10 Classic Friuli Recipes

Friuli-Venezia Giulia sits in the north-east corner of Italy. Its borders with Austria, Slovenia and Hungary have shifted for centuries, and that history shaped everything about the way the region eats. The result is a regional cuisine with a character entirely its own – dishes rooted in the mountains, plains and coast of the region, and heavily influenced by the cooking traditions of its neighbours. These ten recipes capture that character. You will find them on menus across Friuli and in home kitchens throughout the region.

Frico

Frico is the dish most associated with Friuli. It is made from Montasio cheese and potatoes, cooked slowly in a pan until the outside is golden and crisp and the inside is soft and yielding. Every kitchen in Friuli has its own version.

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Jota

Jota is Friuli’s most famous soup – a thick, filling bowlful of borlotti beans, sauerkraut, potatoes and smoked pork. It originated in Trieste and spread across the whole region. It is best made the day before and reheated.

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Goulash alla Triestina

Trieste’s version of goulash arrived with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and never left. Beef is slow-cooked with paprika, onions and a little tomato until the sauce is deep and rich. It is served with bread or polenta, never pasta.

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Calandraca

Calandraca is the sailor’s stew of Trieste – a simple one-pot dish of beef, potatoes and onions that was traditionally cooked on ships in the harbour. It is one of the oldest dishes in the city and one of the least known outside it.

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Salame in Aceto con Polenta

Sliced salame cooked briefly in red wine vinegar and served over soft polenta. The vinegar cuts through the fat of the salame and creates something sharp and satisfying. A dish that sounds simple and tastes better than you expect.

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Gnocchi di Susine

Potato gnocchi wrapped around a whole plum, boiled and then rolled in buttered breadcrumbs and sugar. Sweet, soft and completely unlike anything else in Italian cooking. This is the Central European side of Friuli at its most distinctive.

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Patate in Tecia

Potatoes cooked slowly with onion in a heavy pan – tecia means pan in the Friulian dialect – until golden at the edges and soft in the middle. A simple side dish that appears on tables across the region.

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Minestra di Bobici

A late summer soup from the hills around Trieste made with sweetcorn, borlotti beans and smoked ham. Bobici is the local word for sweetcorn. The soup is thick, slightly sweet from the corn and completely of this part of Italy.

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Friuli White Asparagus with Egg Sauce

White asparagus from Tavagnacco, just north of Udine, dressed with a warm sauce of butter and hard-boiled eggs. The season runs from April to early June. This dish appears on almost every table in Friuli during those weeks.

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Friuli Wild Boar with Polenta

Wild boar marinated in the beize – a cooked vinegar and spice marinade borrowed from Austrian game cookery – then slow-braised and served over soft polenta. A two-day recipe that rewards the effort completely.

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