Tiella Barese di Riso Patate e Cozze (Italian Bari Rice Potatoes and Mussels) Tiella Barese is what Bari cooks when it wants to feed a table without standing over a stove. Raw rice goes into a wide shallow dish between two layers of thinly sliced potato, with mussels opened over their own liquor, tomato, onion, parsley, pecorino and olive oil. It goes into a hot oven and is not touched again. No stirring, no stock ladled in. The rice cooks in shellfish water and potato starch

Pecora in Cappotto is a foundational dish of Sardinian pastoral cuisine, especially associated with Barbagia. Mature sheep is simmered slowly with onions, potatoes and restrained aromatics until the meat is tender and the broth is clear, rich and deeply flavored.

Focaccia Barese (Italian Bari Focaccia) Focaccia barese is the oil rich flatbread that the old town of Bari bakes in round iron pans and sells by the wedge from mid morning until the trays are empty. It is not a soft northern focaccia and it is certainly not a pizza. The crumb is pale gold, faintly sweet and almost custardy, because the flour is finely milled durum wheat semolina rather than soft wheat. The base is close to fried, because a film of olive oil sits trapped betw