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Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is therefore known as the cuisine of regions, since every region has its own distinct culinary traditions. Its modern roots date back to ancient periods 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 the more famous gastronomic orders of today - Hungarian, Viennese and in some part of land Turkish - while the coastal region bears the influences of the Greek, Roman and Illyrian, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine - Italian and French.
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Cuisine of the regions
Croatian cuisine can, roughly summarized, be divided into some few regions which all have their specific cooking traditions, characteristic for the area and not necessarily well-known in other parts of Croatia. Meanwhile, however, most dishes can be found all across the country. This is also why the varied cuisine of Croatia is called "cuisine of the regions".
Typical food delicacies
Meat and game
Some expressions from typical Croatian menus:
- Specialities from the grill are called s roštilja or 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.
The meals are:
- Ražnjići (skewers)
- Meso s tiblice pork ham from Međimurje county
- Janjetina - lamb garnished with Mediterranean herbs
- Odojak - roast pork
- Fresh game from Dalmatia
- Visovačka begavica
- Veal steaks stuffed with ham and cheese and grilled with breadcrumbs
- Turkey with mlinci (flat, sour dumplings)
- Kaninchenbraten
- Leg of lamb à la Pašticada (rolled pieces of Pršut in white wine sauce)
- Leg of venison the count's way
- Wild duck with sauce
- Roasted pheasant
- Kotlovina from Samobor (kettle with knuckle of pork and other meat and sausages)
- Boiled fillet of beef haunch with Sauerkraut
- Escalope à la Baron Trenk (spicy-rolled Schnitzel)
- Goose Međimurje (filled with buckwheat)
- Goose Turopolje (corn semolina as a side dish)
- Purgerica Turkey (Christmas dish from the bordering region to Zagreb, turkey filled with chestnuts, apples, bacon, lemons, etc.)
- Bosnian ćevapćići, grilled little sausage-like meats served with onions, pita bread and possibly ajvar
- Krvavice, or čurke, blood sausages, made of blood and kaša
- Hladetina, a particular type of head cheese
Sea food
(also see: sea food)
- Squid - Croatian: lignje, Italian: calamari
- Octopus salad - Croatian: salata od hobotnice
- Cuttlefish risotto - Croatian: Crni rižot, Italian: Risotto nero
- Tuna
- Shrimps - Croatian: škampi, Italian: scampi
- Common mussels - Croatian: dagnje
- Cod with potatoes - Bakalar s krumpirom (Dalmatian and Istrian speciality served at Christmas time)
- Fish stew
- Clam Buzara
- Sea spider salad
- Breaded catfish or carp
Stews
- Goulash (Croatian: gulaš, see also Hungarian gulyás)
- Grah - beans (often done as 'grah sa zeljem' - with sauerkraut, or 'grah sa kiselom repom' - with pickled turnip strings)
- Mahune-green beans
- 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
- Istrian Stew (Jota)
- Game Čobanac (Shepherd's Stew)
- Feines Venison goulash with prunes
- Hunter's Stew
- Wine goulash
- Sauerkraut Stew
Pasta
Žganci is a dish in Slovenian and Croatian cuisine
Soups
Side dishes
- Sataraš (minced and roasted vegetables)
- Mlinci (typical Croatian, roasted flatbread, similar to Caucasian flatbreads)
- Đuveđ (cooked vegetables, similar to Ratatouille)
Other
- Zagrebački odrezak or Wiener Schnitzel - escalope stuffed with ham and cheese
- Punjena paprika - paprika/peppers filled with minced meat (Hungarian: töltött paprika)
- Sarma - Sauerkraut rolls filed with minced pork meat and rice
- Arambašići from Sinj - similar to Sarma, but with ground beef and with no rice
- Mlinci - flat, sour dumplings
- Lepinje-flat bread
- Wild truffles with pasta
- Croatian olive oil (Maslinovo ulje)
- Paški baškotin - aromatic zwieback (rusk) from the Island of Pag
- Potatoes from the region of Lika (Lički krumpir) - high quality, large, red potatoes
- Sauerkraut from the Varaždin region
- Cabbage (zelje) from the region of Zagreb
- Artichokes with peas
- Fritaja with asparagus
- Gorski kotar filling (pieces of ham with eggs and bread)
- Žganci (with milk, Polenta)
- Čvarci
Sausages and ham
- Kulen (Kulin) - spicy pork sausage from Slavonia
- Češnovka - spicy pork sausage with a harmonious garlic taste from Turopolje
- Kobasica - spicy, air-dried sausage (Hungarian: kolbász)
- Salami from Samobor
- Švargl from Slavonia
- Suđuk from inland Dalmatia
- Istrian and Dalmatian Pršut - double-smoked ham (similar to Italian prosciutto)
- Ćevapčići
- Panceta from Dalmatia
- Špek from continental Croatia
- Kaštradina
Cheese (sir)
- Paški sir - famous sheep's milk cheese and goat's cheese from 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
Salty pies
viška pogača (foccacia from island Vis)
soparnik (Dalmatian vegetable pie)
Pastry
Sweets and desserts
- Palačinke with sweet filling (Hungarian: palacsinta)
- Baklava
- Dunavske Valovi
- Krem Pita - cream slice
- Šam Pita - meringue cream slice
- Zagorski štrukli - sweet pastry from northern Croatia
- Uštipci
- 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 cream with wine sauce)
- ušljivac, deran, badavdžija (long plaited bun)
- Šnenokli (eggwhites in vanilla cream)
Cakes (kolači)
- Čupavci
- Rožata (rose cake)
- Easter pastry Pinca
- Kroštule (crunchy deep-fried pastry)
- Fritule (festive pastry, particularly for Christmas
- Bishop's bread
- Guglhupf (ring cake) (Croat. kuglof)
Drinks
Wines
See separate article on Croatian wine
Dessert wines
- Sweet Malvazija
- Muškat Ottonel (see: Muscat grape)
- Prošek
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 [1]
- Ožujsko: brewed in Zagreb (the name refers to the month of march) [2]
- Pan
- Favorit: from Buzet, Istria
- Osječko: from Osijek
- Staro Češko: Czech beer from Daruvar (a Czech minority is living there), brewed in Croatia
- Riječko pivo: from the large seaport city of Rijeka on the northern Adriatic coast
- 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 [3]
- Rakija (Croatian name for spirits) made from:
- Lozovača / Loza - grapes (it.: Grappa)
- Travarica - Loza with herbs
- Šljivovica - plum
- Kruškovac - pears
- Drenovac - cherries
- Pelinkovac
- Orahovac (walnut liqueur)
- Glembaj
- Medovina (with 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 [4]
- 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 [5]
- Bistra – produced by Coca Cola
Juices and syrups
See also
References
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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