
Panino con Provola Affumicata
Specifically smoked provola; more intense smoke.
Panino con Prosciutto Toscano
Tuscan DOP prosciutto, saltier and more assertive than Parma, on unsalted Tuscan bread.
Panino con Prosciutto di Sauris
Prosciutto di Sauris IGP (lightly smoked); unique among Italian prosciutti.
Panino con Prosciutto di San Daniele
San Daniele DOP prosciutto (sweeter, softer than Parma, guitar-shaped); aged in Alpine air.
Panino con Prosciutto di Parma
A panino built to deliver one certified ham: Prosciutto di Parma DOP, the fire-branded leg cured on nothing but sea salt and the dry air of Langhirano.
Panino con Prosciutto di Norcia
Prosciutto di Norcia IGP (slightly smokier, aged in mountain air) on bread.
Panino con Prosciutto di Cinghiale
Wild boar prosciutto; gamey, intense cured meat.
Panino con Primo Sale
Fresh, lightly salted sheep's milk cheese; mild, milky.