Gelin Budu, or “bride’s thighs” is the Turkmen-Iraqi name given to these soft and brown meat croquettes. The unique feature of this dish is the crust of rice worked with flour, that provides the croquettes with a unique taste and consistency.

In the area of Pavia, the “culture of pig” is deep-seated: quand’s gà fam, ghe’l pän e salàm (“when you are hungry, you can have bread and salami”) is still a common saying. In the past, breed a pig meant having a life insurance and when it was killed, once a year, in order to check whether the meat prepared to make salami was good, a little part of it was used to prepare a risotto.