ITALIAN:
Battuto, Soffritto, Trito, Crudo
Recipes below photos
A battuto usually a very finely chopped mixture of lardo (cured pork back fat), salt pork, pork fat, or pancetta with garlic and onions. It can also contain celery, carrots, chilies, and/or other chopped ingredients.
Lardo battuto is cured pork fat pounded to a cream with herbs and garlic, used for stuffing or added to a broth or stew at the beginning or end of cooking.
It becomes a soffritto when it is gently sautéed in olive oil usually a mixture of vegetables: usually onion, celery,
carrot, garlic, herbs,and sometimes lardo or pancetta – sautéed in olive oil or butter until they become soft and caramelized, imparting their flavors to any ingredient that follows.
A trito is the same as a battuto but doesn’t contain pork. It’s very finely chopped onions, celery, garlic, carrot, and parsley.
Crudo is a trito of raw vegetables and herbs or other ingredients that are added to a dish or sauce, and then cooked. It can also be a mixture of raw herbs and vegetables that is put directly on (or mixed with) cooked food just before serving, as in Venetian risi e bisi (rice and peas) or pasta primavera.
Italians take their battuti and soffritti very seriously.
