"Dragged" A name for orecchiette, small ears made by hand by pushing the thumb into a small disc of pasta, especially in Puglia. If the dragging motion of the thumb is too pronounced the resulting shape is called cavatieddi or cavatelli.
"Extract". A strong tomato paste from Sicily made by chopping and sieving the tomatoes to exclude all the skin and seeds. Salt and basil leaves are then added and the mixture allowed to dry in the sun, stirred frequently until it reaches the consistency of thick, dry mud. It produces a rich, dark tomato sauce which enriches the dishes in which it is used.
Traditional wholemeal pasta of Norcia. The chewy dough is made without eggs and cut into strips shaped like coarse shoelaces, apparently resembling the cords used in mediaeval garottings.
Strolghino is a salame made from October to March in the region of Parma in Emilian-Romagna. Lean meat from the trimmings of the thigh meat left over from the production of culatello and fiochetto, ground, cured and stuffed into small casings called fisole, giving this salame its traditional thing form. It has a short life and is aged for only 15-20 days. It is a soft, lean and sweet-flavoured sausage.
"Priest chokers." A pasta from Emilia made by making tagliatelli and cutting it into 2.5 cm (1") lengths.
