Burrida alla Cagliaritana

Among the most typical and popular dishes of Cagliari and its surroundings is certainly Burrida alla Cagliaritana (a sa Casteddaia). This succulent dish is especially served in restaurants in Cagliari (the Sardinian capital) and Pula (a nearby seaside town) and is a seafood appetiser, accompanied by boiled murici (sea snails) and thin strips of bottarga.

The main ingredient of this dish is the dogfish, flavoured with a strong-tasting sauce consisting of walnuts, vinegar and the livers of the dogfish itself, which give the sauce a very special taste.

Burrida alla Cagliaritana is said to have first appeared in the Middle Ages. This is suggested by the etymology of the word itself, which is said to derive from the Provençal language, also known as lingua d'oc, bouride, or fish soup. The Genovese seem to have introduced this dish to the Cagliari area, although their Ligurian version of burrida differs substantially from the Sardinian one. In fact, in Liguria it is a real fish soup, while in Sardinia the main ingredient of burrida is dogfish.