Montasio, Per Primo e Per Ultimo: dal Frico agli Antipasti, ai Dessert, edited by Giancarlo Re, is a compilation of recipes using Montasio, a cheese named after the mountain where its milk was first produced. The book opens with a poem entitled “In Honor of Frico,” followed by brief descriptions of the history and characteristics of Montasio, as well as the origin of frico.
Montasio is believed to have originated in the 13th century with the Benedictine monks from Moggio Udinese, though the earliest documentation of the cheese wasn’t recorded until five centuries later, on a market price list from San Daniele. Montasio is produced in three levels of maturation: fresco (ready after 2 months), mezzano (after 4 months), and stagionato (after 10 months).
The first recipe for frico dates back to the 15th century and is attributed to Martino da Como, chef for the patriarch of Aquileia. This original frico was a sweet dish (as I learned in further research for my cookbook, the fried cheese was sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon), but for the peasants of Carnia, it started merely as a way to utilize leftover cheese rinds.
Following the book’s front matter is a chapter containing 35 recipes for frico, all gathered by noted cookbook authors Germano Pontoni and Giorgio Busdon. At its essence, frico is basically fried cheese, although there seem to be countless ways to prepare the dish. Perhaps the most popular is frico con patate (frico with potatoes), a dish meriting an entire section to itself. In these 12 recipes, collected from cooks throughout Friuli, variables include the amount and type(s) of Montasio used, whether the cheese is sliced or cut into cubes, and whether the potatoes are boiled and mashed or simply shredded. The possibility of adding mix-ins gives rise to the next section, entitled “Frico con patate e…”; these extra ingredients include onion, chives, leeks, guanciale (cured pork jowl), and ricotta affumicata (smoked ricotta).
In addition, frico may be prepared with all sorts of ingredients in lieu of potatoes. The section titled “Frico con le pere e le mele” contains recipes for frico made with apple or pear. Another section, called “Frico e…”, is the most open-ended yet, with variations prepared using such ingredients as onion, spinach, rosemary, tomato, cornmeal, or prosciutto. I was surprised, however, to find no recipe for frico con la zucca (squash frico), especially since Pontoni includes precisely such a recipe in his book La Zucca Si Sposa….
While most of the recipes for frico made with potatoes or other ingredients specify the use of fresh Montasio (or a younger mezzano), the section on frico croccante makes use of either Montasio stagionato or an older mezzano. With only three recipes in this section, we don’t see the same kind of variety as with the other types. Here, the cheese is essentially fried in oil until crispy and may be served in the form of a basket for holding other ingredients such as polenta and porcini mushrooms, as one recipe suggests.
That first chapter on frico had previously been published in the book’s first edition. My copy is the second edition, which was expanded to include 37 additional recipes collected by Re from renowned Friulian and Venetian restaurants. These recipes span the gamut from antipasti to dessert (yes, the book uses the term “dessert” rather than the Italian word dolci).
While only six of the frico recipes feature a full-color photo, each of the 37 recipes in the next chapter is accompanied by one. Some of these dishes are fairly simple, such as a salad of fresh Montasio, apple, and walnuts. Others are more complex, like a cabbage savarin (a ring-shaped cake) with Montasio fonduta (fondue made with egg) and black truffles. Montasio cheese sauce—whether being cream-based, roux-based (e.g. mornay sauce), or fonduta—features in a number of recipes, including a puff pastry basket filled with spring vegetables, spinach tortelli filled with duck, beef filet with green olives, and cauliflower sformato (flan) with cured goose breast.
Perhaps not surprisingly, there are only two dessert recipes, and both involve pears. In pere gratinate al Montasio, pear halves are baked with a filling of Montasio stagionato, pine nuts, raisins, and crushed biscotti. Pere con crema di vaniglia e mousse al Montasio are poached pears served with a pear-Montasio mousse and vanilla pastry cream.
While this book was written specifically for recipes containing Montasio cheese, Re concedes that nothing should prevent us, as readers, from substituting other cheeses that are more or less similar. This is excellent advice, and I must admit to having done this myself many times over the years!
