Local Dishes

1. Pašticada

   Beef braised in a sweet-and-sour sauce

   Usage

   A Dalmatian dish: a leg of beef braised in a sweet-and-sour sauce of onion and carrot, dried prunes, prošek (sweet dessert wine), red wine and vinegar, the meat larded with garlic, pancetta and cloves. It comes with njoki (gnocchi) or rezanci (wide noodles). It is a dish for feast days, weddings and christenings, so some kitchens need time for it

   Grammar Note

   A feminine noun; in an order sentence it takes the accusative "pašticadu"

2. Brudet

   Adriatic fish stew

   Usage

   A stew of sea fish: sliced onion softened in olive oil, the fish briefly fried, then salt, pepper, parsley, garlic, tomato and vinegar, topped with water and simmered long without stirring. Eel, gilt-head bream and scorpionfish are used, though a mixture is held to be best. It is served with polenta

   Grammar Note

   Three spellings are current — "Brodet (brudet, brujet)" — and a menu may print any of them. It corresponds to Italian "brodetto"

3. Buzara

   Shellfish stewed in olive oil, wine and tomato

   Usage

   Sea shellfish or crustaceans stewed in olive oil and seasoned with tomato, parsley, garlic and wine. The word is a Venetian loan that first named the iron pot with a handle that fishermen used on the boat; the pot gave its name to what was cooked in it

   Grammar Note

   Feminine. On menus it usually appears as a method — "škampi na buzaru" (langoustines), "dagnje na buzaru" (mussels). "na" + accusative names a way of cooking, so the word shifts to "buzaru" there

4. Salata od hobotnice

   Octopus salad

   Usage

   A standard cold starter along the Adriatic; it also appears on the fish menu for Badnjak (Christmas Eve)

   Grammar Note

   "od" + genitive names the material: "hobotnica" (octopus, feminine) becomes "hobotnice"

5. Bakalar na bijelo

   Salt cod creamed with potato and olive oil

   Usage

   Dried salt cod worked warm with potato, olive oil, garlic and parsley into a creamy paste. It is strongest in Dalmatia, Konavle and Istria, and since the 19th century it has belonged to the table on Badnjak (Christmas Eve) and Veliki petak (Good Friday) — so a winter traveller meets it often

   Grammar Note

   Note the ijekavian "bijelo" — do not let the Serbian ekavian "belo" creep in. "na" + accusative names the style, and "na bijelo" (white) pairs with "na crveno" (with tomato)

6. Ispod peke

   Cooked under the bell (peka)

   Usage

   A peka (pekva) is a bell of clay or iron used over an open hearth. Meat, potatoes or bread go on the hot hearth or in a shallow pan, the pre-heated bell goes over them, and embers and hot ash are heaped on top, so the food cooks slowly and evenly from above and below. Menus attach it to the ingredient: "janjetina ispod peke" (lamb), "hobotnica ispod peke" (octopus). It is a slow method

   Grammar Note

   "ispod" governs the genitive, so "peka" (feminine) becomes "peke"

7. Soparnik

   Thin chard pie from Poljica

   Usage

   A dish of Poljica, the hinterland southeast of Split: chard (blitva) and onion between two sheets of thin unleavened dough, baked on the embers of an open hearth. It is also called zeljenik or uljenjak, and is registered in the EU as the protected geographical indication "Poljički soparnik / Poljički zeljanik / Poljički uljenjak" (2016)

   Grammar Note

   Masculine. The protected name carries the place: "Poljički soparnik"

8. Pršut

   Dry-cured ham

   Usage

   Meat salted, pressed and dried — usually a pork leg, occasionally beef or mutton. The regions differ: Istarski pršut is not smoked and is rubbed with pepper, garlic and herbs, while Dalmatinski pršut is lightly smoked for about 70 days and then dried in the bura, the dry north wind. Both are EU protected names, as are Drniški pršut and Krčki pršut

   Grammar Note

   Masculine, borrowed from Venetian "persuto" (Italian "prosciutto"), ultimately Latin for "thoroughly dried"

9. Paški sir

   Pag island sheep's-milk cheese

   Usage

   A hard sheep's-milk cheese from the island of Pag in the Adriatic, an EU protected name. On a starter platter it usually arrives alongside pršut

   Grammar Note

   The relational adjective "paški" (from Pag) plus the masculine noun "sir". Do not drop the "š"

10. Blitva

    Swiss chard

    Usage

    A leaf vegetable. A Prilozi (side dish), and on the coast it stands beside almost every fish plate. It is also the filling of soparnik

    Grammar Note

    Feminine; the accusative in an order is "blitvu"

11. Fuži

    Istrian hand-rolled pasta

    Usage

    Traditional Istrian pasta: the dough is rolled thin, cut into strips 3–4 cm wide, cut again on the diagonal into diamonds, and each diamond is wrapped end over end and pressed in the middle into a bow. The standard sauce is a mild beef one of onion, tomato, white wine and broth

    Grammar Note

    Menus print the plural "fuži" as it stands; inland Istrian kitchens often list it next to pljukanci, another hand-rolled pasta

12. Maneštra

    Istrian bean and vegetable soup-stew

    Usage

    An Istrian vegetable stew that takes many forms but always contains grah (beans) and krumpir (potato). With vegetables predominant it is a starter; with heavier ingredients such as meat it is the main course. Inland Gračišće holds a maneštra festival every June

    Grammar Note

    Feminine, cognate with Italian "minestra". Note that the Croatian word for beans here is "grah", not the Serbian "pasulj"

13. Tartufi

    Truffles

    Usage

    A fungus of the genus Tuber. The best-known Croatian ground is the valley of the Mirna, the Istrian river, which yields both bijeli tartuf (white) and crni tartuf (black). Istrian menus shave it over fuži, njoki or an omelette

    Grammar Note

    Plural; the singular is "tartuf" (masculine). Menus often write "s tartufima" — with truffles, instrumental plural

14. Zagorski štrukli

    Zagorje cheese-filled dough parcels

    Usage

    Stretched dough wrapped around fresh cow's cheese, sour cream and eggs — a household dish of Hrvatsko zagorje, the hills north of Zagreb, and of Zagreb itself. They come kuhani (boiled) or pečeni (baked), and are made both slani (savoury) and slatki (sweet); other fillings are pumpkin (tikvač), poppy seed (makač) and turnip (štrukli z repom)

    Grammar Note

    Always plural; the spelling "Zagorski štruklji" is used alongside it

15. Purica s mlincima

    Roast turkey with mlinci

    Usage

    A speciality of Zagorje and Slavonia. Mlinci are sheets of flour, salt and water (sometimes egg and fat) rolled to about 1 mm, baked dry in the oven or on a plate, then broken into pieces about 5 cm across, soaked in hot salted water or broth and finished with the roasting juices. They soften fast, so once drained they are not stirred

    Grammar Note

    The preposition "s" (with) takes the instrumental, turning the plural "mlinci" into "mlincima". Duck (patka) and goose (guska) take the same accompaniment

16. Slavonski čobanac

    Slavonian paprika meat stew

    Usage

    A Slavonian stew of beef and pork, sometimes game, with a great deal of onion, ground paprika and spice, cooked long over an open fire or in a heavy pot until it thickens. It is also called čorbanac or pastirac. The paprika is generous, and some kitchens make it hot

    Grammar Note

    Masculine. The initial letter is "č", not "ć"

17. Kulen

    Paprika-cured dry sausage

    Usage

    Finely chopped pork mixed with salt, sweet and hot ground paprika and garlic, packed into casing, smoked and dried. It belongs to Slavonia and Baranja, and Slavonski kulen and Baranjski kulen are EU protected names; the form "kulin" is also heard. The hot paprika makes it a spicy slice on a starter platter

    Grammar Note

    Masculine; the place adjective goes in front — Slavonski kulen, Baranjski kulen

18. Čvarci

    Pork crackling

    Usage

    Pork fat rendered in an iron cauldron, the fat pressed out and the small pieces fried and dried; a little milk at the start turns them golden. They belong to Slavonia and to the kolinje, the winter pig slaughter, and Grubišno Polje holds a contest called the Čvarkijada

    Grammar Note

    Plural; the singular is "čvarak". The initial letter is "č"

19. Sarma

    Stuffed cabbage rolls

    Usage

    Minced or chopped meat, usually with rice, rolled in soured cabbage (ukiseljeni kupus), fresh cabbage or vine leaves and simmered. It exists in various forms in the countries of the former Ottoman Empire and beyond — the leaf and the filling differ from region to region

    Grammar Note

    Feminine; one roll is "sarma" and several are "sarme"

20. Ćevapi

    Grilled minced-meat fingers

    Usage

    Minced meat shaped into fingers and grilled, also called ćevapčići. It usually comes in lepinja (flatbread) with chopped raw onion, ajvar and kajmak, and what comes with it varies from place to place. It is popular in the countries of South-East Europe

    Grammar Note

    Plural; the singular is "ćevap". The initial letter is "ć", not "č". An order names the count — "deset ćevapa", ten of them, genitive plural

21. Burek

    Filled pastry of stretched dough

    Usage

    Stretched dough baked around a filling. In Croatia the word is not reserved for the meat version: unlike in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Croatia burek does not refer exclusively to the dish with meat — there are many kinds: burek s mesom, sa sirom, sa zeljem. Say which filling you want, or point at it

    Grammar Note

    Masculine. The filling is named with "s / sa" plus the instrumental: s mesom (meat), sa sirom (cheese), sa zeljem (greens); the longer "sa" appears before a cluster that would be hard to say

22. Ajvar

    Roasted red pepper relish

    Usage

    A cold relish of peppers and spice, put beside grilled meat or spread on bread; it began as a salad of peppers, aubergine and spice. It is a favourite across the countries of South-East Europe, and jars of it fill the markets and supermarkets

    Grammar Note

    Masculine; the word goes back to Turkish "hayvar / kavyar", salted roe

23. Fritule

    Small fried doughnuts

    Usage

    A fried sweet of the Kvarner coast, Istria and Dalmatia (and of Slovenia and Venice). Liqueur, brandy and lemon zest go into the dough, raisins often too, and sugar is dusted over them. They belong to fasting periods, to Badnjak (Christmas Eve) and to carnival

    Grammar Note

    Plural; the singular is "fritula", feminine

24. Rožata

    Dalmatian caramel custard

    Usage

    A cold Dalmatian dessert of eggs, milk, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla under a caramel topping — the local answer to crème brûlée. Dubrovnik prizes it and calls it "rozata"

    Grammar Note

    Feminine; in the Dubrovnik form "rozata" the "ž" is a plain "z"

25. Kremšnita

    Custard slice

    Usage

    Puff pastry around a whipped-egg cream, found across Central and South-East Europe. In Croatia the known versions are the Samoborska kremšnita, from the town of Samobor west of Zagreb, and the Zagrebačka kremšnita; the form "krempita" is also used

    Grammar Note

    Feminine, borrowed from German "Cremeschnitte"

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