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Italian Cuisine Expert and Food Blogger
Guido Pedrelli
Guido Pedrelli, the mastermind behind Nonna Box, has honed his culinary expertise for decades, inspired by family feasts in Emilia-Romagna. Mentored by his restaurateur nonna, he mastered Italian classics and furthered his skills with professional culinary studies in desserts and gelato making from Mec3. Today, he shares this rich legacy and authentic recipes through Nonna Box.
A frico is a cheese pancake that isn’t really a pancake because it has no eggs. Fried until it’s firm and crisp, it’s typical of Carnia, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Potatoes are usually added but the variations are endless and each village and mountain valley has their own interpretation or recipe. Nowadays it’s served with a salad for starters but it really seems like a pretty hefty starter.
The biggest frico ever made was made by the Udine Association of Chefs in Austria and measured 3 meters across, weighed just over 600 kgs with the frico itself weighing 300 kg.
A really interesting place to make one when you have friends around, is at a fireplace called a fogolar which is more than merely a fireplace but also so much more than merely a place where food is cooked. Friends and families socialize at a fogolar and meet to eat, drink and be merry – much like at a barbecue. The hearth, where food is grilled over a wooden fire is usually found in the middle of the kitchen and it has a massive flue overhead. Pork, chicken, beans – anything really is cooked there and it makes for a stimulating evening.
Other cheese recipes: