Writing in The Food of Italy, Waverly Root called bagna cauda a dish “born of the local genius and found nowhere else.” Dead right. It’s so unique I didn’t try it for years figuring it was just some oddity. Then a friend of mine made some for lunch and what followed was a short afternoon of regret; I felt young and foolish for avoiding something so delicious simply based on its ingredients.

So let me get those out of the way for you first: anchovies, garlic, olive oil, milk. Sounds odd. Tastes fantastic.

Bagna cauda (“hot bath” in Italian) is what the Piemontese of Northern Italy call both the sauce and the meal you eat. I’ve experienced it in Turin as a votive-warmed terra cotta dish of the sauce, accompanied by fall vegetables.

Warm the sauce, dip the raw vegetables in briefly, then eat. Cardoons are a Turinese favorite, but you can make do with celery, fennel, chunks of cabbage, carrot — basically whatever is at hand. Bagna cauda makes a great casual fall meal, or a wink-wink-nudge-nudge party appetizer.

Just don’t tell them what’s in it until later.

You can warm the mix in a fondue pot from the flea market, or buy the traditional warmer here. One jar, which you pour into the terra cotta warmer, serves 6-8 as an appetizer.