Your essential food guide to Friuli-Venezia Giulia

• The must-make recipe from Friuli-Venezia Giulia
• What are the traditional ingredients in Friuli-Venezia Giulia?
• What are the famous dishes from Friuli-Venezia Giulia?
• The best cheeses to try from Friuli-Venezia Giulia
• The best wines to try from Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Get to know the food of Friuli

If there’s one region that really exemplifies just how varied Italian food is, it’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia (or Friuli, for short). Sharing a mountainous Alpine border with Austria and Slovenia, the local cuisine is hearty and robust, with stews, pastries, polenta and dumplings being more common than pasta, pizza and gelato. Sauerkraut-based stews, mountain cheeses and sweets flavoured with prunes and apples are the calling cards of Friulian cuisine – not things we instantly think of when talking about Italian food. But there’s plenty of Mediterranean flavours on offer too, from the fish caught along the region’s Adriatic coastline to the beloved prosciutto di San Daniele.

Trieste is the capital, and where a lot of the region’s most famous dishes originate. The city is almost a region of its own, with its own dialect and a coastal climate far removed from the mountains in the north. Historically Trieste was an important city in the Hapsburg Empire, and after World War I Italy and Yugoslavia both sought to possess it until in 1954 it was finally divided between them with Italy taking the largest part. It’s just a few miles away from the Slovenian border and Croatia is a short boat trip south; as a result, there’s a clear eastern European influence on the local culture.

Further north, everything gets a little more Alpine – rustic, hearty fare makes the most of the fantastic dairy produce. But it’s not all craggy mountains and snow-capped peaks – the centre of Friuli is packed with vineyards, producing some incredible wines that are among the best in Italy.

Our hero recipe from Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Frico (Alpine cheese and potato cake)

Four ingredients are all it takes to create this simple yet irresistibly flavousome dish from one of Italy’s more obscure regions. The result is a soft, oozy, indulgent savoury cake that’s sort of like a very, very cheesy hash brown. Perfect with a glass of wine and a few friends to help you polish it off.

Montasio cheese is from the region and the key component of the recipe. It’s available from Italian delis or online. It has a mild alpine flavour with excellent melting properties.

Cook frico (Alpine cheese and potato cake)

What are the traditional ingredients in Friuli-Venezia Giulia?

• Prosciutto di San Daniele This air-dried ham isn’t too well known outside Italy, but in the country itself it’s considered to be the best prosciutto (even better than Parma ham). It’s known for being sweet and melting on the tongue and contains nothing more than pork and salt – it’s the climate of Udine in Friuli that gives it its unique flavour.
• Polenta Most northern Italian regions have an affection for polenta, but Friulians probably love it the most. Served every which way (soft, firm and fried, laden with butter or enriched with cheese), it is the go-to side dish for meat, fish and vegetable dishes.
• Trout The rivers and lakes in Friuli are crystal-clear, so it’s no wonder the region farms more trout than any other. Cooked fresh or smoked, it’s a real delicacy that offers a true taste of the region.
• Grappa While Veneto may be known as the heart of grappa country, Friuli produces some of the best. The spirit is a typical way to finish off a meal, and the centuries of tradition and experience at the region’s distilleries are a fascinating rabbit hole to fall into.
• Vegetables Italians love bitter leaves, and Friuli produces some of the best. Rosa di gorizia is the local radicchio of note, resembling an unfurling rosebud, while radìc di mont is a wild chicory harvested when the snow melts in the spring, usually preserved in oil to be enjoyed year-round.

What are the famous dishes from Friuli-Venezia Giulia?

• Frico The signature dish of the region, frico comes in two varieties – but both are a celebration of the local montasio cheese. As a snack, frico is nothing more than a thin sheet of the grated cheese fried until crisp, but for something more substantial, a huge amount of the cheese is mixed with potato and caramelised onions to form a wonderful potato cake, to be sliced up and served with a glass of the local wine.
• Jota Hailing from Trieste, this sauerkraut and bean soup hardly screams Italian cooking – but it’s a clear example of the Austrian influence in the region. There are dozens of regional variations, but most include cubes of smoked pancetta and potatoes to bulk it out.
• Capesante gratinate Friuli has a small coastline to the south, and while there are plenty of fish dishes served along the coast, this treat of gratinated scallops is the most iconic. Simply served in the shell and baked with a breadcrumb crust, they’re a common starter in restaurants throughout the region.
• Presnitz A coiled spiral-shaped sweet puff pastry pie filled with a coarse paste of dried fruit and nuts, presnitz is traditionally made at Easter but can be found in the pastry shops of Trieste year-round.
• Gnocchi di prugne Potato gnocchi are stuffed with chopped prunes, boiled, then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. They’re a version of a dish popular throughout eastern Europe.

The best cheeses to try from Friuli

Montasio – a semi-hard cheese with an Alpine, floral flavour, is the star of Friuli’s cheese scene, often cooked into a frico but equally good on its own. Other cheeses – usually cow’s milk but a few goat’s milk cheeses too – are generally made in very small quantities by specific farms, rarely making it outside of the country (or even the region).

The best wines to try from Fruili

Friuli is all about the white wine – which is unsurprising, given its cooler climate. Friulano is the most renowned native grape, closely followed by verduzzo, but you’ll also find great pinot grigio, riesling and chardonnay. In the northern Alpine part of the region the whites are fresh, light and zesty, while those produced in the south (where it is more Mediterranean and warmer) are a little more full-bodied and rich. Friuli also produces good sparkling wine, while Carso – right by the Slovenian border – is becoming known for its orange (skin-contact) wines.

Browse wine editor Susy Atkins’ pick of the nine best Italian wines to buy right now.

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