Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Eat risotto alla milanese
Carnaroli rice cooked in stock with bone marrow and saffron until it turns deep yellow and flows. Served as a first course in its own right, not as a side.
Proper risotto spreads across the plate in a wave, which is called all'onda. A firm mound that holds its shape means it was overcooked or reheated.
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Try ossobuco alla milanese
A cross-cut veal shank braised with the bone in, and the marrow is eaten from it with a small spoon. Gremolata of lemon zest, garlic and parsley goes on top and lifts the whole dish.
It is classically served with risotto alla milanese on the same plate, the one Milanese dish where rice acts as a side. A small marrow spoon should arrive with it.
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Eat cotoletta alla milanese
A bone-in veal chop in breadcrumbs, fried in butter. It differs from a Wiener Schnitzel in that the meat is thick and on the bone, and the fat is butter rather than lard.
The flat thin version is called an orecchia d'elefante, an elephant's ear, and hangs off the plate. Lemon is served, though locals often leave it unsqueezed.
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Try cassoeula in winter
Savoy cabbage stewed with pork ribs, trotters, ears and sausages — a peasant winter dish eaten with polenta. It appears on menus only in the cold months.
A real cassoeula is thick enough to stand a spoon in. Offered in July it is a defrosted batch; the season runs November to February.
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Try mondeghili
Milanese meatballs made from cooked meat, soaked bread, parmesan and lemon zest, fried in butter. Invented to finish yesterday's braise, with a name that came from Arabic by way of the Spanish.
They are eaten as an aperitivo snack, two or three at a time. Inside they are soft and almost pâté-like, and they are not meatballs in tomato sauce.
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Try risotto al salto
Yesterday's risotto pressed into a pan and fried until both sides are crisp. The classic Milanese next-day lunch.
The crust should be thin and brittle while the middle stays creamy. It is not on every menu; old trattorias keep it, new places rarely do.
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Get a michetta
A hollow rose-shaped roll with a crisp crust and almost no crumb — the default Milanese bread. It is split and filled with salami or cheese, and the whole thing works because of the crust.
Freshness is obvious: after an hour it deflates and goes chewy. The classic fillings are salsiccia or gorgonzola.
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Try gorgonzola
Blue cheese from a town just outside Milan, in two versions: dolce, soft and creamy, and piccante, firm and sharp. Eaten with pear, walnuts or over polenta.
Dolce is spooned rather than sliced and suits newcomers; piccante is aged twice as long. Look for taleggio in the same case, a soft cheese with an orange rind.
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Try polenta
Cornmeal cooked for an hour and served as a base under braised meat, game or gorgonzola. In the north it replaces both bread and potatoes.
It comes soft like porridge, or set, sliced and grilled. The classic pairings are polenta e osei and polenta with braised beef.
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Try panettone Desserts and pastries
A tall sweet sourdough loaf with candied peel and raisins that proves for more than a day. Officially a Christmas cake, though good Milanese bakeries make it out of season too.
A real panettone is pulled apart by hand along the grain rather than sliced. The crumb should be moist and stringy, not dry and crumbly.
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Try colomba in spring Desserts and pastries
The Easter relative of panettone, shaped like a dove, without raisins but with an almond glaze and sugar nibs on top. Sold from February to April.
The glaze should crack and crunch; softened glaze means it has been sitting. Artisan versions are sold by weight in pastry shops rather than boxed.
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Have an espresso at the bar Non-alcoholic drinks
Standing, in under a minute, usually with a small glass of water alongside. The bar price is fixed and low, the table price higher, and both are on the list on the wall.
The word caffè means an espresso; a marocchino is espresso with cocoa and milk foam in a small glass, and it is a Milanese invention.
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Order a spremuta d'arancia Non-alcoholic drinks
Freshly squeezed juice from Sicilian blood oranges, served in almost every bar in season. In winter it comes out deep red, which is the mark of real tarocco oranges.
Blood orange season runs December to April. It is squeezed in front of you; poured from a jug in the fridge, it is not a spremuta.
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Try a Negroni sbagliato Local alcohol
A Negroni in which the gin was accidentally replaced with sparkling wine: lighter, weaker and invented by mistake in a Milanese bar. The ideal aperitivo drink.
At six in the evening snacks come with it automatically and are included in the price. Its menu neighbour is the Milano-Torino, the Negroni's ancestor.
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Try Franciacorta Local alcohol
A traditional-method sparkling wine from Lombardy, east of Milan. Dry and mineral, it is drunk here as the local answer to champagne and prosecco.
Unlike prosecco it ages on the lees for years, which gives it a bready note. Bars pour it by the glass at the price of a decent white.
