Gnocco Fritto con Salumi Emiliani (Italian Fried Dough with Emilia Cured Meats) Gnocco fritto is what Emilia puts on the table before anything else arrives. A thin sheet of briefly leavened dough, enriched with lard, cut into diamonds and dropped into hot fat, where each piece swells in under a minute into a hollow golden pillow. It comes out in a cloth lined basket, still too hot to hold comfortably, and beside it goes a plate of the cured meats this region built its reputat