Friuli, particularly Carnia (the Carnian Alps). Frico is the ancestral cheese preparation of Friulian mountain cooking — the croccante version using aged cheese is the simpler, older form; the morbido version (with potato and onion) is more recent and complex.
Frico croccante is one of the simplest and most technically satisfying things a cook can make: grated aged Montasio cheese spread thin in a dry non-stick pan, melted, and then allowed to cool and set into a crisp, amber-golden wafer. No fat, no flour, no binding — just cheese, heat, and patience. The cheese proteins form a lattice as they melt, the fats render out and are reabsorbed, and the result is a crisp that shatters on the palate with an intense, concentrated aged-cheese flavour.
Aged Montasio has a concentrated, slightly granular flavour — tangy, nutty, with a sharp finish. Melted and crisped, these flavours intensify and concentrate further. The crisp shatters on the palate, releasing the full flavour in a single moment. Simple, powerful, one-ingredient.
Use aged (stagionato) Montasio — 12 months minimum. Young or medium Montasio contains too much moisture and won't form a crisp. The pan must be non-stick and heated over medium heat before the cheese goes in — if the pan is cold, the cheese melts before the base can form. Spread the grated cheese in a thin, even layer (about 15cm diameter, 3-4mm deep). Cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes until the edges have set and turned golden and the centre is uniformly golden with no white raw-cheese sections visible. Slide carefully onto a plate or mould over a bowl while still pliable — it sets hard in 30 seconds. Work fast.
The window for shaping frico croccante is about 30 seconds as it cools. Drape it over an inverted bowl for a bowl shape, or roll around a wooden spoon handle for a tuile shape. The shaped frico holds at room temperature for hours — make it well in advance of service. If no Montasio is available, aged Asiago or even a good Parmigiano-Reggiano will produce a similar result.
Using young or mild Montasio — too much moisture, the frico remains chewy rather than crisp. Not heating the pan before adding cheese — the base doesn't set quickly enough and the cheese slides. Moving the frico before it sets at the edges — it tears. Moulding too late — once fully cooled, the frico cannot be shaped.
Giorgio Locatelli, Made in Italy; Slow Food Editore, Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Cucina