Recipes

Over the years I occasionally used this blog to introduce the food I like. It got bad enough that it even got its own category. Discussing some of those recipes with my wife made me realize how many other recipes are not written down but just in our heads. Even worse, we saw how many recipes have gone away when our respective mothers died. Food we can only try to recreate from memory.

And no, these are not necessarily Croatian recipes in their purest form. While both my wife and I are Croats, our families have a really mixed culinary identity. Moving to USA only made things more diverse as we couldn’t easily find Croatian ingredients or they came at exorbitant prices. Even worse (for purity), we found some new ingredients we really like and those pushed out some that are more authentic.

Different ways wife and I cook, approach the ingredients, and generally think about food also made our family cooking something unique. While there might be a better recipe for each food item we prepare, our variant is not half bad and it’s definitely easier to cook within the limited confines of one’s own home. If nothing else, it’s food our kids adore and maybe having a recipe at some point in the future will allow them to make their childhood food and recreate those flavors.

If Croatian, or more precisely Croatian/American, food is something that piques your curiosity, do check out medved.cc and maybe make a meal or two.

Poured Potatoes (Užljevak)

Užljevak is one of my favorite childhood foods. Due to it’s simplicity and the low cost, this was on our table at least once or twice a week. It’s a peasant food using only pantry ingredients and it’s quite forgiving when it comes to preparation.

This recipe is one of the simplest užljevak recipes I know but it’s definitely not the only one. My mother alone used a few different recipes and you’ll find probably every Bosnian family has another few. They all will taste similar though so trying one will give you an idea what you’re working with.

Ingredients

Quantities given are just for the orientation purpose and can be fudged quite a lot while still getting an excellent result.

• 600 g Russet potatoes (about 3 big ones)
• 300 g Flour (about 14 spoons)
• 1 Yellow onion
• 3 dcl Water
• 2 dcl Milk
• 1 dcl Oil
• 25 g Salt (1½ tablespoon)
• 1.5 g Black pepper (⅔ teaspoon)

Instructions

Peel potatoes and cut them into small square pieces (0.5 cm side). Leave them in a cold water for about 10 minutes and then drain the water to remove (some) starch. While potatoes are soaking, finely dice onion. The finer, the better.

Mix all the ingredients (including oil) together and you should end with a runny mixture similar to what you would use for crepes (a slightly less dense than a pancake mix). You can fine tune it by adding flour or water but the end result will be good as long as you are in a ballpark. Leave it alone for 10 minutes.

Use that time to preheat the oven to 220 °C (425 °F) with a well-oiled wide pan inside. You can also go with parchment paper but in that case preheat only pan and place parchment only when you are ready to pour.

Once oven is at temperature get the pan out (place parchment paper if that’s your groove) and pour the mixture into the hot pan. It should be about 2-3 cm in height. Be very careful as pan will be really hot. Once poured, get it immediately into the oven.

Bake for 1 hour and then turn on a broiler for another 5 minutes. Once browned, it’s ready to go out.

Let it rest for 10 minutes, cut it into square pieces, and enjoy it with some yogurt on side.

PS: Some would say the only way to eat užljevak iz with homemade sour milk. Getting yogurt is not quite the same taste but it’s definitely easier.

Mini Čobanac

Pretty much every time I’m back in Croatia I have čobanac - a regional spicy stew with lot of meat and paprika. However, I never actually made one myself as it’s a meal that needs a lot of cooking (ideally in a huge pot) and variety of recipes makes it impossible to make one-and-only proper recipe. However, wife and I figured we can adjust the recipe to get a tasty 4 liter meal in a small 5 liter pot.

As compared to normal čobanac, there are a few adjustments. The most noticeable of all is lack of hotness. Most of hotness in čobanac is actually from hot peppers and you’ll note they are absent from the ingredient list. As parts of my family have different spice tolerance, here we have a non-spicy base and all spiciness can be added later either as cayenne or by using separately cooked chili peppers.

Speaking of hot peppers, west USA where I live doesn’t really have the same varieties I’m used to in Croatia. I know many think chili doesn’t taste of anything but the lovers of hot know there is a difference. If you cannot get feferoni pepper, serrano will probably be the closest in taste.

When it comes to meats, the more the merrier. It’s common to have three or more meats but I found that pork knuckles actually make the biggest difference. I know they are not everybody’s cup of tea but nobody is forcing you to eat them. However do cook them for both the flavor and density. Other meats should be added as goulash-sized cubes with the hardest meat coming in first. And do not get lean cuts as fatty meat will impart more taste.

Any 5 liter pot will do but two features are really beneficial. The first one is a substantial amount of metal that can keep temperature. This will not only save you some electricity but also even out the heat making burned meal less likely. The other feature is etched volume markings. It makes trivial to add liquid and maintain its level. Yes, you can eye the level too but this removes all the doubt.

Cooking time can vary greatly but as a general rule you want to take it slow. Just keep it as barely boiling and give it 4-5 hours at minimum.

Usual timetable can look something like this:

07:00 This is an excellent time to start čobanac if you want it ready for 13:00 meal. Just dice three onions as fine as possible (only pussies use machine for this) and start cooking them at low heat (3½) with a generous helping of oil. Do NOT burn them - mix often.

07:30 Your onions should be really soft now and it’s a good time to add shredded carrots and celery root in addition to a finely chopped garlic. Add water for mush-like consistency. Risk of burning stuff is greatly reduced now but do not forget to occasionally give it a mix.

07:45 Add pork knuckle and bring water up to 2 liter line. Also add smoked paprika, salt, and black pepper. Increase heat just a smidgen (4) and leave to a slow bubble mixing it here and there. As water boils away, add more to keep it at 2 liter line. If you have some extra bones, this is a good time to get them in. Even the most of non-spicy folks can handle a single jalapeno so throw that in too.

09:00 Add beef and bring water to 3 liter line so that all beef is covered. Leave it to slowly boil.

09:30 Add pork and bring water to the final 4 liter level. As it slowly boils, add back water every half an hour with an occasional stir. If you are adding more meat later (e.g., lamb), keep water level a bit lower than 4 liters so that extra meat will fit.

10:00 If you have any lamb or similar softer meat, this is a great time to toss it in. While pork and beef are sufficient, variety doesn’t hurt. Get the peppers (hot or sweet) in. Good time to chuck those bay leaves in too.

11:30 Add strained tomatoes. At this point one could add hot peppers or if trying to make a non-spicy base, here we can add just a few small sweet peppers. After stirring, take a taste to see if you need a bit more salt. If you want to stir up a controversy, you can also add 200g of sliced crimini mushrooms. Spice-lovers can alternatively look into getting a bit of juices from the big pot and chopped chili peppers into a separate pan on low heat until it reaches thin paste consistency.

12:30 Turn off the heat and leave it to cool down.

13:00 Congratulations, your čobanac is done and ready to serve with a few slices of bread and a simple salad. It took a while but I promise it’s worth it!

Ingredients for 4 liters of “basic” čobanac:

• 3 Yellow onions
• ½ dcl Oil
• 2 Carrots
• ½ Celery root
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 4 tablespoons Smoked paprika
• A dash Cayenne powder
• 1 tablespoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper
• 1 pork knuckle
• 1 jalapeno
• ¾ kg beef
• ¾ kg pork
• ¾ kg lamb
• 2 Bay leaves
• 2-3 Sweet peppers (or serranos for hot variant)
• ½ cup strained tomatoes

8 Grams of Bullshit

My last visit to McDonald I noticed that my meal has “8 grams of whole wheat” printed on package. I was quite surprised to see US company use Système international d’unités to express how much of health they pack in the box.

To put things into perspective 8 grams is almost 4 times less than legal amount of marijuana in California. That whole grain thing is really potent stuff indeed.

While someone might say that McDonald is not doing anything wrong and that this is just reporting fact I would not agree. I think that this is pure game of numbers that targets USA citizens that quite often have no feeling what grams are (as I have no feeling for ounces). This is pure sham intended to represent their food as a healthy choice.

McDonald food is probably the next best thing one can do to his body after a car crash and that probably holds true for fast food in general. Of course I will grab occasional meal or two because I don’t have time for anything better and because (shame) I do like taste of it. Just please stop bullshitting be. Let my cholesterol rise in peace.

P.S. For my SI challenged USA friends 8 grams is 0.28 ounces. :)

Eating at McDonald's

Whenever I am in foreign country (in my case those are all countries that are not Croatia) I usually get my first touch with any food at McDonald’s. I definitelly cannot say that they are best possible choice. I cannot even call them cheap choice. But I always counted on them as being safe one.

I always valued McDonald’s as place where I can get same food no matter in which country I am in and I could always count on that food to be of certain quality. I am sorry to say that my belief has been quite shaken lately.

I made an error when I went to Berlin east train station. It was late and I figured that McDonald’s is better choice than some local fast-food stand. To make long story short – I got cold Big Mac, with cold fries and cold Cola – at least they were consistent. I was hungry and I ate it. That was my mistake. My stomach wasn’t well to begin with, after 5 hours of train, 2 hours of airplane and few hours of waiting in-between, this was last straw of patience.

In my town of Osijek there is also one McDonalds. They got me used to fresh hamburger, good fries and clean environment. I cannot remember that I ever ate stale food there.

With little care you can avoid making too much things in advance and still serve all your customers without too much waiting. I am sad that their coworkers in Berlin haven’t learned the same lection.

How to Make Sausage

Here is recipe that I use for making sausages. These sausages can be made with pure pork, but I like to also add some beef meat.

First step is to grind meat in meat grinder. Pieces should be small, but not in paste-like form. If you don’t have meat grinder just ask your butcher to grind meat for you. Or buy minced meat. Just don’t use food processor because it will completely destroy meat texture.

Spread salt, pepper and paprika (both sweet and hot) over minced meat. In another bowl add garlic into boiling hot water and leave it to rest for fifteen minutes. Filter garlic out and pour hot water over minced meat with spices. Mix thoroughly.

After all spices are distributed evenly take a taste of meat. This step is quite necessary since hot paprika can vary from batch to batch. If it is not hot enough, just add hot paprika. During smoking sausage will loose quite a lot of water and hot paprika will surface so don’t go too wild.

Once you are satisfied with taste, fill casings (I usually use salted pig casings). You will need sausage stuffer for this step since consistency needs to be quite dense.

This sausage mix is intended for smoking and I would not recommend frying it. However, if you wish instant results, you can cook it with water on medium fire for fifteen minutes.

Ingredients:

• 7.5 kg Minced pork
• 2.5 kg Minced beef
• 200 g Salt
• 20 g Black pepper
• 25 g Hot paprika (ground)
• 250 g Sweet paprika (ground)
• 250 g Garlic

French Toast - My Way

One of comfort foods of my childhood was simple stale bread dipped in eggs. Nearest description of it would be french toast. However, while french toast is mostly on sweet side of equation, I will give you salty variant here.

Since almost always I make this from old bread, all calculations are based on amounts needed for one half of loaf. Be aware that this measurements are only approximate since I usually do it in free-style.

First ingredient would be egg. You will need four of them. After I use fork to break eggs and make rough mix I add some water to mix. Six table spoons should be enough. Water just makes eggs less dense so we can add some flour to make it denser (two topped table spoons are good measure). I find this very necessary since without flour bread will soak too much oil. Do not forget to add some salt here.

Heat up the pan and put one centimeter of oil inside. I put knob on mark 3 (out of 6). I would call this a low-temperature setting.

Slice bread in one centimeter slices and dip it inside of egg mixture. Keep it in for ten seconds, pull it out, and then dip other side. Ten seconds is just approximate guess since it highly depends on mixture density and type and age of bread.

After dipping, throw it in pan. Keep in pan until bottom is bright yellow-brown and then flip it to other side. When both sides are done, just put it on some paper to soak excess oil. My cooking time is usually in range of two minutes per side.

After few minutes on paper, it is ready to be served. More often than not, I make this late in night and eat it only in morning since it tastes good cold also.

Modifications

I like to add bell pepper (red works best for me) to mix. Just slice it in small-small pieces before putting it in egg mixture. Quarter of paprika is more than enough. If this is not intended for kids or weaklings, you may add chilli pepper also. One should be enough per batch.

Most common modification to this is dipping bread in milk before putting it to egg mixture. While this will make it softer and it will make step of adding water and flour unnecessary, it will also make it taste different. I prefer to skip this.

Ćevapi

One of main points of entrance to my web page is page where I talk about ćevapi (or ćevapčići, chevapi, chevapi’s, chevaps and half a dozen other names). As there are many names for them, there are also many recipes. Not only that recipes differ in size, shape and spices but also in types of meat used to produce them. Which kind is best will differ from region to region of ex-Yugoslavia. In restaurants where ćevapi are main selling point you will rarely be able to get recipe. They do keep it as family treasure.

Origin

Although wikipedia states that ćevapi are Turkish dish I cannot see who exactly concluded that. Although name does seems similar to kebab they are made quite differently (e.g., kebab is not made from minced meat). I am closer to those guys who call it a Bosnian dish with some inspiration drawn from Turkish treats (they did lived together for a while).

Croatia is not their country of origin but we do enjoy making and eating them and I (as Croat) will give you my favorite recipe for times when I want to cook something outdoors (you should make ćevapi on charcoal grill).

Notice

I will use proper measurement system (a.k.a. metric) for everything in this article. If you really need imperial units just use online converter.

All measurements here will be given for total of 1 kg of ćevapi. If you wish to make larger amount just multiply it by factor. It scales perfectly. In case you are wondering how much mouths can 1 kg of ćevapi feed, I cannot help you. It may be anywhere from 2 to 10. It all depends on side dishes you provide and/or additional meat on table (I always combine it with sausages and/or bacon). For my family and close friends I tend to anticipate meat usage to be in range of 0.5 kg per person but take a notice that we do like to eat and we do have some (minor) leftovers.

Recipe

I start with equal amount of pork and beef (0.5 kg of each). You should grind them together in meat grinder. If you do not have meat grinder don’t use food processor. It tends to either leave large chunks of meat as a whole or destroy texture of meat altogether. Just buy pork and beef as minced meat at your favorite butcher. It should be fresh and not frozen like in big stores.

Add 12 g of salt and 8 g of pepper (if you find it too spicy, keep salt as it is, just remove some pepper). From time to time I like to add little bit of hot paprika in a mix (you may use chili powder but it is not the same).

I like to add one chopped onion (very small pieces, please) and two cloves of garlic (smashed into a very smooth paste). This gives totally different taste to them but I know a lot of people that do not like onions so you may want to check.

If meat has lot of fat you may add little bit of old bread in the mix (2-3 slices per kg). It will blend nicely with meat and kill a little bit of fatty taste. If you are using 80/20% meat, ignore this step.

Mix everything you added by hand for few minutes until it blends together.

Now you should form ćevapi using 2-3 cm sausage funnel but you can also use top of bottle (cut the bottom off) and force mix through it. Cut longer sausage-like strips in 5-10 cm (if you cut it shorter then each will be easier to handle on grill but there will be more of them to handle and they tend to dry out). My preferred size is 2.5x10 cm (or 1x4 inches, for SI challenged).

Grilling

Do not put them on open flames - that is not point of grilling. You should always strive to cook them longer on lower heat. Total time should be 5-15 minutes (depends mostly on their thickness) with a few turns when each side is done. Meat should be well done on outside and done on the inside. If you have something rare - you did it wrong.

You should serve it in lightly grilled flat bread.

There are lot of side dishes you can serve but I do tend to like ajvar the best. Freshly chopped onions (thick rings) does work but don’t kiss anybody after. Some people like sour cream but I’ll skip that.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 500 g beef
• 500 g pork
• 12 g salt (about 2 teaspoon)
• 8 g pepper (about 1½ teaspoon)
• 1 onion (or 25 g (about 3 tablespoon) dried onion flakes)
• 2 garlic cloves (or 1.2 g (about ¼ teaspoon) garlic powder)