Kid-friendly Fried Cheese Frico Recipe - Sticky Fingers Cooking
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Recipe: Fried Cheese Frico

Recipe: Fried Cheese Frico

Fried Cheese Frico

by Dylan Sabuco
Photo by Cavan-Images/Shutterstock.com
prep time
1 minutes
cook time
10 minutes
makes
4-6 servings

Fun Food Story

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Fried Cheese Frico

Hailing from Northern Italy, a Frico is a thin, lacy, deliciously crispy cracker that traditionally consists of just one ingredient: cheese. Fricos are super easy to make—just sprinkle thin layers of cheese on a hot skillet and wait for them to crisp up. Then, enjoy them as an appetizer or snack, or serve them on top of soup or salad!

Happy & Healthy Cooking,

Chef Erin, Food-Geek-in-Chief

Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills

  • fry :

    to fry in a pan in a small amount of fat.

  • measure :

    to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).

Equipment Checklist

  • Skillet
  • Dry measuring cups
  • Tablespoon
  • Heat-resistant spatula or tongs
scale
1X
2X
3X
4X
5X
6X
7X

Ingredients

Fried Cheese Frico

  • 1/2 C shelf-stable grated Parmesan cheese **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub vegan/dairy-free/nut-free shelf-stable grated Parmesan cheese)**

Food Allergen Substitutions

Fried Cheese Frico

  • Dairy: Substitute vegan/dairy-free shelf-stable grated parmesan cheese.

Instructions

Fried Cheese Frico

1.
intro

Frico is a crispy, fried disc of cheese. It is really just as simple as it sounds. All you will need to do is place cheese in your skillet and wait for the magic to happen. These cheese treats rely on you using shelf-stable grated parmesan cheese. DO NOT use fresh or pre-shredded Parmesan cheese, as it will melt differently than is intended, creating a huge mess in your skillet.

2.
measure + fry

Heat a skillet to extra low heat. Pour 1 tablespoon of the 1/2 cup shelf stable grated Parmesan into the skillet. Keep the parmesan in a small circle by gently spooning the cheese into the pan. Fill the pan with as many 1 tablespoon circles of cheese as you can fit without overcrowding or letting the cheese touch at all. From there, you simply wait about 6 minutes for the cheese to melt and become a crispy (or chewy) disc of cheese. It is that simple. Remove the crispy fried cheese from the skillet using a spatula or tongs. Serve this garnish alongside your favorite salad or Aunt Rosemary's Panzanella Bread Salad (see recipe).

Let's Learn About Italy!

Photo by Marina Andrejchenko/Shutterstock.com
  • Italy became a unified country in 1861, only 150 years ago. It is sometimes called "bel paese" or "beautiful country."  
  • Italians invented the piano and the thermometer! 
  • In ancient Roman mythology, two twin brothers named Romulus and Remus founded Rome, Italy's capital city. The myth says the twins were abandoned and then discovered by a she-wolf before being found and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Eventually (and after many exciting adventures), they found themselves at the location of Palatine Hill, where Romulus built "Roma." The Italian wolf became Italy's unofficial national animal. 
  • In the 1930s and 40s, Mussolini, Italy's prime minister, and dictator tried to eliminate all foreign words from the Italian language. How did he do that? He just changed them! For example, in soccer, "goal" became "meta." Disney character names changed, too: Donald Duck became "Paperino;" Mickey Mouse became "Topolino;" and Goofy became "Pippo." Although they're not banned anymore, these words and names have stuck. So now if you go to the Italian Disneyland, called Gardaland Park, you will see Topolino and Pippo! 
  • About 60 million people call Italy home, and it is 116,350 square miles, slightly larger than the US state of Arizona. If you compare that to the United Kingdom, 67 million people live there, and it is about 94,350 square miles. So, the UK is smaller than Italy but has a bigger population! 
  • The Italian flag is green, white, and red. These colors represent hope, faith, and charity.
  • The average Italian eats close to 55 pounds of pasta annually. If you think about how light pasta is, that is a considerable amount! There are more than 500 different types of pasta eaten in Italy today. 

What's It Like to Be a Kid in Italy?

  • Kids begin school at 6 years old. They grow up speaking Italian, but they learn English in school, so many become bilingual in Italian and English.
  • The most popular sport for kids is football (soccer). The Italian word for soccer is "calcio," the same word they use for "kick." A favorite of younger kids is "Rody, the bouncing horse," a plastic horse that a small child can hop onto and bounce around the room. Rody was invented in Italy in 1984.  
  • The family ("la famiglia") is a central characteristic of Italian life. Children have great respect for their older relatives. It is traditional to name the first male child after the grandfather and the first female child after the grandmother.
  • If kids live close to school, they can go home and have lunch with their families! Lunch at school might be pasta, meat with vegetables, a sandwich, or a salad with lots of ingredients. Families typically eat dinner later (7 to 8 pm), so kids end up staying up later, too!
  • Between lunch and dinner, kids often enjoy "merenda," which is an afternoon snack that translates to "something that is deserved." It is really a mini-meal that can include both savory and sweet foods. Examples of savory foods are a salami or mortadella sandwich, a slice of rustic bread rubbed with a cut, raw tomato, or "pizza bianca" (white pizza without tomato sauce). Types of sweet foods eaten during merenda are "gelato" (a lower-fat type of ice cream), any kind of cake, or biscotti dipped in warm milk.

The Yolk's On You

How do you get a mouse to smile? 

Say Cheese!

Lettuce Joke Around

Cheese is good...

...Parmesan is grate!

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