Carne Salada con Fagioli (Italian Trentino Cured Beef with Beans) Carne salada is the dish that tells you where you are. Cross the Brenner and it does not exist. Drop south of Verona and it does not exist. It lives in a narrow strip of Trentino along the lower Sarca river, around Arco and Riva del Garda, where the lake softens the winters and the mountains start at the shoreline. A lean cut of beef is buried in salt and mountain aromatics for ten days in a cold room, then eat

Macco di Fave con Cicoria (Italian Sicilian Fava Bean Macco with Wild Chicory) Macco is the oldest cooked dish in Sicily and it survives for the reason it was invented. Dried split fava beans, water, salt and a long quiet simmer give a thick golden purée that slides off a wooden spoon and sets as it cools. Wild fennel goes in with the beans, and bitter chicory is boiled separately and laid over the top. This is the Val di Noto and Ragusa reading of the dish, tied to the feast

The Belluno version of polenta e fasoi: Lamon borlotti cooked slowly in their own broth, a pestà of lardo and garlic melted in, and coarse polenta turned out on a board. Full method, wine pairing, storage and nutrition.