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Fried prawns and squid
Frittura di gamberi e calamari
Prawns and squid dusted in flour and fried.
Contains
Originally, paranza was the fry of small mixed fish that fishermen kept for themselves. Today in Naples the name is also used for mixed fried prawns and squid.
The story of Fried prawns and squid
Fried prawns and squid is a classic of Neapolitan fried seafood: in trattorias it is often also called frittura di paranza. Originally, though, paranza was the fry of small mixed fish, the low-value catch that fishermen kept for themselves after selling the prized fish.
In Naples, fried fish has always been street food too. In 1884 Matilde Serao writes that from the friggitore you could buy “a little paper cone of tiny fish called fragaglia”. As early as 1863 Achille Spatuzzi distinguished fravaglia, small red mullet appreciated even by the well-off, from “mazzamma”, the leftovers of the catch that ended up on the tables of the poorest. Today fried seafood is also eaten from the cuoppo, the cone of straw paper.
What is frittura di paranza?
Originally the fry of small mixed fish, the low-value catch that fishermen kept for themselves. Today in Naples the name is also used for mixed fried prawns and squid.
What is the difference between fragaglia and mazzamma?
According to Achille Spatuzzi (1863), fragaglia, or fravaglia, was select young fish, such as small red mullet; mazzamma was the mixed leftovers of the catch, food for the poorest.