This Italian staple takes cheap ingredients and makes something great

11 hours ago 2

Ben Groundwater

December 8, 2025 — 5:00am

The dish

Pappardelle al Cinghiale, Italy

Plate up

Wild, simple and delicious.iStock

Some of the world’s greatest dishes have been borne of necessity, of desperation. Italy’s “cucina povera”, meaning “poor kitchen”, is an entire cuisine that holds true to this notion, a set of dishes that were developed through adversity by people who might not otherwise have had the means to survive, who took the cheap, readily available ingredients around them and produced something amazing. Case in point: pappardelle al cinghiale, the classic Tuscan dish of wild-boar ragu served with thick ribbons of pasta.

The modern-day iteration of this regional staple begins by marinating wild boar meat overnight in red wine, garlic, carrots, onions and celery, tenderising the meat and removing any strong porky odour. The meat is then chopped and browned in a pan with more aromatics, plus tomato puree, red wine and herbs, then simmered low and slow to produce a rich, thick ragu, which is then stirred through handmade pappardelle pasta. Top it with parmigiano-reggiano and you will find that those cucina povera cooks really knew what they were doing.

First serve

What do you do if you’re Tuscan, you’re poor and you’re desperate for meat to feed the family? You go out hunting. And that’s what the people of beautiful Tuscany (and neighbouring Umbria) have done for centuries, taking to the hills and forests in the hope of bagging a wild boar.

The original recipes for this dish would have included simply meat and cheap vegetables, cooked together in a stew; it was only once its popularity grew that more luxurious ingredients such as red wine and tomatoes were added, and indeed the cheese on top. The original cucina povera pappardelle was made with chestnut flour and water – the more expensive egg-and-flour version emerged later.

Order there

In Florence, sample pappardelle al cinghiale at Trattoria dell’Oroto (trattoriadellorto.com).

Order here

In Sydney, try the wild boar ragu with rigatoni at Bottega Coco (bottegacoco.com.au). In Melbourne this dish is a little trickier to find, though Tipo 00 does a great pappardelle with duck (tipo00.com.au). In Adelaide, sample pappardelle al ragu at Godi la Vita (godilavita.com.au).

One more thing

In neighbouring Umbria they do a similarly delicious ragu al cinghiale, though this one is “in bianco”, a “white” sauce with no tomatoes.

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Ben Groundwater is a Sydney-based travel writer, columnist, broadcaster, author and occasional tour guide with more than 25 years’ experience in media, and a lifetime of experience traversing the globe. He specialises in food and wine – writing about it, as well as consuming it – and at any given moment in time Ben is probably thinking about either ramen in Tokyo, pintxos in San Sebastian, or carbonara in Rome. Follow him on Instagram @bengroundwaterConnect via email.