Pugnetto. pxfuel.com / CC0 1.0
“Pugnetto” is an Italian imprecise kitchen measurement.
It means “a small fistful.”
It is used by cooks where exact measurement is not critical. For example, a handle of fresh herb.
It can also be used by people watching their calorie intake to roughly estimate food portions when eating out. A fistful (“pugnetto”) of rice would be equivalent to a serving of about 100 g. [1]Riso: un pugnetto di riso equivale a 100 g… “Come calcolare le porzioni usando la tua mano”. Sturm-Ornezeder, Tina. 12 May 2018. Runtastic site. Accessed May 2020 at https://www.runtastic.com/blog/it/calcolare-le-porzioni-con-le-mani/
Language Notes
A “pugno” is a “fist” in Italian; “-etto” tacked onto the end of words means “small.”
In 1881, Pellegrino Artusi directed cooks making his “pope sauce” to “take a fistful of capers and sprinkle them with vinegar” (“Prendete un pugnetto di capperi e spremeteli dall’aceto….”) [2] 135. Salsa del papa. In: Artusi, Pellegrino. La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene. 2015. (First edition 1881). Page 56.
References
| ↑1 | Riso: un pugnetto di riso equivale a 100 g… “Come calcolare le porzioni usando la tua mano”. Sturm-Ornezeder, Tina. 12 May 2018. Runtastic site. Accessed May 2020 at https://www.runtastic.com/blog/it/calcolare-le-porzioni-con-le-mani/ |
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| ↑2 | 135. Salsa del papa. In: Artusi, Pellegrino. La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene. 2015. (First edition 1881). Page 56. |