Montasio Frico with a Crisp Crust and a Soft Centre | Frico Morbido di Montasio della Carnia
This is the thick frico of the Carnia valleys, cooked in a single heavy pan until the outside sets into a lacquered brown shell and the inside stays soft enough to pull into threads. It is not the thin lacy wafer snapped over a salad, and it carries no potato and no onion. There is cheese, a pan, and low heat, and the whole difficulty lies in the last of those three.
Two ages of Montasio DOP go in together, and that is the only real decision the cook makes. The semistagionato gives the melt and the long strings; the stagionato gives the salt, the depth and the crust. Weight it towards the older cheese and the frico turns oily and tight. Weight it towards the younger and it never browns properly and tastes flat.
In Carnia it is served hot with polenta and almost nothing else, cut into wedges while the centre is still yielding. It is a side dish that behaves like a centrepiece, and it is finished in the pan it was cooked in.
Yield: 4 side servings. Prep: 15 minutes. Cook: 30 minutes. Rest: 3 minutes. Total: about 50 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: contorno. Region: Carnia, Friuli Venezia Giulia.
The Story
The earliest written trace of frico is older than most people expect. Maestro Martino da Como, writing in the middle of the fifteenth century, describes caso in patellecte, cheese cooked in small pans until it browns, and the method he sets down is recognisably this dish. What he recorded was already a mountain habit rather than an invention.
Carnia gave it its reason to exist. The alpine dairies of the upper Tagliamento and the But valley turned summer milk into large wheels that had to last the winter, and every wheel produced offcuts: the edges, the broken pieces, the hard rind nobody would buy. Those scraps were too valuable to waste and too poor to sell, so they went into the pan. Frico was a way of eating what the dairy could not sell, and it was eaten with polenta because polenta was what the house always had.
Montasio DOP settled the matter. Produced in Friuli Venezia Giulia and the eastern edge of Veneto, it is graded by age: fresco from sixty days, semistagionato from five months, stagionato beyond ten, stravecchio past eighteen. Each stage behaves differently in a pan, and Carnia cooks learned to mix them long before anyone wrote the grades down.
Ingredients
For the frico
Montasio DOP semistagionato, about 5 months, 9 oz (250 g)
Montasio DOP stagionato, 12 months or older, 5 oz (150 g)
Unsalted butter, 1 tsp (5 g), for the pan only
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the polenta
Water, 4 cups (950 ml)
Coarse stone ground yellow polenta, 1 cup (170 g)
Fine sea salt, 1 1/2 tsp (9 g)
Unsalted butter, 1 tbsp (14 g)
For serving
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Coarse sea salt, only if the cheese needs it, which it rarely does
Preparation
Weighing the two Montasio
Weigh the cheese after the rind comes off, not before. The working ratio is two parts semistagionato to one part stagionato, which is 9 oz (250 g) against 5 oz (150 g) here. If the older piece is a stravecchio past eighteen months, drop it to 4 oz (115 g) and give the difference to the younger cheese, which carries far more water and far less salt.
Grating each age on a different setting
Grate the semistagionato on the large holes of a box grater so it keeps some body and melts in visible strands. Grate the stagionato on the fine holes so it disappears into the mass and seasons it evenly. Toss the two together with your fingers, lifting rather than pressing, until the colour is uniform, then leave the bowl on the counter for 20 minutes. Cheese straight from the refrigerator melts unevenly and the edge sets before the middle has softened.
Starting the polenta first
Bring the water to a boil with the salt, then rain in the polenta in a thin stream while whisking hard in one direction. Once it thickens, lower the heat until the surface only mutters and cook for 40 minutes, stirring often and scraping the bottom. Beat in the butter at the end. The polenta must be ready and warm before the frico goes into the pan, because the frico will not wait for it.
Building the disc in a cold pan
Rub the butter over the base of a 10 inch (25 cm) nonstick or well seasoned cast iron pan and tip the grated cheese in while the pan is still cold. Spread it into an even layer and press very lightly with a spoon, without compacting it. The layer should be about half an inch (12 mm) deep and level to the edge, because a thicker centre will still be raw when the rim has gone dark.
Cooking the first side at low heat
Set the pan over low heat and leave it alone. The cheese will slump, release a shallow pool of fat, then begin to knit together from the edges inward. Count on 10 to 12 minutes. The signal is the edge: when it has pulled away from the pan and turned deep golden brown, and the disc slides as one piece when you shake the handle, the first side is done. Hard bubbling or spitting means the heat is too high and you are frying the fat out of it.
Turning the frico in one movement
Slide the disc onto a flat plate or a pan lid, cover it with a second plate, and invert the whole thing. Do not attempt this with a spatula. A frico at this stage is a soft slab held together by nothing but melted protein, and a spatula will tear it. Return it browned side up and let the raw side settle for a few seconds before you touch it again.
Pouring off the fat and finishing
Tilt the pan and spoon off most of the rendered fat, leaving only a thin film. This step decides whether the frico reads as rich or as greasy, and Montasio releases more fat than people expect. Cook the second side for 8 to 10 minutes at the same low heat, until it matches the first for colour. Grind black pepper over the surface in the last minute, never before, since pepper scorches on long contact with a hot pan.
Resting before the cut
Take the pan off the heat and leave the frico in it for 3 minutes. The interior is molten and a wedge cut immediately will collapse and run. Three minutes lets the centre set into something soft and stringy without cooling past the point where it pulls. Cut it in the pan, into four wedges, with a thin knife wiped clean between cuts.
Plating
Frico is served hot, and hot here is not a formality. Warm the plates. Spoon a wide shallow bed of soft polenta slightly off centre, about 4 tablespoons a plate, and let it spread on its own rather than smoothing it with the spoon, which builds a skin. Lay one wedge of frico across it so the browned surface faces up and the cut side shows the soft interior.
Add nothing else. No herb, no oil, no leaf. The dish is two ingredients and it should look like two ingredients. A final grind of black pepper across the polenta rather than the cheese is the only thing worth doing, because the pepper meets the mild starch instead of competing with the salt of the Montasio. Carry it to the table straight away.
Professional Technique
The technical heart of this frico is a protein and fat separation allowed to go part of the way and then stopped. Heated cheese does two things at once: the casein network softens and flows, and the butterfat releases out of it. Low heat lets the casein knit into a continuous elastic sheet while only a modest amount of fat escapes, and that sheet is what browns into a crust and what pulls into strings when the wedge is lifted. High heat reverses the order. The fat floods out first, the casein tightens into rubbery curds, and nothing will bring them back together.
Mixing two ages is the second technique, and it is a moisture calculation. A semistagionato Montasio holds enough water for the casein to stay mobile and stretch; a stagionato has lost that water and gained concentrated salt, free amino acids and the compounds that brown. Alone, the young cheese makes a pale slack disc and the old one makes an oily disc. Together the young supplies the structure and the old supplies the flavour and the colour.
Texture and Moisture Control
Three textures have to arrive at once: a crust that is genuinely crisp, an interior that is soft and stringy, and polenta loose enough to spread. The crust is a Maillard surface built on the milk sugars and proteins of the aged cheese, and it needs sustained contact with a dry pan base. That is why the rendered fat has to be poured off before the second side goes down. Cheese sitting in its own fat is effectively deep frying, and a fried surface goes hard and brittle rather than crisp.
The interior is governed by heat and time alone. Held at low heat, the melted casein stays extensible and the wedge pulls threads when lifted. Pushed past about 15 minutes a side, or cooked at medium heat, the same casein contracts and squeezes out its water, and the centre goes from soft to firm to squeaky. There is no correction once that has happened.
The polenta is the moisture reserve of the plate and it thickens as it stands. Hold it covered over the lowest heat or in a bain marie and slacken it with a few tablespoons of boiling water just before serving, never cold water, which sets the starch and makes it grainy. The frico releases almost no liquid onto the plate, so the polenta cannot rely on the cheese to loosen it.
Professional Mise en Place
The frico is a single continuous cook that cannot be paused, so everything else is finished before it starts.
Equipment and tools
Heavy 10 inch (25 cm) nonstick or well seasoned cast iron pan
Box grater with both large and fine holes
Two flat plates or a pan lid for the turn
Heavy saucepan and a long wooden spoon for the polenta
Thin bladed knife and a cloth for wiping it between cuts
Prepared ahead
Montasio weighed after trimming, both ages, up to 1 day ahead, wrapped and refrigerated
Cheese grated and mixed, up to 2 hours ahead, at room temperature the last 20 minutes
Polenta cooked and held warm over a bain marie, up to 1 hour ahead
Plates warmed before the pan goes on the heat
Service setup
Polenta covered, loosened with boiling water at the last moment
Bowl for the poured off fat set beside the stove
Pepper mill within reach, used only in the final minute
Plates warm, service immediate, nothing held after the rest
Chef Tips
Taste both cheeses before you grate them. Montasio varies between dairies and between wheels, and an aged piece that is already sharp and salty will need the ratio shifted towards the younger cheese. This is the one adjustment that matters and it takes ten seconds.
Never salt the cheese mixture. Montasio stagionato carries enough salt for the whole dish, and the frico concentrates as it loses water in the pan. Salt goes into the polenta and nowhere else.
If the disc sticks when you shake the pan, it is not ready. Give it another two minutes rather than working a spatula under it. A frico that has finished setting releases on its own, and forcing it early is how the turn usually goes wrong.
Keep the poured off fat. It is clean cheese fat with real flavour, excellent for frying an egg or starting a soffritto. Strain it into a small jar and refrigerate for up to a week.
Common Mistakes
Cooking over medium or high heat. This is the failure that ruins most frico. The butterfat floods out before the casein has knitted, and what is left is a tight rubbery mat sitting in grease. Low heat for the full 10 to 12 minutes a side is not caution, it is the recipe.
Using only one age of Montasio. A frico made entirely from semistagionato stays pale, slack and bland. One made entirely from stagionato turns oily and brittle. The two age mix is the point of the Carnia version and it cannot be shortcut.
Adding potato or onion. Those belong to the other Friulian frico and they change the dish, because the starch absorbs the rendered fat and the disc holds together for different reasons. If you want that version, cook that version.
Leaving the rendered fat in the pan. The second side then fries rather than browns, and the crust goes hard and greasy instead of crisp. Tilt and spoon the fat off before the disc goes back down.
Cutting the frico straight out of the pan. The centre is liquid at that moment and the wedge collapses on the plate. Three minutes of rest is the difference between a clean cut and a puddle.
Turning it with a spatula. The disc has no structural strength until it cools, and a spatula tears it every time. Use two plates and one confident movement.
Wine Pairing
Collio Friulano DOC: The wine that would actually be on the table in Friuli, and the most complete match here. It finishes on a bitter almond note that runs alongside the browned crust of the cheese rather than fighting it, and it has enough breadth to sit under all that fat without being flattened. Its pear and field flower aromatics keep the pairing from turning heavy, which a fuller white would.
Ribolla Gialla Collio DOC: Chosen for the opposite reason: this one is there to cut. Ribolla Gialla is taut, low in alcohol and driven by a lemon peel acidity that scrapes the palate clean between mouthfuls of a dish that coats it. Serve it cold, around 46°F (8°C). It adds almost no flavour of its own, and against a two age Montasio that restraint is what you want.
Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso Friuli DOC: The local red, to pour when the polenta matters as much as the cheese. Its acidity is high enough to handle the rendered fat, while its tannin stays fine grained and does not dry out a mouth already carrying melted cheese. A dark plum and herbal bitterness underneath reads as savoury rather than fruity, which keeps the pairing in the mountains.
Schioppettino Friuli Colli Orientali DOC: A more aromatic alternative to the Refosco, and the better one if you have been generous with the pepper mill. Schioppettino carries a real green peppercorn note that picks up the black pepper ground over the frico instead of ignoring it. Medium bodied, bright acidity, very soft tannin, so it lifts the dish rather than weighing on it.
Franciacorta DOCG: The technical answer for anyone who wants the fat dealt with decisively. Carbon dioxide and high acidity together clear a coating of melted cheese faster than any still wine, and the long lees ageing leaves a toasted bread character that sits beside the browned crust. Choose a Brut rather than a Satèn, whose lower pressure gives away the scrubbing effect that makes this work.
Storage & Reheating
Frico is at its best in the ten minutes after it leaves the pan, so cook only what will be eaten. If there are leftovers, let the wedges cool completely on a rack rather than a plate, so the underside does not steam, then wrap them in parchment inside an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Do not wrap a warm frico, which sweats and goes soft.
Reheat in a dry nonstick pan over low heat, about 3 minutes a side, which restores the crust. An oven at 350°F (175°C) for 8 minutes on a rack works almost as well. Never use a microwave: it drives the fat straight out and leaves a tough mat. Cold frico is also very good chopped into scrambled eggs or crumbled over a bitter leaf salad.
Do not freeze the cooked frico, which separates on thawing. The grated cheese mixture freezes well for up to 2 months in a sealed bag and goes into a cold pan straight from frozen with about 4 minutes added to the first side. Leftover polenta sets firm for 4 days and is best sliced and grilled rather than reheated as a porridge.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 side portions of frico with polenta:
Calories: 520 kcal
Total Fat: 34 g
Saturated Fat: 21 g
Trans Fat: 1 g
Unsaturated Fat: 11 g
Cholesterol: 95 mg
Sodium: 980 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 28 g
Fiber: 2 g
Total Sugars: 1 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 27 g
Lactose: 0.5 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium
These figures are estimates. The fat total depends on how much rendered fat is poured off before the second side, and the sodium depends on the age and the dairy of the stagionato Montasio.
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