The Cooking and Cuisine of Friuli Venezia-Giulia

[Adam Balic]

Roe deer, to be authentic .

Good, 'cause I used caraway.

[hathor]

Adam is far more informed than I am...but 'cervo' is not strictly speaking a deer. Its a smaller game animal, with curling horns. My knowledge of cervo is strictly limited to see a stuffed one on a wall. I've also had cervo prosciutto, which was lovely.

That goulash looked pretty good as well. Adam, where/how did you get the cervo?

[Adam Balic]

Cervo just means "deer" I think. The deer Family is "Cervidae" and the root is common to many if the Romance languages. All the deer meat I have seen in Italy seems to be Roe deer (I'm sure there are others though?). I prefer roe over red deer venison and this is what my butcher sells.

Roe deer are quite small, with unimpressive antlers and not that elegant looking, like other types so maybe you saw a stuffed roe?

Could be some type of alpine goat/sheep thing?

Edited March 7, 2006 by Adam Balic (log)

[Brad Ballinger]

We bought 4 bottles of Friulian wine and a couple of Sicilian wines because I can’t think of too many dishes that are complemented by a little nero d’avola. We even went back for a tasting that afternoon and wound up with an invitation to visit an Umbrian vineyard that is run by the son of Sassiacia. All good, all on plan.

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How was the Jermann Blau & Blau?

[hathor]

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How was the Jermann Blau & Blau?

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[Pontormo]

Anna Del Conte uses the term "roebuck" frequently, distinguishing its meat from the venison of red deer. She also refers to chamois, a small deer with hooked horns that lives high in the mountains, when offering a recipe for stew from Alto Adige, noting that the game has less flavor at the market since it's usually from farm-raised animals. (Batali turns to Trentino for Gulyas di Capriolo, in Molto Italiano.)

I had been curious myself whenever references to roebuck appeared in her books. Here are some images from a site in the UK, as well as Danish Bambi and finally, since Adam's photograph is of a stew, there's this picture.

Edited March 8, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Adam Balic]

Adam, the stuffed animal I saw was very deer like and small, but with more impressive antlers than a common North American deer. I'm guessing it was a roe deer as well. We were having some trouble with translating this after a few too many glasses of wine.    The deer that you can buy at the market, is it farmed?

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We get farmed Red deer in Scotland, which is very good (people bang on about how much gamey/better wild deer is better then farmed, but I imagine that these people have never had to eat a wild stag tasting of pure testosterone and musk). This roe deer is wild. They are quite different tasting animals, not even that closely related.

I thought that your animal might of been a chamois as Pontarmo suggested, but I was too tired to look up the Italian for it at the time. Turns out to be 'Camoscio', so no help. Also, the Chamois is more like a goat in shape, although it has its own genus.

[azureus]

now i have another question: does jota keep and/or travel, or does it fall apart overnight?  we're having a "soup day" with my family on saturday, but it's a three hour drive so i'd have to make it on thursday or friday evening.  many bean soups improve from sitting overnight, but i'm picturing the sauerkraut disintegrating or something--if so, i'll look for something else...

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I'm sitting at my computer eating the last of my jota. It still tastes great, and the kraut is still in strands. I used the wrong type of beans, so they're mushy, but then they were mushy on the day that I made the soup.

April

[Kevin72]

I know I had said earlier that I wanted to get to dishes I didn't get a chance to make last year when I cooked from Friuli, but I just can't help going back to the items I really liked.

Sweet potato gnocchi with radicchio:

Reminiscent of the pumpkin gnocchi I made for the Veneto, so not technically a repeat, but close enough. This is more or less a recipe from Batali's FV-G shows. I used sweet potato instead of pumpkin since they don't get as "wet" from cooking and require near as much flour and/or production, something to avoid on a weeknight.

Sauced with a little butter, a lot of broth (still on a diet, mind!), some leftover radicchio, scallion greens, and poppy seeds.

[Pontormo]

I didn't realize they were made in Friuli-Venezia Giulia since I have a dim memory of wanting to make a version of the dish for either Piemonte or Lombardia, although not with raddicchio.

These look absolutely delicious--the contrast between bitter and sweet sounds especially tempting.

I am glad you're finding ways to adjust dishes to accommodate your diet. Limiting courses works too, and I do recommend the basil, barley, bean & vegetable soup...

[Shannon L.]

Thank you, too, Hathor, for information on your frico.  I am still trying to track down a local source for montasio.  If unsuccessful, I may try using the last bit of Lombard capra in the fridge.

I wouldn't go with goat cheese for authenticity reasons. If you can't find Montasio try something else like Piave or Baita Friuli. These are both nice cows milk cheeses from similar backgrounds. Or if you want to switch regions try Parmigiano Reggiano.

But you can order all of these things online. Unless your in Minneapolis/St. Paul in which case you should see me! The beauty of ordering these is that they ship so well. They are all hard cheeses that can sit out for quite a while before being adversely affected.

[Claudia Greco]

Housekeeping note: The polls are still open for Q2 voting and only two people have PMed me with their choices so far.  Think Spring, and think three regions that you’d like to pair with those months on up through June, the start of summer.

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Kev, I'd like to put in a vote for the underappreciated Venice, which always gets a bad rap for being a "tourist town" with "tourist food". Also, May is the feast of the "marriage" of Venice with the sea (40 days after Easter), so there's festa foods you could tie in with that, too. Then there's Abruzzo, Umbria (black summer truffle season) - and maybe it's time to look at Basilicata?

Love La Terra Fortunata, by the way - use it more than Lidia's, although I respect her tremendously.

[Chufi]

made the paparot yesterday (and frico, made with parmesan because that's what I had in the fridge). I have to say I was a little disappointed in the soup. I love spinach and I love polenta, and Í made a really good chicken stock for the broth. But it somehow did not taste right to me.. too bland.. too porridgy.. ah well I don't know... sorry about that..

[Pontormo]

I had put spinach on my grocery list since both earlier reports were so tempting.

If there's leftovers, try putting frico on top or in the soup. Extra saltiness always helps.

Are you familiar with Lulu's Provencal Table? I'd imagine you'd like it given your enthusiasm for Paula Wolfert's stews, braises, etc.

The protagonist of Olney's book prepares lots of simple pureed soups that contain few ingredients. What makes them surprisingly good are small home-made croutons made by frying the cubes lightly in olive oil.

Is there too much cornmeal in your paparot to try that?

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P.S. I DID find a local source for montasio and should have some in a week or two.

[Chufi]

If there's leftovers, try putting frico on top or in the soup.  Extra saltiness always helps.

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my husband made scrambled eggs a la paparot today and said it was really good

[Pontormo]

Your husband inadvertently prepared something similar to this frittata (see photo at bottom right).

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They eat chicken don't they?

Anyone have a region-appropriate dish they'd like to share, ideally using parts? I'm planning to pick up some Friulian white wine tomorrow, so a fricasse or braise would be fine, but I have found only references online and nothing in books on my shelves.

Edited March 10, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Kevin72]

made the paparot yesterday (and frico, made with parmesan because that's what I had in the fridge). I have to say I was a little disappointed in the soup. I love spinach and I love polenta, and Í made a really good chicken stock for the broth. But it somehow did not taste right to me.. too bland.. too porridgy.. ah well I don't know... sorry about that.. 

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That's too bad about the paparot, Klary.

I, er, ahem, do need to make a mild confession: the recipe as listed seemed a little "bland" to me, too, so I augmented it with nutmeg and just a dash of cinnamon. And I sauteed several cloves of garlic in butter and discarded them, not just the one called for.

[Adam Balic]

OK, after some smooth talking down at the Deli, I now have the rind and fat from an entire Prosciutto di San Danielle. I used the fat in the gulasch, but any other suggestiosn for a traditional usage (nothing lewd mind you).

[Kevin72]

That you have the rind and fat of a prosciutto is lewd enough.

Cook up a pot of beans with the rind in there. In fact, make jota; I want to say Marcella's original recipe called for pig skin or some such. Please make jota.

[Pontormo]

Adam: Since musetto is made from the same pigs that end up as Prosciutto San Daniele, why not grind some of this to produce sausage?

Mario Batali's recipe for musetto and brovade is online (see link that Mr. Bigjas provides up-thread), however, I like the additional ingredients your favored author cites: coriander as well as pepper, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Chili pepper. Local white wine.

Oh, yes, and the intestines of an ox.

Edited March 10, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[azureus]

Tonight I started a batch of brovada. Here's the "before" shot:

And here are the turnips steeping in the red wine vinegar:

Not pictured: a bowl and a weight to keep the turnips under the liquid.

After following the links provided upthread to Mario Batali's site, I see that he adds crushed red grapes to his version. I think that I might add some, in the hope that it might add to the flavor of the finished pickle.

Ideally, the tunips should ferment at least 20 days, but my plan is to use some of them by the end of the month to make another batch of jota.

I've been thinking about why the jota that I made was so appealing to me. The soup was tasty on its own merits, but it really reminded me of something that I'd had before. I finally remembered a dish that my parents made frequently when I was young that we called "Hot German Potato Salad". I don't know if this is made in Germany. Potatoes were boiled whole, then peeled and diced and added to a sauce containing mainly bacon, vinegar and celery. I swear that this tastes just like jota. In a way, my culinary wanderings have brought me home. I'm eager to prepare this soup for my Mom to see what her reaction is.

April

[Pontormo]

Batali's grapes are there as a nod to the grape must traditionally used to ferment the turnips, of course, as either you or Ludja mentioned earlier in the thread. His versions of brovada and mostarda di Cremona [the recipe in Molto Italiano differs from the one online, FYI] remind me that as much as we have access to so many ingredients not imported a couple of decades ago, it's still necessary to make a few adjustments.

I look forward to hearing about the results of your venture. I had no idea the turnips are left whole and not grated first.

P.S. I found a copy of Waverly Root's "Foods of Italy" from the Time-Life series recently. Writing in th 60's, he says that families in Friuli still bake their own bread at home.

Edited to remove question from postscript above since I just got my hands on copies of The Italian Baker (Field) & La Cucina di Lidia. The only unique breads in either that I notice at first glance are for weddings and Easter, the latter especially rich and like Panettone, essentially a dessert; LMB does offer a recipe for foccacia, however.

Edited March 11, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Pontormo]

For lunch, I prepared Batali's recipe for Zucco al Forno, using fresh sage instead of the recommended nutmeg. The squash is hollowed out like a pumpkin, then stuffed with layers of crisp fried croutons, mushrooms & onions and a cheesy custard whose principal ingredient is marscapone. After baking, the lid is removed and contents scooped out of the papery, withered shell. Delicious with a salad of arugula & radicchio, Prosciutto San Daniele and a glass of Tocai.

(I do recommend the recipe. However, if you have meaty acorn squash, decrease the amount of filling significantly.)

Edited March 11, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Pontormo]

April kindly responded to my question about chicken and supplied a recipe from La Cucina di Lidia. The published recipe for Pollo in Squazet Con Polenta requires chicken livers to flavor the wonderful sauce and recommends plating the pieces of chicken around a mound of fresh polenta. Thanks to comments Adam made earlier, I saved some of the fat from slices of Prosciutto San Daniele and added the scraps along with the bacon. While not conforming to regional specialties, steamed Brussel sprouts accompanied the dish.

Edited March 12, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Nathan P.]

Sunday Frico Party!!!!!!!

I've been laying low with other cooking projects and no Friuli books, but wanted to join in with a frico dinner. Perhaps a bit much cheese for one sitting but a lot of fun and I was happy with these though I don't have a lot of reference for these. Here are my starting raw ingredients.

We've been having real cold weather in CA so you can see the artichoke has been touched by the frost- flavor is still good even if they are a bit ugly. The Montasio I bought was fairly aged, I suspect the 12 mo + kind. The recipes in Bastianich's book call for a younger softer cheese with Asiago as a sub. The only Asiago I could find was an aged US version so I bought some Swiss Gruyere and used around 1/3 gruyere for soft melting-ness with 2/3 aged Montasio for flavor.

Can't live on cheese alone so I supplemented this meal with some Prosciutto San Danielle (super good and better quality than the Parma I can find where I live)

I also put out some apple to add a lighter touch to the meal.

I also opened 2 bottles of wine. My good local wine shop let me down with no Tocai but I picked up a nice Pinot Grigio. At my grocery store today, however, they had one bottle on the shelves. I did not have much hope for a lonely bottle of Tocai, but turned it around and found it was a Kermit Lynch Import, yeahhh. Both wines were from the Colli Orientali region and had the crisp acidity and brightness to cut through A LOT of fried cheese. I preferred the Pinot Grigio.

So on to the Fricos! Oh and apologies for 5 courses in a row that all look the same

Frico # 1 is the classic potato and onion. The potatoes were cooked in stock as in the Culinaria book and the onions were sauteed in olive oil until just done but with a fair bit of color.

Frico # 2 is a vegetable version with asparagus:

Frico # 3 is with some nice Hedgehog mushrooms I found- super good.

It was now time for a lighter note, so cool frico with greens dressed with lemon and olive oil.

We then moved on to a frico with carciofi. The artichokes were trimmed and cooked simply in water. The first side in the pan was the prettiest side for presentation but I'm showing the thinner 2nd side here to show the ingredients.

Everyone is full a few fricos ago but it would be a sin to waste the leftover mushrooms ($20/lb) so one more frico with onions, mushrooms and potato.

These are really good and, once I got in the flow of their timing, they were easy to make. The first one was a bit scary with a flip onto a plate that left cheese grease pouring onto my arm, the burner and the stove. Highlights for me were the muchroom and the asparagus fricos. I think the strong flavor of the mushrooms and brightness of the asparagus contrasted better with the stong cheese flavor. The wines were brilliant on the side and everyone at the table was fat and a bit tipsy.

Let your Frico flag fly,

Edited March 13, 2006 by Nathan P. (log)