Food

Like most cities in Italy, Milan and its surrounding area has its own regional cuisine. Milanese cuisine includes "cotoletta alla milanese", a fried veal (pork and turkey are used, though) fillet in bread crumbs (which some say is of Austrian origin, calling it "Wienerschnitzel"). Other typical dishes are cassoeula (stewed pork rib chops and sausage with Savoy cabbage and tomato sauce), ossobuco (stewed marrow-bone with tomato or lemon sauce), risotto alla milanese (with saffron, white wine and beef marrow), busecca (stewed tripe with beans and tomato sauce), and brasato (stewed beef or pork with wine and potatoes). Season-related pastries include chiacchiere (fried flat cookies) and tortelli (fried spherical cookies) for Carnival, colomba (glazed cake shaped as a dove) for Easter, pane dei morti ("Bread of the Dead", cookies aromatized with cinnamon) for All Soul's Day and panettone for Christmas. The salame milanese, a salami with a very thin grain, is widespread throughout Italy. The best known Milanese cheese is gorgonzola.