friggere / to fry

Every now and then I have visions of some fried food my mother used to make. However, here I will focus on some words that may be useful when navigating Italian menus and also on some funny expressions.

If you fry something (nell'olio o nel burro, in oil or butter), it becomes fritto or fritta, depending on whether it is masculine or feminine, or fritti or fritte, if that something is plural. Here are some tasty examples:

• pesce fritto (fried fish)
• fritto misto (a combination of various fried items)
• salvia fritta (fried sage)
• fiori di zucca fritti (fried zucchini blossoms)
• patatine fritte (French fries)

Some items (like fiori di zucca) are dipped in batter before being fried and we call the batter pastella. A Wiener Schnitzel (cotoletta alla milanese) is breaded before being fried: it is impanata.

My three favorite fried foods are:

• supplì al telefono (typical of Rome, these croquettes are made with risotto seasoned with tomato and meat sauce, and they have a heart of mozzarella; they are breaded and fried and are eaten hot, so that when you take a bite, the piece in your mouth and the one still in your hands are joined via a thread of mozzarella)
• crocchette di patate (potato croquettes, which are rolled into flour, instead of breadcrumbs, before being fried; they are also eaten hot)
• fiori di zucca fritti.

One of the first Italian expressions I taught my husband is: sono fritto (literally, I am fried). Essere fritto means to be done for. We call empty words aria fritta (fried air). Una cosa fritta e rifritta is an old story, old news. I hope this post is not all old news for the readers.

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friggere

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Comments

[Burcu]

they all sound great! Interesting that you fry sage. I've never heard of that before. Do you fry the plant, leaves? Is it breaded?

[Maryann]

Croquettes, I was thinking of making them soon. Funny you mentioned them. I like pizza fritta! We have some with sauce and some with powdered sugar.

[Simona Carini]

Hi Burcu. Big sage leaves are dipped in a batter and fried. It is indeed an interesting dish.

Hi Maryann. I know about pizza fritta: it's good.

[Paz]

None of your posts are ever Una cosa fritta e rifritta .

Paz ;-)

[Katie]

Just seeing all of the words makes me want to go to Italy and eat...for a week or two!

[fabdo]

With this post "sono fritta"! :) I love fried food! My first 3 favourite are:
1) patatine fritte (not frozen);
2) crocchette di patate with mint leaves;
3) fried aubergines.

Mmmmm my mouth is watering! ^-^

[Simona Carini]

Thanks Paz, that is very kind of you and also encouraging.

Hi Katie: anything in particular? I will be there in two weeks and maybe I can do some vicarious eating.

Mint leaves in crocchette sounds quite interesting, Fabdo, and I would not mind having more details about this recipe. My mother puts pieces of prosciutto cotto in them.

[fabdo]

Crocchette di patate:
1kg mashed potatoes, 2-3 eggs, 2-3 handful grated Parmigiano, salt and freshly grounded black pepper, 1 handful mint leaves (roughly chopped), if needed a little of bread crumbs into the mixture. Mix all together. Then you give to crocchette the shape you like and fry them in hot oil. They are delicious, the mint cuts into the fried taste and refreshes it.

[Lisa]

Simona, how about "sto fritto"?! That's one American idiom that may lose something in the translation, ha ha.

[Simona Carini]

Thanks Fabdo for the recipe: it sounds truly delicious and I will definitely try it.

Hi Lisa. I had not thought of the American expression 'I am (totally) fried'. I actually often say 'My brain is fried' when I have been working hard and I am mentally exhausted. In Italian we use a different expression with that meaning and it has to do with food as well: I'll talk about it in a post soon. Thanks for giving me the idea.