Tajarin
Also known as tagliarini, taglierini.
Specifications
very narrow flat egg ribbon
What it is
Tajarin is the egg-yolk-rich Piedmontese tagliolini of the Langhe and Monferrato hills near Alba. Its sticky detail is the dough: Piedmont producers cite about 30 egg yolks per kilo of flour as the traditional ratio, and regional accounts put it at 30 to 40 yolks per kilo, sometimes more, which gives the strands their deep golden color. A widely repeated local story holds that King Vittorio Emanuele II favored the dish, which is folklore rather than documented fact.
Tajarin is the Piedmontese dialect name for tagliolini, the thin egg ribbon. Both Italian and English Wikipedia identify tajarin as the Piedmontese name, and Treccani records tagliolini as the same as taglierini, derived from the verb tagliare, to cut.
What sauce it wants, and why
This is a very thin, yolk-rich flat ribbon, so it wants light fat-based dressings that cling to the fine strands without burying them. Melted butter carrying shaved white truffle of Alba is the defining pairing, the egg dough acting as a neutral, rich base for the aroma. The juices of roast meat and lighter goose or rabbit ragu also coat it well, while the delicacy of the cut means a heavy long-cooked ragu can overwhelm it.
Classic plates: tajarin al tartufo, tajarin al ragu.
No tajarin? Use these
Closest swaps by sauce behavior, not by looks. The ones most easily confused with tajarin, and how they read.
