Piemonte · Asti

Bagna càuda

Name: Bagna càuda
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 75 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian (Piemonte)
Ingredients: 4 heads of garlic (one per person); 4 full wine glasses of extra virgin olive oil (one per person); 200 g salted Spanish (Cantabrian) anchovies (50 g per person); red wine (a glass, to rinse the anchovies); butter (optional — a small knob per person, at the end); cardoons (ideally the ‘gobbo’ of Nizza Monferrato), Jerusalem artichokes, cauliflower and kale leaves, raw; turnips, baked onions, steamed potatoes, roasted peppers and fried pumpkin

Piedmontese warm garlic and anchovy dip

A pot of garlic, anchovies and olive oil kept warm at the table, with autumn vegetables for dipping — in the recipe the Accademia Italiana della Cucina deposited in Asti in 2005.

Deposited recipeSources checked · October 2026

Course: AntipastoStarter
Serves: 4
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 45 min

La provenienza

Where this recipe comes from

Bagna càuda means ‘hot bath’ in Piedmontese. It is a dish of the grape harvest in the Asti and Monferrato hills, made with salted anchovies that once reached Piedmont along the salt roads from Liguria.

On 7 February 2005 the Asti delegation of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina deposited a reference recipe with a notary in Costigliole d'Asti. The deed is not published online; this recipe follows the detailed accounts of it listed in the sources.

It comes with customs of its own: you never dip bread into the shared pot, which would take more than your share, and at the end of the evening eggs are scrambled in the last of the sauce.

Provenance: Deposited recipeAn official recipe filed with an Italian Chamber of Commerce or a notary by a recognised culinary body.
Defined by: Accademia Italiana della Cucina, Asti delegation
Reference: Recipe deposited with a notary in Costigliole d'Asti, 2005
Sources: Dissapore — bagna cauda, the recipe deposited with a notary in 2005 (Italian)
Gazzetta del Gusto — bagna cauda, the original Piedmontese recipe (Italian)

Asti, Piemonte

Ingredienti

Ingredients

4 servings

4 heads of garlic one per person
4 full wine glasses of extra virgin olive oil one per person
200 g salted Spanish (Cantabrian) anchovies 50 g per person
red wine a glass, to rinse the anchovies
butter optional — a small knob per person, at the end

To dip

cardoons (ideally the ‘gobbo’ of Nizza Monferrato), Jerusalem artichokes, cauliflower and kale leaves, raw
turnips, baked onions, steamed potatoes, roasted peppers and fried pumpkin

Preparazione

Method

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Errori comuni

Common mistakes

Letting the garlic brown — it becomes bitter and overpowering.
Dipping bread into the shared pot: by custom, bread is not used.
Rushing it: the garlic needs a long, gentle cook to turn sweet.

Fuori dall'Italia

Cooking it outside Italy

For a gentler bagna càuda — an accepted variant — first cook the garlic in a glass of milk instead of oil, drain it, then continue with the anchovies and oil.
Cardoons are rare abroad; celery hearts and fennel are the closest substitutes.