The Food and Cuisine of Friuli Venezia Giulia
Friuli Venezia Giulia cooking is known as a composite of Fruilian peasant fare, sophisticated Venetian food and influence from the Slavic and Austrian cultures. Despite these vastly different styles of cooking, this region manages to merge them successfully.
Pasta is eaten in many different forms in Friuli Venezia Giulia cuisine. Lasagne noodles are layered with poppy seeds. Gnocchi are made with potato, winter squash or plums. The filled pasta called bauletti contains ham and cheese and offelle are stuffed with spinach, pork and veal flavored with onion. Other pasta is packed full of vegetables, fruit, bread, herbs or even chocolate.
Like many other northern regions of Italy, polenta is a staple food. Stewed meats, game and cheese dishes are often serve with it. Paparot is a soft cereal made from cornmeal flavored with spinach and garlic. It can also be mixed with grated cheese and fried into flat wafers called frico.
Bread is another staple food in Friuli Venezia Giulia cuisine. In addition to wheat breads, rye and barley flour are used to make bread. Pumpkin bread is also commonly enjoyed. Gubana is a bread traditionally served for Easter. This rich bread resembles brioche and is filled with layers of cocoa and grappa flavored dried fruit and nuts. Bread is used to make canaderli which are dumplings that are served in broth or with meat. Potatoes and ricotta are used to fill a savory strudel called strukli.
Friuli Venezia Giulia recipes for soup are widely varied, including many kinds of vegetables, beans and meat. Boreto alla graisana, or turbot chowder seasoned with garlic, olive oil and vinegar, is served at the port of Grado. Fasûj e uardi is an herb flavored barley soup, thick with beans, pork, onion and celery. Ham and beans are cooked with potatoes and corn to make bòbici. Jota is a soup made from sauerkraut, beans, sausages and potatoes, cooked with sage and garlic. Even turtles are made into soup in Friuli Venezia Giulia cuisine.
The southern section of Friuli Venezia Giulia lies along the coast where seafood dishes play an important role in the diet. Granzevola alla triestina is a dish of baked spider crab with bread seasoned with lemon, garlic and parsley. Shrimp, squid and mussels are simmered with rice in fish broth to make risotto di Marano. The most popular fish in Friuli Venezia Giulia are turbot while sardines, eels and salt cod are preserved and served in many different ways. Other types of seafood enjoyed include squid, cuttlefish, shrimp, crabs and scallops.
Meat is prepared in many ways in Friuli Venezia Giulia recipes. The fogolar is an open hearth oven with a cone shaped chimney used for cooking. Most often, mushrooms, sausages, lamb, kid, poultry and beef are grilled when using a fogolar.
Stewed meats are commonly prepared in Friuli Venezia Giulia cooking. Venison and rabbit are cooked in a wine sauce called salmi. Gulasch, a beef and pepper stew flavored with hot peppers, onions, paprika, and tomato, is served with polenta. Other meats eaten include rambasici, stuffed cabbage, and patties of mixed beef and pork known as cevàpcici.
This region’s most well-known pork product would be their proscuitto, but they prepare a respectable array of other preserved meats. Muset e bruada is a sausage made from pork rind, first boiled and then fried in salt pork, onions and garlic. Bruada (pickled turnips) are served as a condiment with this. Sauerkraut and horseradish are offered with other sausage dishes.
Friuli Venezia Giulia recipes include many delicious desserts. Gubana is a rich yeast-raised cake rolled up jelly-roll style before placing in a round pan to bake. Its cinnamon flavored filling contains dried and candied fruit, nuts, and chocolate. Presnitz, another dried, candied fruit and nut filled pastry, is coiled like a snake before baking. Apple strudel is prepared with pine nuts and raisins. Chestnuts are used in castagnoli cookies. Chifeleti, or biscuits made with potato enriched dough, and pumpkin fritters called fritulis, are fried treats.
Olive Oils:
Tergeste PDO
Fresh & Cured Meats:
Prosciutto di San Daniele PDO
Salamini italiani alla cacciatora PDO
Cheeses:
Montasio PDO
Learn more about:
The Wines of Friuli Venezia Giulia