If you love cheese like I do, you are going to like Frico. If you adore a good grilled cheese with those bits of burn cheese edges, then you are going to really, really love Frico.

What is Frico?

My definition? Cheese gone to greater glory.

The layman’s definition? Fried cheese.

Don’t believe me? First you go to your stove, make one of these and then come back here and disagree with me – I.dare.you. Heck! I DOUBLE dare you.

Put simply, Frico is cooked cheese to a yummy, crunchy crust, that you can eat all sort of ways – I like it as a simple appetizer, which is the way I served during my birthday party get-together last night.

Making Frico is not complicated stuff, but you do need a couple of tips and tricks.

You can use your stove or oven, I like the stove, since I have better control of the heat and I don’t have to be peeking over the oven window to watch it. A word of advice when you do these – STOP DOING ANYTHING ELSE, this needs your FULL ATTENTION or you will end up with one burn up cheese disk. Your goal here is to produce a crisp-style frico and the trick is to find that perfect heat spot to make them without burning them. Just like when you make pancake, adjust the heat based on your results.Iif your first frico burns or its too dark, lower the heat for the next batch.

FRICO

2 cups of Cheese – grated on the medium holes of a box grater. see note*
1 ½ teaspoons of flour

In a medium bowl, toss the cheese and flour together. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons of the cheese into the pan to form a circle about 4 inches in diameter.

Cook until the cheese is somewhat melted but not firm, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, turn the cheese over and cook until it is visibly firm and just taking on a little color, 30 seconds to 1 minute. At this point you can remove it and leave as it but if you want to get your fancy pants on (like I did) you can drape frico over a large rolling pin to give it s “taco” shape. Or you can go all out and drape it over an inverted cupcake pan or small cup/bowl to shape into baskets to use as a “vessel” for serving pretty much anything.

Repeat process with remaining cheese

*The original cheese to do this comes from Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. They make San Daniele Prosciutto and this great hard cow’s milk cheese called Montasio. If you want to try to find it in your local store, go for it, but if you are out of luck, don’t you worry; you can use Asiago, Parmigiano Reggiano or even cheddar cheeses.