Friuli Food and Wine

Starred review from February 3, 2020
In this bighearted recipe collection, restaurateurs Stuckey and Mackinnon-Patterson note that, while Venice is overrun with tourists, the nearby Friuli-Venezia Giulia region remains under the radar. Throughout, the authors, writing with Erickson (Alpine Cooking), incorporate loving descriptions of the dishes served at the region’s frasca eateries (usually on farms or vineyards), such as a woven lasagna crafted in a loaf pan and sliced, and spelt-flour spaetzle-like “tadpoles.” Recipes are divided into land (pheasant with fennel and apples), sea (handmade pasta with sea urchin sauce from the Adriatic coast), and mountains (porcini soup), and the authors include profiles of such figures as Mirco Snaidero, a former motorcycle mechanic who crafts high-quality custom slicers used for the local prosciutto, San Daniele. Sommelier Stuckey writes elegantly about white wines from the region that age beautifully and details local grapes such as Picolit, and a section on grappa with aperitivo recipes is a bonus. Desserts include a yeast-risen gubana, similar to a babka, and a poppy seed biscotti. Rounding out the cookbook are generous travel tips including a list of cafés to visit in Trieste. The food and wine covered are exciting and intriguing, and readers could not ask for more knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides.

Starred review from March 1, 2020
Chef Mackinnon-Patterson, sommelier Stuckey, and recipe collaborator Erickson write a love letter to Northeastern Italy, a place bordered by Austria, Slovenia, and the Adriatic Sea. The three professional foodies collaborate at renowned Boulder, Colorado, restaurant Frasca, an homage to Italy's Friuli region. Whether through photographs, factoids (James Joyce lived in the area?and wrote Ulysses here), or in larger sidebars (blind tastings; ten classic pairings of Friuli), every page offers knowledge to readers. Appropriately subdivided by wine, land, sea, and mountains, chapters revel in the area's specialties and altogether yield 80 recipes to honor each region. The wine chapter, for instance, highlights more than 15 wineries and points out unusual grapes and vintages?why not ask for vitovska, if you can find it? Land, sea, and mountains feature generally complex dishes familiar and less so?stuffed squash blossoms, woven lasagna with spinach sauce, roasted veal shank, risotto marinara. The book acts as a travelogue too, with in-depth descriptions of inns and artisans the authors frequent (with an appendix titled Our Friuli address book ). To dream and to drool.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)