Local cuisine
In contact with neighboring countries such as Hungary or Serbia, central and eastern Croatia have the common characteristics of a Central European cuisine. Cabbage, potatoes, legumes, cereals (wheat, barley, corn) and smoked meats are simmered for a long time. Soups and rich dishes in sauce are used to combat the cold winters, while dairy products, especially cow's milk, are used abundantly in the form of cream or cheese.
The mountainous regions of Gorski Kotar and Lika form a natural barrier between the east of the country and the Croatian coast. In these highlands, the cuisine reflects the habits of mountain people living in the middle of pastures and forests, which are rich in game and mushrooms. Summers are short, winters are harsh. The very nutritious diet is also based on long-cooked dishes such as lovački gulaš, a goulash or stew of wild boar, accompanied by a spicy paprika sauce.
The northwest of Croatia is centered around Zagreb, the country's capital. This region, surrounded by plains and hills, offers a wide variety of products. The roborative dishes use seasonal vegetables often mixed with pork and poultry (Zagorje turkey). In winter, cabbage accompanies beans and potatoes,tripe and goulash, while in summer, fresh tomato and cucumber salads are served with garlic sour cream and sautéed vegetables (zucchini, green beans and peas). It is also in this season that preserves are prepared for the winter. Alongside the essential sauerkraut, there are jars of cucumbers, beets and pickled onions. Turkey, goose and duck from the Turopolje region are famous. One of the most famous dishes is štrukli sa sirom from the Zagorje region, north of Zagreb. This winter dish is like a pie filled with fresh cow's cheese and topped with fresh cream before being baked au gratin. Pork and especially sausages are also a central element of the cuisine of this region. For example, krvavice, a kind of black pudding, can be observed, while češnjovka, which could be translated as garlic sausage, is often served with mustard.
Samobor, a small gastronomic town near Zagreb, is proud of its restaurants. All of them feature the famous samoborski kotleti, a dish of pork ribs in a rich herb sauce, eaten with potatoes. The very hearty samoborska kotlovina stands out as a festive dish, where sausages, pieces of beef, chicken or even game are cooked for a long time, with vegetables and mushrooms, in a wine and onion sauce. The zagrebački odrezak, native to the Croatian capital is a rolled veal cutlet is stuffed with cheese and ham, then breaded and fried.
Slavonia and Baranja, mainly composed of fertile plains, form the breadbasket of Croatia. They cook wholemeal dishes, pasta with eggs, poultry and pork dishes with sauce, potato gratins with homemade farm cheese, fresh cream, hard cheese. Smoked and dried pork is available in ham, bacon and sausages. Pickled vegetables (peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and young onions) called turšijaare very popular as an appetizer. Trout and carp are used to prepare fišpaprikaš, a thick, slightly spicy soup. The čobanac, whose name comes from čobani (Croatian for farmer), is a meat stew (pork, veal or game) with potato dumplings.
Central and especially eastern Croatia were often under the influence, or even the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The Turks and Bosnians thus gave the taste of spices and grilled white meat but also cevapčići sausages, known throughout the Balkans. They take their name from the Turkish word kebap. These small, elongated croquettes made from ground pork are generously garnished with onion, herbs and paprika. The pljeskavica is similar to a minced steak, usually made from lamb. It is served with French fries and pickled peppers. The ražnjićii, on the other hand, are small spicy pork or chicken skewers.
The southern regime
Cut into a myriad of islands, gulfs, bays, peninsulas and capes, the Croatian coastline stretches for some 5,800 km. Separated from the rest of Croatia by the Dinaric Alps, the Adriatic coast stretches from Slovenia to Montenegro and offers a completely different gastronomy from what is consumed in the rest of the country. The Mediterranean diet is naturally used, fruits, vegetables cooked or seasoned with olive oil, with garlic, onion, thyme, sage, fennel, rosemary. In the islands and ports, the fisherman's cuisine is the majority. The morning auction delivers the fruits of the Adriatic sea: St. Peter's, hake, sea bass, grouper, gilthead bream, tuna, sardines, mackerel, octopus are usually oven-roasted, small fried, squid, prawns, shrimp, shellfish, seared in olive oil; seafood, crab, lobster, just scalded while oysters are eaten raw. Near the bay of Ston (Pelješac peninsula), the oysters are, according to the locals, the best in the world. Crni rižot, the famous squid ink risotto, is also a classic. Krk's šurlice, a long tubular pasta, is usually served with a seafood sauce. More rustic, viška pogača is a pie filled with candied peppers and anchovies or sardines, very popular on the island of Vis. In island lands, in Hvar, Korčula or Brač, one enjoys the fisherman's cuisine but also a more rustic dish, based on grilled lamb offal.
Goat's or sheep's cheese, especially from Pag, olives, figs and nuts (cherries, walnuts, almonds, jujube) are enjoyed with a glass of Dalmatian red wine. The region was under the domination of the Republic of Venice during a good part of its history and the Italian influences are undeniable. In Istria, for example, you can find pašta-fažol, maneštra or maneštrun, a kind of minestrone, a white bean or chickpea soup made with or without meat and various seasonal vegetables. Fuži is a tube-shaped pasta served with a truffle and cured ham sauce, or with beef stew. The more hearty mlinci is a flatbread, usually cut into strips, basted with sauce and baked au gratin.
From Zadar to Dubrovnik, it is impossible to miss pašticada, one of the most popular Dalmatian dishes. This stew is made of beef, which is stewed for several hours in a rich sauce of sweet wine, tomato and cinnamon, topped with prunes. Eels from the Neretva delta near Dubrovnik, simply grilled, are also very popular. A specialty of the town of Sinj, arambašići are meatballs rolled in green cabbage leaves.
Inland Dalmatia favors sheep meat (lamb, mutton), pork and game, which are served with wheat pasta, cornmeal (polenta), grain porridge or vegetables such as wild asparagus. A very digestible side dish served with meat or fish, the famous blitva, is a crushed olive oil of green shoots (chard) and potatoes. Soparnik, a very popular Dalmatian snack, is a sweet filled with chard and brushed with garlic olive oil. Peka is not a recipe per se but a cooking method that originated in Dalmatia. This large hollow clay dish is filled with meat (pork or lamb) or mollusks (octopus) and or cod with vegetables before being closed by a bell (peka). The whole thing is covered with embers so that it cooks for several hours on a very low heat.
Another custom whose popularity goes beyond the borders of Dalmatia, the marenda is a kind of late breakfast taken between 10 and 11 am, which originally allowed farm workers who rose early to take a break in the late morning. It is called gablec in the Zagreb region. Most of the time, it is a sandwich of cold cuts, fish or cheese.
Gingerbread and other sweets
Thanks to its multiple influences, at the same time Slavic, Italian and Austro-Hungarian, Croatia has an astonishing palette of desserts. On the coast, the pastries are mainly composed of small cookies with dried fruits and other delicate desserts. Inland, in the northern part of the country, the desserts are more similar to what can be found in the Austrian tea rooms and in the rest of Central Europe with refined but copious preparations filled with cream and other pastries with poppy seeds, apples, nuts, such as strudel.
If there is one Croatian pastry that deserves special attention it is the licitar or heart of Zagreb. The making of this gingerbread, produced in the north of the country, is so meticulous that it was registered in 2010 by Unesco on the representative list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. In northern Croatia, in the Middle Ages, the monks who started making gingerbread were also beekeepers. The recipe consists of flour water, baking soda and of course, sugar and honey. But no spices, despite its name! Although it is often sold in winter, reminiscent of Christmas, it is also intended for weddings, hence the heart shape. It is decorated with the names of the newlyweds and the date of the happy event. The icing and the patterns made with food coloring make its originality. A know-how that requires a certain skill and has been passed on from one generation to another for centuries. These dry cakes are accompanied by medica and gvirc, honey-based drinks similar to mead, which are sold during festivals and religious processions.
In addition to licitar, northern Croatia is rich in sweet winter specialties, such as medenjaci, cinnamon cookies in the shape of stars, fir trees or small figures, which are hung on the Christmas tree.
Zlevanka, a delicate semolina flan, originates from Medimurje, on the Hungarian border. Another specialty of the region is the very hearty međimurje gibanica, consisting of layers of filo pastry, strudel-style, filled with apple, poppy seed, fresh cheese and nuts. For the hungry, then. The bučnica is also topped with a sweet squash puree.
In northern Croatia, as in Central Europe, the cakes are generous. Like the makovnjača, a poppy seed roll or the orehnjača, filled with a nut puree. The kremšnita, very popular in Samobor, resembles a millefeuille with its layers of crispy puff pastry filled with vanilla cream. Doughnuts(buhli, krafne) are often served on religious holidays and carnivals. Finally, the bajadera is halfway between a cake and a confectionery. It is presented in the form of bars with several layers of cookies, nougat, nut cream and chocolate. It is a very popular dessert throughout the former Yugoslavia.
In Dalmatia you can find the skradinska torta, a nut and orange cake with a chocolate ganache. The rožata is an egg custard from the Dubrovnik region, flavored with a local rose liqueur called rozalin. Rapska torta is an amazing spiral-shaped pie, unique to the island of Rab, filled with an almond and maraschino cream. It is believed that this dessert was first served in 1177 to Pope Alexander III, on the occasion of the blessing of the Assumption Cathedral in Rab. If you are in Korčula, why not bring back cukarini, those delicious vanilla rings with almonds, flavored with a hint of rakija, a grape liqueur. Finally, paprenjak, spicy shortbread whose recipe dates back to the Renaissance, are often decorated with delicate plant or animal motifs. But the most original cake is the Ston cake made with sweet macaroni dough, eggs, chocolate, carob, almonds, hazelnuts, butter and lemon. The Croatian mountain honey(planinski med) is full-bodied, full of the aromas of sage, lemon balm and rosemary.
Bread, wine and cheese / prsut
While it's not possible to sample everything on the spot, there's nothing to stop you bringing back Croatian specialities in your suitcases. Of course, the aforementioned cookies make delicious presents, but it's impossible to talk about local products without mentioning Croatian wines. Until the late 1980s, only two cooperatives were allowed to buy grapes to produce wine. An unequal reality when you consider that wine has been produced in the region for over 2,500 years. Since the legislation was relaxed, some regions have distinguished themselves by classifying their wines with a quality label comparable to the AOC system. Beware, however, as Croatian wines are sometimes stronger than their French counterparts, with up to 15 degrees of alcohol. The best vintages come from western Croatia.
Generally speaking, Slavonian wines are more often light, dry whites similar to those found in Hungary or Austria, while Istrian and South Dalmatian wines are often more heady reds. The Croatian coast is ideal for vine-growing, thanks to its arid soil, guaranteed sunshine and iodized air. These favourable plant health conditions have given rise to original, tannic wines. On the Pelješac peninsula, the wine region of plavac mali, dingač and other poštups rivals the Istrian teran. In Istria, with its more temperate climate, the wines are lighter and more subtle. Among the most famous are poreški merlot, teran, malvasia istarka and cabernet sauvignon poreški.
Among cooked wines, it's impossible not to mention prošek, known to the Romans as vinum sanctum. It's usually drunk with dessert. Despite its name, it has nothing in common with Italian prosecco, which is a sparkling wine. In the Zadar region,maraschino is a cherry spirit, drunk chilled as an aperitif. Croatia and Italy dispute the origin of this liqueur. As a digestive, open a bottle of šljivovica, a plum brandy, unless you prefer the grape-based rakija, very popular in the rest of the Balkans.
Olive oils are also excellent, some of which have a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO): šoltansko maslinovo ulje, korčulansko maslinovo ulje, krčko maslinovo ulje and ekstra djevičansko maslinovo ulje. You can even visit cellars such as the one at the Pula Colosseum, which are - rarely - open to the public. The owners of the Chiavalon estate, brothers Sandi and Tedi, have planted thousands of olive trees and restored the family farmhouse to a contemporary design.
Croatia has a long tradition of tasty cured meats and cheeses: dalmatinski pršut (smoked ham from Dalmatia),istarski pršut (smoked ham from Istria), šunka (ham from Slavonia) and kulen (dry sausage with a hint of spice). Samoborska muštarda is a mustard slightly sweetened with a hint of grape marc, produced in Samobor. Last but not least, don't forget paški sir, a sheep's milk cheese made on the island of Pag, and Istrian white truffles, which you can take home in jars(bijeli tartuf), as condiments or scented oils. These gourmet products are often offered on platters in more or less select wine bars.
