La Cucina del Friuli-Venezia Giulia by Alessandro Molinari Pradelli is easily the most comprehensive reference on Friulian cuisine that I own. A veritable compendium, this cookbook contains over 600 pages and far too many recipes for me to even count.
The recipes are divided into the following main sections: Pane, Salumi, Antipasti, Primi Piatti (further divided into sections on fresh pasta, dried pasta, gnocchi/polenta/rice, and soup), Condimenti, Secondi Piatti (divided into sections on eggs, seafood, beef/veal, poultry/rabbit, lamb/frogs, and offal), Verdure, Formaggi, Dolci (with its larger subsection containing desserts such as cakes and cookies, and a smaller section of dessert sauces), and, finally, Frutta (with one subsection on cooked and raw fruit dishes and the other on jams and syrups). In addition to what must be hundreds of recipes, there are extensive chapters on the region’s various types of Salumi, Cheeses, and Wine. In fact, there are over 100 pages alone on local wines and spirits.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that, of all my 80 recipes in Flavors of Friuli: A Culinary Journey through Northeastern Italy, there are relatively few that don’t appear, in some version, in Pradelli’s book. Consequently, it was an invaluable resource for me to consult. I might add that, in addition to the countless dishes one typically associates with Friulian cuisine and that are seen on menus throughout the region, this book also contains a number of more…shall I say “unique” recipes, including gnocchi con il cacao (gnocchi with cocoa), risotto con le rane (risotto with frogs), bistecche di cavallo (horse steaks), and cervella fritta (fried brain).
With several recipes per page, the instructions are by necessity quite concise yet are still very clearly written. My only criticism would be the absence of photos, but obviously a tome of this scale does not lend itself easily to the kind of full-color photography that I’m most drawn to. There are, however, black-and-white illustrations scattered throughout, which are reminiscent of those in antiquated texts and give this one an air of medieval or Renaissance times.
