Food - Drink
Frico: Italy's Cheesy, Potato-Filled Comfort Food
By ERICA MARTINEZ
What Is Frico?
Frico is an Italian comfort food consisting of potatoes, cheese, and onions along with optional additions like meat, spices, and herbs. The potato is grated and then added with the other ingredients in a pan until both sides are toasted and browned, resulting in something that resembles a large, thick potato pancake.
The History of Frico
Frico comes from Friuli in northeastern Italy, where Montasio cheese has been produced since the 13th century. The area was also traditionally home to poorer communities, who found creative ways to incorporate the cheese scraps produced by making Montasio cheese into delicious, filling recipes like frico.
How is Frico Made?
Frico can be made with grated, thinly sliced, or diced and mashed potatoes. Once your potatoes are prepped, begin by browning some sliced onion in olive oil, then add equal parts of potato and Montasio cheese and cook together for about 15 minutes, then turn up the heat and brown both sides until crispy.
The Other Frico
Don’t confuse the Friulian frico with the other Italian frico, which is even simpler and is made only with cheese. For this frico, Montasio cheese is grated and placed in circle shapes, and baked until you’re left with crispy disks of cheese; if you’d like to try this at home, Montasio, Asiago, or any dry cheese would work.