Croatian cuisine

Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is known as a cuisine of the regions, since every region of Croatia has its own distinct culinary tradition. Its roots date back to ancient times. The differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those in mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by the earlier Slavic and the more recent contacts with neighboring cultures—Hungarian and Turkish, using lard for cooking, and spices such as black pepper, paprika, and garlic. The coastal region bears the influences of the Greek and Roman cuisine, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine, in particular Italian (especially Venetian). Coastal cuisines use olive oil, and herbs and spices such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and lemon and orange rind. Peasant cooking traditions are based on imaginative variations of several basic ingredients (cereals, dairy products, meat, fish, vegetables, nuts) 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 other 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.

Meat and game

Meso z tiblice - pork from "tiblitsa" wooden barrel from Međimurje County, northern Croatia

Croatian meat-based dishes include:

  • Miješano meso or Ražnjići (skewers)
  • Zagrebački odrezak (Veal steaks stuffed with ham and cheese, breaded and fried)
  • Šnicle (schnitzel) - breaded veal or chicken cutlets
  • Meso z tiblice - pork ham from Međimurje County
  • Janjetina - roasted lamb garnished with Mediterranean herbs
  • Odojak - roasted suckling pig
  • Fresh game from Dalmatia
  • Visovačka begavica
  • Turkey with mlinci (flat pasta, soaked in roast juices)
  • Buncek - smoked pork hock, used in bean, sauerkraut or kale stews
  • Leg of lamb à la Pašticada
  • Leg of venison the count's way
  • Wild duck with sauce
  • Polpete, faširanci - Frikadeller

Seafood

Lobster from Dalmatia

Croatian seafood dishes include:

  • Squids - Croatian: lignje, Italian: calamari, grilled, fried, stuffed or prepared as stew and served with polenta
  • Octopus salad - Croatian: salata od hobotnice; octopus can also be prepared brudet style, with red wine, or baked pod pekom
  • Cuttlefish risotto - Croatian: Crni rižot, Italian: Risotto nero
  • Tuna
  • Scampi - Croatian: škampi, Italian: scampi
  • Common mussels - Croatian: dagnje
  • Salted Cod is imported, but dishes are very popular for Christmas Eve or on Good Friday. It can be prepared either as bakalar na bijelo (Dubrovnik, Dalmatia and Istria, with olive oil and garlic, with or without potatoes), or as bakalar na crveno, in tomato-based stew, with potatoes.
  • Fish stew - Croatian brodet or brudet (Dubrovnik and Dalmatia), Italian brodetto, best made with several type of fish (red rascasse, European conger, monkfish, European hake)
  • Clams
  • Sea spider salad
  • Breaded catfish or carp
  • Grilled sardines or other fish (na gradele)
  • Salted anchovies or sardine (slana riba) are served as hors d'oeuvres or as a part of light supper with povrće na lešo, salads etc.
  • Buzara or Buzzara (shellfish sautéed in garlic, olive oil, parsley & white wine)
  • Date shells or prstaci are part of the traditional cuisine, but in the 20th century their extraction was banned as a measure of ecological protection

Stews

Stewed vegetables with small amount of meat or sausages (varivo or čušpajz) is perceived as a healthy, traditional meal. Sour cream (in Northern Croatia) or olive oil (on the coast) can be added to the plate just before serving. Stewed meat dishes are often prepared by men in open spaces, following hunting and shepherding traditions. In Dalmatian urban cuisine, spices such as cinnamon and clove, dried plums, dried figs, apples and other fruit are sometimes added to meat stews.

Goulash is very popular in most parts of Croatia

  • Goulash (Croatian: gulaš, see also Hungarian gulyás)
  • Grah - bean stew (often done as grah sa zeljem - with sauerkraut, or grah s kiselom repom - with pickled turnip strings)
  • Varivo od mahuna - green beans stew
  • Riblji paprikaš - also called fiš-paprikaš (spicy fish stew from Slavonia, see also Hungarian halászlé)
  • Slavonska riblja čorba (fish stew from Slavonia)
  • Brudet (or Brodet) - fish stew
  • Chicken stew
  • Rabbit goulash
  • Ričet, also known as jačmik, orzo
  • Istrian stew (Jota)
  • Pašta fažol - bean stew with small pasta
  • Game Čobanac (Shepherd's Stew)
  • Feines Venison goulash with prunes
  • Hunter's stew
  • Wine goulash
  • Sauerkraut stew
  • Zelena menestra - traditional cabbage and meat dish - Dubrovnik and surrounding area
  • Pašticada - Dalmatian beef stew with prunes and dried figs
  • Tripe stew (tripice, fileki)

Pasta

Pasta is one of the most popular food items in Croatian cuisine, especially in the region of Dalmatia. Manistra na pome (pasta with tomato sauce) is a staple. The other popular sauces include creamy mushroom sauce, minced meat sauce and many others. Fresh pasta (rezanci, krpice) is added to soups and stews, or prepared with cottage cheese, cabbage, even with walnuts or poppy seed. Potato dough is popular, not only for making njoki (gnocchi), but also for making plum or cheese dumplings which are boiled, and then quickly fried in breadcrumbs and butter.

  • Žganci - cornmeal dish in Slovenian and Northern Croatian cuisine, also known as Polenta (palenta, pura) in Istria and Dalmatia
  • Gnocchi, often served with Pašticada or goulash.
  • Fuži a typical pasta from Istria.
  • Needle macaroni
  • Štrukli - baked or cooked filled pastry from Zagorje, Zagreb area.
  • Krpice sa zeljem - pasta with stewed cabbage
  • Šporki makaruli - traditional pasta with cinnamon flavored meat sauce, from Dubrovnik and surrounding area

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.

Side dishes

Other

White Truffles from Istria
Croatian style Punjena Paprika/stuffed peppers
Cheese škripavac

Sausages and ham

Cheese (sir)

Pogača bread

Savoury pies

Viška pogača is a salted sardine filled foccacia from the island of Vis. Soparnik is a Dalmatian chard filled pie.

Pastry

Savijača or Štrudla with apple
Orehnjača variation of Nut Roll
Crêpes, in Croatia also known as Palačinke
Međimurska gibanica

Sweets and desserts

Cakes (kolači)

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.

Dessert wines

White wines

Red wines

Beers (pivo)

Velebitsko pivo, beer from Croatia

Apart from the great abundance of imported beers (Heineken, Tuborg, Gösser, Stella Artois, etc.), there are home-brewed and locally brewed beers in Croatia. A brewery based in Split produces Bavarian Kaltenberg beer by licence of the original brewery in Germany.

Liqueurs and spirits

A bottle of Maraschino liqueur.

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.

Juices and syrups

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern - Croatia's Dalmatian Coast (youtube) (video). TravelChannelShows. 2015-10-07. Event occurs at 42:34.
  2. ↑ Bizarre Foods - Croatia - Dalmatian Coast.
  3. ↑ "Croatia's Dalmatian Coast: Roasted Rodents & Stone Soup". Travel Channel.
  4. ↑ "Maraska". Maraska.hr. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  5. ↑ "Badel 1862". Badel1862.hr. 2012-02-14. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
  6. ↑ "Cedevita | Home". Cedevita.hr. Retrieved 2015-11-13.

Further reading

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