Last month Croatia set the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest sarma when a whopping 1,320-metre sarma was made at the Zeljarijada festival in Vidovec in the northern Croatian Varaždin County.
Now Bosnia and Herzegovina has joined in on the act. In the city of Tuzla today a huge meat burek, weighing 650 kilograms was revealed which they hope will earn them a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
Besides the massive burek, they also produced a gigantic portion of ćevapi, 1,500 pieces on a huge lepinja. They also hope that makes the Guinness Book of Records also.
“The dimension of the burek is 6 meters x 6 meters. 14 people took part in preparing it with the pastry measuring 1,500 meters in length,” Omer Isović, one of the organizers of the Tuzla Gastro Show.
This post originally appeared on : http://www.jamieoliver.com
We’ve reached the slightly flat stage of the World Cup where some teams are playing their final game, already knowing they are going home. Bosnia-Herzegovina is one such team, taking on World Cup favourites Argentina – let’s hope they can leave Brazil on a high, just like our Foodie World Cup is going to.
When I started to think around Bosnia-Herzegovia as a “virtual” destination for this month, I was intrigued to learn more about the kinds of cuisine found there. Bosnia-Herzegovia is pretty much landlocked, except for a tiny piece of coastline along the Adriatic Sea. As with much of the cuisine of Eastern Europe, centuries of changing rulers and borders have resulted in a flavourful mix of culinary influence – Turkish, Austrian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean – as well as similarities with Romanian and Bulgarian kitchens, too.
Beef, lamb, pork and veal will very often find their way into kebabs called Ćevapi, or into soups and stews such as goulash, loaded up with onions, garlic, tomatoes and other vegetables. The food isn’t so much spicy as robust, often full of peppers and paprika. You’ll also find smaller bites you will recognise, such as stuffed grape leaves with rice (dolma) and flaky pastry filled with meat, cheese, spinach or potatoes (burek). There’s plenty of local, village-made cheese to be found, and good wines. For sweet treats, you’ll be served stewed fruits, filled doughnuts, and the absolutely delicious baklava, which are bite-sized flaky pastry layers lusciously combined with honey and nuts.
For a fitting football snack, I was keen to try my hand at Pljeskavica burgers, because every host should serve a plate of good burgers for guests watching the footy! The word “pljesak” means “to clap the hands”, which is what you do to flatten these particular patties. Some say these burgers are the Serbian national dish (known as the Serbian hamburger), while others refer to them as Bosnian burgers (particularly US chains, oddly!) or Balkan burgers.
The burgers are traditionally thrown onto charcoals to cook – an outside BBQ would be ideal – and sandwiched inside a flatbread (traditionally a thick pita called lepinja). They will need to be prepped before the guests arrive but, because the Balkan burger is thin, it cooks through quickly and will be ready in no time.
You can serve the burgers with pickled vegetables, known as Turšija, or fresh onions, tomatoes and bell peppers, also typical of the region. If you have the time, you could quickly make some of these easy flatbreads to go with them.
Pljeskavica – Balkan / Bosnian burger recipe
Ingredients:
250g minced beef
250g minced pork (optional – otherwise use 500g beef)
250g minced veal
1 onion, very finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Flatbread to serve
A little oil if you are cooking on a griddle pan
Method
In a large bowl, combine the beef, pork and veal (you could use lamb, instead) and add the onions, garlic, paprika and salt and pepper. Mix everything together really well with your hands. Cover with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.
When you are ready to make the burgers, keep a bowl of water to your side to dip your hands into – moist hands will prevent the meat from becoming too sticky. Take a large, palm-sized portion of meat and form a flat burger, about the size of a small side plate and around 0.5cm in thickness. You could also place the meat between two sheets of clingfilm to form and flatten the burgers out – I found this to be the easiest way.
Repeat until all the meat is used up then place the burgers onto a tray, cover with clingfilm and leave them in the fridge for a further hour or so.
To cook, heat the barbecue or a large, oiled griddle pan. The burgers will cook in around five minutes – flip occasionally so that both sides are equally cooked.
Serve with warmed flat bread, cut in half horizontally, along with pickles, onions and peppers.
Geert Mak, a journalist from Netherlands is coming to Bosnia and Herzegovina in May this year! Geert Mak is one of the Netherland’s most popular writers. His books become huge best-sellers all around the world. Among his most well-known books is Amsterdam A brief Life of the City and In Europe.
The book Amsterdam: A brief Life of the City is intended for travelers and visitors who want to learn more about the city of Amsterdam without having to dive into comprehensive historical tomes.
Herzegovina Lodges kind and professional staff will give a warm welcome to this writer. Typical Bosnian atmosphere and Bosnian cuisine in Herzegovina Lodges will satisfy anyone’s desires.
We can wish a warm welcome to Mak and hope that he will visit our city Mostar during his stay in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Tour Guide Mostar project is in full swing. Every day we are gathering more and more information and getting in touch with bloggers from all around the world who visited Mostar and Herzegovina as a stop on their journeys.
This week we would like to introduce you to Mandy Southgate, an expat with dual South African and British nationality. She likes traipsing around the English countryside and she loves Bosnia (with a passion). She also loves Serbia and the Balkans! Read her story: “EATING OUT IN BOSNIA: THE BEST MEALS OF MY LIFE”!
I know, it’s not Tuesday but when life gave me lemons this week, I had to turn them into Lemsip to treat a change-of-season cold that suddenly appeared. Speaking of food, this week I am joining Emma, Rebecca and Kelly on their monthly travel link up. We’re talking about the best meals we had while traveling and I couldn’t think of a better reason to return to Bosnia! In a way, I’m pleased because I’m not a foodie blogger (I far prefer to eat food then write about it) but I had always wanted to share these culinary experiences.
Restaurant Šadrvan review
Location: Jusovina Street, Old town Mostar
I remember the Saturday afternoon we arrived in Mostar as if it were yesterday. I had seen so many photos of the old town but somehow remained unprepared for its beauty. The hostess of the Villa Anri encouraged us to enjoy drinks on the roof of the hotel but as we gazed down into the old town, we simply couldn’t wait to go and explore. We asked our hostess to recommend a restaurant with authentic Bosnian-Herzegovinian food and she wasted no time in recommending the Restaurant Šadrvan.
Photo by eminnlondon.com
I will always remember that afternoon in Mostar. We sat under the shade of the trees in the Šadrvan restaurant, watching as people milled around the market stalls or began the steep incline towards the old bridge. It was a hot, lazy May afternoon with the temperatures already in the 30s yet there was an undercurrent of anticipation as if we need only wait for the cool dusk to come and the evening festivities to begin.
Photo by emminlondon.com
Located where Jusovina Street meets the main path through the old town, Šadrvan (meaning ‘fountain’) surrounds an old Ottoman-style fountain.
As I opened the menu and paged through the options, I had to laugh at the name of the dish that we were to order. Part of what attracted me to the Bosnian language in the first place was that so often, words are similar enough that you can derive their meaning; it’s just that words sound so much more lyrical in Bosnian. I ordered the ‘Nacionalna Plate’ for two and thrilled at the way in which the words rolled off my tongue.
The food of the Balkan region is well known for its variety of stuffed vegetables and this meal was no different. At €18, it was incredibly well-priced and included japrak and dolma – peppers, onions, and vine leaves stuffed with rice and meat. The meal came with loads of ćevapi which are minced lamb sausages, small savory corn bread cakes known as ‘Bosnian cookies’ and đuveč, a savory vegetable dish. The dish was completed with flat bread, boiled potatoes, rice and sour cream.
I’ve often tried to describe the effect that this dish had on us but seem to fail each time. I can say that it was so good that it puts every other dish I have had since to shame. That my mouth is watering as I write and that I’d climb on a plane right now if I could to sample that piece of Bosnian heaven again. It was simply delicious and when we were looking for somewhere to eat the following afternoon, we could not help but return to the Šadrvan again to eat the exact same dish.
Photo by emminlondon.com
Restaurant Inat Kuća review
Location: Veliki Alifakovac 1, Sarajevo
After such an auspicious introduction to local cuisine, Stephen and I were initially disappointed with the food in Sarajevo. We had prepared ahead, consulted Trip Advisor and gone to the most popular restaurant in town and while the food was good and the service fantastic, it simply didn’t measure up to our experience in Mostar.
Thankfully, we met up with Kenan, a local tour guide and he recommended the Restaurant Inat Kuća for an authentic Bosnian experience.
Photo by emminlondon.com
I chose the dish Sarajevski Sahan and it did not disappoint. It was a mix of Bosnian specialties and again featured stuffed peppers, onions and vine leaves, as well as ćevapi and bamija which is a Bosnian veal stew. We noticed the slight change in the food from Mostar, which is in the Herzegovinian region, with the introduction of veal and stews. Yes, all of that meat was for one person and cost an incredible 20KM or €10! My dish cost 14KM or €7.
Photo by emminlondon.com
The story of the Inat Kuća or ‘house of despite’ is an incredible one. The house was once located on the other side of the river Miljacka but in 1895 city officials wanted to demolish it to make way for the new city hall. The old man who owned the house was very stubborn and insisted that they dismantle his house and rebuild it, brick by brick, on the other side of the river. And so it is now, slightly lost in translation, the house of spite or despite.
It is a little difficult to describe exactly why we loved this restaurant so much and what it meant to us. We had spent the morning touring Sarajevo with Kenan, learning about the siege, driving down Sniper Alley and visiting the Tunnel Museum. It was a lot to absorb and I can recall us being lost in our thoughts for a while as we relaxed and enjoyed the superb food. I would say that it was a moment in time, a sensory experience which is burned in my heart and my memory and I can so easily recall the quiet and calm of that afternoon, the importance to us and, of course, the tastes.
