Excellent products naturally include San Daniele Ham and wines: Ribolla Gialla, Tocai, Sauvignon, Picolit, Schioppettino and the many other nectars produced with the grapes of the lush Collio.
But every corner of the region can express tasty specialties. From Carnia, for example, comes the smoked ham of Sauris and precious wild herbs, without which it would not be possible to prepare cjalsons, ravioli stuffed with ricotta, raisins, and chocolate. The Julian Alps offer Montasio, an alpine cheese with which frico is prepared, a typical soft and crunchy tart.
The plains’ countryside provides fresh vegetables in every season and rustic flavors from the farmyard: geese (of course also fois gras and cured meats), guinea fowl, roasted pigeons. Seafood specialties are enjoyed as you approach the coasts of Grado and Trieste, where sarde in saor, boreto—a broth of small fish—reign; scampi in busera of Istrian tradition and sardoni.
When it comes to sweets and pastries, a strong blend of Slavic and Austro-Hungarian tradition emerges, with specialties such as chocolate sacher; placinche, crepes filled with chocolate and jam; gubana and putizza, a puff pastry dessert with nuts.
Good places to try are: La Bottega di Trimalcione in Trieste; Il Giardinetto and Al Cacciatore in Cormons, province of Gorizia; the tavern All’Androna in Grado; Kursaal in Sauris di Sotto, province of Udine; or Campana d’Oro in Palmanova.
