Neapolitan C’uoppo

Silvia Colloca's paper cone of fried seafood and vegetables straight from the Naples waterfront. Small squid rings, prawns, white fish, zucchini and eggplant batons, all lightly coated and dropped into hot oil one piece at a time. Eaten standing up, with lemon and salt. The shape is the point; the steam fogs the inside of the cone.

Cuoppo (literally cone in Neapolitan dialect) is the street-food version of the broader Italian fritto misto, sold from pavement carts and small storefronts across the Campania coast. The defining feature is the paper cone itself, which keeps the fried pieces warm and crisp during the walk and concentrates the smell of hot oil and seafood for the eater. The shape is the dish.

The coating is the lightest of all Italian fried preparations: just a dusting of fine semolina or rice flour, no batter, no breadcrumbs. The flour creates a thin shell that crisps in the oil without adding bulk; the fried piece reads as the actual vegetable or seafood with a small textural reinforcement, not as a fritter.

The sequence of frying matters. Vegetables first (zucchini, eggplant, zucchini blossoms with their stems removed), then squid, then prawns, then white fish; each one at a different temperature appropriate to its density and water content. Drain on paper, salt while still hot, build the cone with a base of vegetables and seafood on top. Lemon wedges, sea salt flakes, a glass of cold Falanghina. Eaten standing on the Naples lungomare, ideally.