Croatian cuisine



Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is known as a cuisine of the regions since every region 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".&nbsp

Meat and game Meso z tiblice - pork from "tiblitsa" wooden barrel from Međimurje County, northern CroatiaCroatian meat based dishes include:
 * 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.

[edit] Seafood
Lobster from DalmatiaCroatian seafood dishes include:

[edit] Stews
Goulash is very popular in most parts of Croatia{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="table-layout: fixed;" width="70%"
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 * Goulash (Croatian: gulaš, see also Hungarian gulyás)
 * Grah - bean stew (often done as 'grah sa zeljem' - with sauerkraut, or 'grah sa 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
 * Istrian stew (Jota)
 * 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)
 * }

[edit] Pasta
Žganci is made from maize, wheat or buckwheat flour, water, cooking oil and salt{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="table-layout: fixed;" width="70%"
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 * 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 is a sort of 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
 * }

[edit] Soups

 * 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

[edit] 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)

[edit] Other
White Truffles from IstriaCroatian style Punjena Paprika/stuffed peppersCheese škripavac{| border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="table-layout: fixed;" width="70%"
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 * Zagrebački odrezak or Wiener Schnitzel - escalope stuffed with ham and cheese
 * Punjena 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
 * 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 or broad beans
 * Fritaja with asparagus
 * Gorski kotar filling (pieces of ham with eggs and bread)
 * Žganci (with milk, Polenta)
 * Čvarci
 * }

[edit] Cheese (sir)
Pogača bread===[edit] Savoury pies=== Viška pogača is a salted sardine filled foccacia from the island of Vis. Soparnik is a Dalmatian chard filled pie.
 * 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)

[edit] Pastry
Savijača or Štrudla with appleOrehnjača variation of Nut RollCrêpes, in Croatia also known as PalačinkeMeđimurska gibanica*Bučnica (summer squash and cottage cheese pie)
 * Pita
 * Pogača (farmers' bread)
 * Husiljevača
 * Povitica

[edit] 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

[edit] 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)

[edit] Wines
Main article: Croatian wineCroatia 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]

[edit] Dessert wines

 * Sweet Malvazija
 * Muškat Ottonel (see: Muscat grape)
 * Prošek

[edit] Beers (pivo)
Velebitsko pivo, beer from CroatiaApart 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 [2 ]
 * Ožujsko: brewed in Zagreb (the name refers to the month of march) [3 ]
 * Pan
 * Favorit: from Buzet, Istria
 * Osječko: from Osijek
 * 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.

[edit] Liqueurs and spirits
A bottle of Maraschino liqueur.*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).

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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

[edit] See also

 * Croatian brands

[edit] References

 * 1) ^ "Maraska". Maraska.hr. http://www.maraska.hr/engleski/e_uvoden.html. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
 * 2) ^ "Badel 1862". Badel1862.hr. 2012-02-14. http://www.badel1862.hr/en_default.asp. Retrieved 2012-06-20.
 * 3) ^ [1 ] [dead link]