Croatian cuisine
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Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is known as a cuisine of the regions since every regions has its own distinct culinary traditions. Its roots date back to ancient times and the differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those on the mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by the earlier Slavic and the more recent contacts with neighboring cultures - Hungarian, Austrian and Turkish, using lard for cooking, and spices such as black pepper, paprika, and garlic. The coastal region bears the influences of the Greek, Roman and Illyrian, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine - Italian (especially Venetian) and French, using olive oil, and herbs and spices such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, lemon and orange rind. Peasant cooking traditions are based on imaginative variations of several basic ingredients (cereals, dairy products, meat, fish, vegetables) and cooking procedures (stewing, grilling, roasting, baking), while bourgeois cuisine involves more complicated procedures and use of selected herbs and spices. Charcuterie is part of Croatian tradition in all regions. Food and recipes from former Yugoslav countries are also popular in Croatia.
Croatian cuisine can be divided into a few regional cuisines (Istria, Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Lika, Gorski Kotar, Zagorje, Međimurje, Podravina, Slavonija) which all have their specific cooking traditions, characteristic for the area and not necessarily well known in other parts of Croatia. Most dishes, however, can be found all across the country, with local variants. This is also why the varied cuisine of Croatia is called "cuisine of the regions".
Meat and game
- Specialities from the grill are called s roštilja, those roasted on the spit s ražnja
- pečeno means roasted
- prženo means fried
- pod pekom means that the dish has been put into a stone oven under a metal cover. The cook puts hot coals on the cover so that the meal is cooked slowly in its own juices. Specialties cooked pod pekom include lamb, veal, and octopus.
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Croatian meat based dishes include:
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Seafood
Croatian seafood dishes include:
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Stews
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Pasta
Pasta is one of the most popular food items in Croatian cuisine, especially in the region of Dalmatia. The so-called manistra na pome = pasta with tomato sauce is a staple. The other popular sauces include creamy mushroom sauce, minced meat sauce and many others. Also, potato dough is popular, not only for making njoki (gnocchi), but also for making plum or cheese dumplings which are boiled, and then fried in breadcrumbs and butter.
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Zagorski Štrukli
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Zganci
Soups
Soup is an integral part of a meal in Croatia and no Sunday family meal or any special occasion will go without it. The most popular soups are broth based, with added pasta or semolina dumplings. They are usually light in order to leave space for the main course and dessert to follow. However, cream or roux based soups are also popular, and there are many local variations of traditional soups. In Dalmatia, one of the most loved ones is the fish soup with fish chunks, carrots and rice.
- Maneštra
- Veal soup with smoked meat
- Vegeta seasoned broth
- Beef broth with vermicelli pasta
- Ajngemahtec - Zagreb chicken and vegetable soup
- Mushroom soup, especially with porcini
- Dill soup
- Zagorska juha with porcini mushrooms, bacon, sweet pepper
Side dishes
- Sataraš (sliced and stewed summer vegetables)
- Mlinci (typical northwest Croatian, roasted flatbread, similar to Caucasian flatbreads)
- Đuveč (baked summer vegetables, similar to Ratatouille)
- Šalša od pomidora (tomato salsa)
- Restani krumpir (cooked potato fried with onion)
- Blitva s krumpirom (cooked chard and potato, with olive oil and garlic)
Other
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Sausages and ham
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Cheese (sir)
- Paški sir - famous sheep's milk cheese from island of Pag
- Farmers' cheese (škripavac) and curd cheese from the regions of Kordun and Lika
- Cheese from the Cetina region Cetinski sir
- Cheese from the Island of Krk Krčki sir
- Cheese from Međimurje Turoš
- Cheese from Podravina Prga
- Cottage cheese (eaten with vrhnje) from Zagorje (sir i vrhnje, often seen as quintessential Croatian traditional food)
Savoury pies
Viška pogača is a salted sardine filled foccacia from the island of Vis. Soparnik is a Dalmatian chard filled pie.
Pastry
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- Bučnica (summer squash and cottage cheese pie)
Sweets and desserts
- Palačinke (crepes) with sweet filling (Hungarian: palacsinta)
- Baklava
- Kremšnita - cream slice
- Šaumšnita - meringue cream slice
- Zagorski štrukli - sweet pastry from northern Croatia
- Uštipci
- Fritule
- Knedle - potato dough dumplings, usually filled with plums and rolled into buttered breadcrumbs, with cinnamon
- Strudel (Croatian: savijača or štrudla) with apple or curd cheese fillings
- Orahnjača - sweet bread with walnuts
- Makovnjača - sweet bread with poppy seeds
- Croatian honey
- Bear's paw
- Farmer's cheese (quark) cakes (cream cake)
- Krafne, pokladnice - a type of Donut
- Croatian pancakes (with wine and egg sauce)
- ušljivac, deran, badavdžija (long plaited bun)
- Šnenokli (meringue in custard cream, floating island (dessert))
- Almond filled ravioli (rafioli)
- Homemade fruit preserves, jams, compotes
Cakes (kolači)
- Rožata or Rozata (flan, creme caramel)
- Easter pastry Pinca
- Kroštule (crunchy, deep-fried pastry)
- Fritule(deep-fried dough, festive pastry, particularly for Christmas)
- Bishop's bread
- Guglhupf ring cake (Croatian kuglof)
- Rapska torta (Rab cake)
- Međimurska gibanica (Međimurje County layer cake with apple, poppyseed, walnut and cottage cheese fillings)
Drinks
Wines
Croatia has two main wine regions: Continental (Kontinetalna) and Coastal (Primorska), which includes the islands. Each of the main regions is divided into sub-regions which are divided yet further into smaller vinogorje, (literally wine hills) and districts. Altogether, there are more than 300 geographically-defined wine-producing areas in Croatia. In parts of Croatia, wine, either red or white, is sometimes consumed mixed in approximately equal proportions with water.[citation needed]
Dessert wines
- Sweet Malvazija
- Muškat Ottonel (see: Muscat grape)
- Prošek
White wines
-Rajnski Rizling -Zlahtina
Dessert wines
Plavac Postup
Beers (pivo)
Apart from the great abundance of imported international beers (Heineken, Tuborg, Gösser, Stella Artois, etc.), you will find some tasty home-brewn beers in Croatia. (Real fans need to know that the brewery in Split produces Bavarian Kaltenberg beer by licence of the original brewery in Germany.)
- Karlovačko: brewed in Karlovac
- Ožujsko: brewed in Zagreb (the name refers to the month of march)
- Pan
- Favorit: from Buzet, Istria
- Osječko: from Osijek (oldest brewery in Croatia)
- Staro Češko: Czech beer from Daruvar (where a Czech minority lives), brewed in Croatia
- Riječko pivo: from the large seaport city of Rijeka
- Tomislav: dark beer from Zagreb
- Velebitsko pivo: brewed near Gospić on the Velebit mountain, small but high-quality brewery, the dark beer has been voted best beer by an English beer fan website.
Liqueurs and spirits
- Maraschino [1]
- Rakija (Croatian name for spirits), commonly made from: Lozovača / Loza (grapes) (it.: Grappa),Travarica (Loza with herbs), Šljivovica (plums), Kruškovac (pears), Drenovac (cherries)
- Pelinkovac
- Orahovac (walnut liqueur)
- Glembaj
- Medovina (honey)
- Gvirc (as Medovina, only more alcohol).
Coffee
Croatia is a country of coffee drinkers (on average 5kg per person annually), not only because it was formerly part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, but also because it bordered the former Ottoman Empire. Traditional coffee houses similar to those in Vienna are located throughout Croatia.
Mineral water
Regarding its water resources, Croatia has a leading position in Europe. Concerning water quality, Croatian water is greatly appreciated all over the world. Due to a lack of established industries there have also been no major incidents of water pollution.
- Jamnica – Winner of the Paris AquaExpo for best mineral water of 2003
- Lipički studenac
- Jana – also belongs to Jamnica, best aromatized mineral water (Eauscar 2004)
- Cetina – water from the river Cetina, which flows through the Dalmatian hinterland
- Bistra – produced by Coca Cola
Juices and syrups
See also
References
- ↑ "Maraska". Maraska.hr. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
- ↑ "Badel 1862". Badel1862.hr. 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
- ↑ http://www.cedevita.hr/hr/naslovna.php
Further reading
- "Hrvatska za stolom - mirisi i okusi Hrvatske", Ivanka Biluš et al., Zagreb:Alfa, Koprivnica: Podravka, 1996, 192 p., illustrated in color, (Biblioteka Anima Croatarum, 2) ISBN 953-168-104-X
- "Hrvatska vina" (Croatian wines), Fazinić Nevenko, Milat Vinko, illustrated, 159 p., 1994, ISBN 953-173-061-X
- "Nova hrvatska kuhinja" (New Croatian cuisine), Davor Butković, Ana Ugarković, Profil international, Zagreb, 2005, 272 p., ISBN 953-12-0164-1
- Callec, Christian (2003), written at The Netherlands, Wine: A Comprehensive Look at the World's Best Wine, New York: Random House (published 2002), ISBN 0-517-22165-9.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Croatian cuisine. |
- CroatianFood - iOS & Android mobile application
- Croatian Food blog - Blog about Croatian cuisine
- Taste Of Croatia
- Dalmatian Cooking
- Manjada - Istrian Food and Wine
- Croatian cuisine
- Croatian Wine Roads
- Hrvatska kuhinja (Croatian)
- Croatian food store
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