Panino con Pecorino Siciliano
Sicilian pecorino DOP; peppercorns or saffron sometimes added.
Panino con Formaggio
Panino con Pecorino Sardo
Pecorino Sardo DOP (dolce or maturo); dolce is mild, maturo is sharp, granular.
Panino con Pecorino Romano
Pecorino Romano does not melt or slice; it fractures into shards, its 3.5-6.5 percent salt a preservation system, not seasoning. Honey or raw fava beans blunt the hit in the panino it resists.
Panino con Pecorino e Pere
Pecorino with pear slices; cheese course as sandwich.
Panino con Pecorino e Miele
Pecorino cheese with honey; sweet-salty combination.
Panino con Pecorino e Fave
Pecorino with fresh fava beans; springtime classic (also eaten without bread).
Panino con Pecorino di Norcia
Local pecorino, sometimes with truffles.
Panino con Pecorino di Fossa
Pecorino di Fossa is sealed in a tufa pit for three months, no air, no light, its own weight pressing the fat out of it, then crumbled onto plain bread with honey to frame the underground funk.
Panino con Pecorino di Filiano
Pecorino di Filiano DOP (aged in caves, sometimes in olive oil); intense.
Panino con Pecorino d'Abruzzo
Local Abruzzese pecorino on bread.
Panino con Parmigiano-Reggiano
Rough shards of Parmigiano-Reggiano levered off the wheel and tucked into plain bread, the crunch of tyrosine crystals that only a 24 or 36 month cheese carries.
Panino con Mozzarella di Gioia del Colle
Mozzarella from Gioia del Colle DOP; high-quality, flavorful.
Panino con Mozzarella di Bufala
Fresh buffalo mozzarella DOP on bread; creamy, tangy, milky.
Panino con Monte Veronese
Monte Veronese DOP cheese (cow's milk, various ages); from Lessinia mountains.
Panino con Montasio
Montasio DOP cheese (hard, aged, nutty); fresco, mezzano, or stagionato.
Panino con Grana Padano
Grana Padano cheese; similar to Parmigiano but milder, different production zone.
Panino con Gorgonzola
Gorgonzola DOP blue cheese; dolce (sweet/mild) or piccante (sharp/crumbly).
Panino con Gorgonzola di Novara
Gorgonzola DOP (Novara is within the production zone); dolce or piccante.
Panino con Fiore Sardo
Fiore Sardo DOP (smoked pecorino from the interior); smoky, intense sheep's milk cheese.
Panino con Casu Marzu
The controversial 'rotten cheese' with live insect larvae; illegal to sell, still made and eaten; strong, pungent, ammonia-rich.
Panino con Castelmagno
Castelmagno DOP (blue-veined cow's milk cheese from Cuneo); crumbly, intense, rare.
Panino con Casera
Casera DOP cheese (semi-hard cow's milk); more available than Bitto.
Panino con Casciotta d'Urbino
Casciotta d'Urbino DOP (sheep and cow milk cheese); mild, mentioned as Michelangelo's favorite cheese.
Panino con Canestrato Pugliese
Canestrato Pugliese is a hard whole-sheep's-milk cheese ridged by the reed basket it ages in, broken into shards on a durum loaf. PDO since 1996, born on the Abruzzo-to-Puglia drove roads.