Friuli e Trieste in Cucina by Mila Contini is part of a 20-volume series, with one cookbook for each region of Italy. From a design standpoint, the book is about as rustic as one could imagine. The pages are made of brown paper speckled with flecks of wood pulp, like that of a grocery bag, while the cardboard cover has not been wrapped in paper or cloth but instead reveals its fully exposed corrugated edges. A brief note from the publisher explains this choice: “These books were made using this type of paper for two valid reasons. To fully reflect the spirit of the popular culinary theme, and to carry out and make our readers carry out the ecological act of saving trees.”
The dust jacket, also made of brown paper, simply reads “Friuli in Cucina.” This is somewhat misleading, however, as the title page more accurately includes Trieste in the full title. The introduction elaborates a bit on this idea of dual cuisines, stating that while common opinion believes there to be two well-differentiated cuisines coexisting in the region—that of Friuli and that of Trieste—there is much commonality between the two, particularly in the shared influence of the Austrians, Hungarians, Slavs, and Venetians.
Despite that introductory assertion, both Friuli and Trieste are in fact represented separately in this book, with the first third being dedicated to Friuli and the remainder to Trieste. Within the Friuli chapter, we find only three sections: soups and polenta; meat, fish, wild game, and vegetables; and sweets. Included are typical recipes such as polenta and frico, as well as more unusual ones such as lepre in agrodolce (hare in sweet and sour sauce) and zuppa di cioccolato (chocolate soup, a Christmas Eve dish that is presumably served as a first course since it’s listed under soups rather than desserts).
Following the section divider “Sapori triestini” is a seemingly misplaced recipe for cialzons (translated as “agnolotti, Carnia-style” and filled with a mixture of raisins, candied citron, dark chocolate, bread crumbs, spinach, lemon zest, and spices), which clearly belongs in the previous chapter, “Sapori friulani.” To confuse matters even more, the chapter on Friuli features a similar recipe, cjalsons di Timau, this version containing potato, sugar, cinnamon, cognac, and a bounty of fresh herbs.
The chapter on Trieste, being significantly longer, consists of the following sections: soups and polenta; sauces; meats and wild game; fish; eggs and vegetables; and sweets. Here, we find many traditional dishes, including gnocchi di susine (gnocchi stuffed with dried plums), minestra di bobici (bean, potato, and corn soup), iota (sauerkraut soup), goulash (beef stew), carciofi ripieni (stuffed artichokes), and patate in tecia (pan-mashed potatoes). There are several rather unique dishes as well, for example, lasagne prepared with butter, sugar, and poppy seeds, which the author explains is typically served as a dessert in Hungary. Another dish that caught my attention was risotto with frogs; the recipe uses the dialect word “croz,” which, as I learned upon further reading, indicates frogs that have been caught specifically during moonless nights.
Each recipe appears three times, with the first version written in the common tongue—that is to say, in the Furlan language and the Triestine dialect, for the Friuli and Trieste sections, respectively—and printed in a large, handwriting-style font for emphasis. This is then followed by translations into both Italian and English. To further assist the reader, each section concludes with a dialect-to-Italian glossary of its own, providing translations for frequently used culinary terms.
