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Croatian cuisine

Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and is known as a cuisine of the regions, since every region of Croatia has its own distinct culinary tradition. Its roots date back to ancient times. The differences in the selection of foodstuffs and forms of cooking are most notable between those in mainland and those in coastal regions. Mainland cuisine is more characterized by the earlier Slavic and the more recent contacts with Hungarian and Turkish cuisine, using lard for cooking, and spices such as black pepper, paprika, and garlic. The coastal region bears the influences of Greek and Roman cuisine, as well as of the later Mediterranean cuisine, in particular Italian (especially Venetian). Coastal cuisines use olive oil, herbs and spices such as rosemary, sage, bay leaf, oregano, marjoram, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and lemon and orange rind. Peasant cooking traditions are based on imaginative variations of several basic ingredients (cereals, dairy products, meat, fish, vegetables, nuts) 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 the Croatian culinary tradition in all regions. Food and recipes from other former Yugoslav countries are also popular in Croatia.

Croatian cuisine can be divided into several distinct cuisines (Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, Gorski Kotar, Istria, Lika, Međimurje, Podravina, Slavonija, Zagorje) each of which has specific cooking traditions, characteristic of 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.

Meat and game

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.
na lešo means boiled in broth or water (lamb, beef, fish)

Croatian meat-based dishes include:

Seafood

Croatian seafood dishes include:

Stews

Stewed vegetables with a small amount of meat or sausages (varivo or čušpajz) is perceived as a healthy, traditional meal. Sour cream (in Northern Croatia) or olive oil (on the coast) can be added to the plate just before serving. Stewed meat dishes are often prepared by men in open spaces, following hunting and shepherding traditions. In Dalmatian urban cuisine, spices such as cinnamon and clove, Swiss chard (known as "blitva"), dried plums, dried figs, apples and other fruit are sometimes added to meat stews.

Pasta

Pasta is one of the most popular food items in Croatian cuisine, especially in the region of Dalmatia. Manistra na pome (pasta with tomato sauce) is a staple. The other popular sauces include creamy mushroom sauce, minced meat sauce and many others. Fresh pasta (rezanci, krpice) is added to soups and stews, or prepared with cottage cheese, cabbage, even with walnuts or poppy seed. Potato dough is popular, not only for making njoki (gnocchi), but also for making plum or cheese dumplings which are boiled, and then quickly fried in breadcrumbs and butter.

Soups

Soup is an integral part of a meal in Croatia and no Sunday family meal or any special occasion will go without it. The most popular soups are broth-based, with added pasta or semolina dumplings. They are usually light in order to leave space for the main course and dessert to follow. However, cream or roux-based soups are also popular, and there are many local variations of traditional soups. In Dalmatia, fish soup with fish chunks, carrots and rice is commonly served.

Maneštra
Veal soup with smoked meat
Beef broth with vermicelli pasta
Mushroom soup, especially with porcini
Dill soup
Zagorska juha with porcini mushrooms, bacon, sweet pepper
Pretepena juha od graha, beans cream soup
Prežgana juha
Chicken soup

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)
Knedle (are boiled dumplings)

Other

Sausages and ham

Cheese (sir)

Paški sir – sheep's milk cheese from the 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 cream, vrhnje) from Zagorje (sir i vrhnje, often seen as quintessential Croatian traditional food)

Savoury pies

Viška pogača is a salted sardine-filled focaccia from the island of Vis.
Soparnik is a Dalmatian chard-filled pie.
Duvanjska pita, made from thin phyllo dough wraps filled with potato and meat.

Pastry

Pita
Pogača (farmers' bread)
Povitica

Bučnica (summer squash and cottage cheese pie, can be savory or sweet)
Štrukli (made with cottage cheese, sour cream and eggs, can be savory or sweet, boiled or baked)
Zlevanka, simple baked cornmeal pastry with various fillings (e.g. cheese, sour cream, cherries, plum jam, walnuts, nettle)
Varaždinski klipići

Sweets and desserts

Palačinke (crepes) with sweet filling (Hungarian: palacsinta, German: Palatschinken)
Piškote/Piškoti — thin, light, sweet delicate, crispy cookie
Baklava
Kremšnita – vanilla slice or custard slice, is a custard and chantilly cream cream cake dessert
Doboš — sponge cake layered with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel (Hungarian: Dobos torta)
Šaumšnita –
Zagorski štrukli – sweet pastry from northern Croatia
Uštipci
Fritule
Knedle – also known as gomboce are potato dough dumplings, usually filled with plums and rolled into buttered breadcrumbs
Strudel (Croatian: savijača or štrudla) with apple or curd cheese fillings
Orahnjača and Makovnjača – sweet breads with walnut or poppy seeds
Croatian honey
Bear's paw
Farmer's cheese (quark) cakes (cream cake)
Krafne, pokladnice – a type of doughnut
Croatian pancakes (with wine and egg sauce)
Šnenokli, paradižot (meringue in custard cream, floating island (dessert))
Almond filled ravioli (rafioli)
Homemade fruit preserves, jams, compotes
Čupavci (lamingtons)
Tiramisu

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)
Makarana torta
Imotska torta
Mađarica (Croatian layer cake)

Drinks

Wines

Croatia has 3 main wine regions: Continental (Kontinetska), Coastal (Primorska) which includes the islands and Slavonia.Croatia’s northeastern-most region.The old wine cellars in Ilok date back to the 15th and 18th centuries. It is interesting that the famous Ilok Traminac was ordered by the English Court for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Also, one interesting story coming from one of the employees who save a place during the Homeland War, more precisely during the Serbian occupation of Ilok, when he decided to enclose the wall of one part of the Old Cellar and store it as many as 8,000 most valuable archival wines.

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.Istria, Konavle and Pelješac were recognised by Vogue as the best ones in Croatia. There are numerous enological events (fairs) throuought the year (for ex. Vinistra).

In parts of Croatia, wine, either red or white, is sometimes consumed mixed with mineral water or juices. For example, in Hrvatsko zagorje and Međimurje, popular combination is white wine and mineral water (mostly Jamnica), called gemišt (German: gemischt, ”mixed”, "mixture"). On the other hand, in Dalmatia is popular bevanda (Italian: bevanda, "drink"), mix of vine and natural water. Bevanda is common gastronomical motif in cultural representations of Dalmatia and its people in popular culture.

Dessert wines

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

White wines

Rajnski Rizling
Žlahtina, Vitis vinifera from Vrbnik (Vrbnik polje) at the Krk island, also known as "Vrbnička žlahtina”
Malvazija
Graševina

Red wines

Babić
Plavac Mali
Postup
Frankovka

Beers (pivo)

Apart from imported beers (Heineken, Tuborg, Gösser, Stella Artois, etc.), there are home-brewed and locally brewed beers in Croatia. A brewery based 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)
Pan
Favorit: from Buzet, Istria
Vukovarsko: from Vukovar
Osječko: from Osijek (oldest brewery in Croatia)
Tars pivo: from the seaport city of Rijeka
Tomislav: dark beer from Zagreb
Velebitsko pivo: brewed near Gospić on the Velebit mountain, the dark beer has been voted best beer by an English beer fan website.

Liqueurs and spirits

Maraschino
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)
Medovina (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 [2]
Lipički studenac
Jana – also belongs to Jamnica, best aromatized mineral water (Eauscar 2004)

Juices and syrups

Protected products

There are 46 Croatian agricultural and food products whose name is registered in the European Union as a protected designation of origin or a protected designation of geographical origin (European mark of authenticity by the European Commission).

Cheese

Bjelovarski Kvargl
Lički škripavac (from Lika)
Pag cheese (from Pag island)

Honey

Goranski medun (from Gorski kotar)
Slavonski med (Slavonian honey)
Zagorski bagremov med (from Hrvatsko zagorje)

Meat

Baranjski kulen
Dalmatinska janjetina (Dalmatian lamb)
Dalmatinska panceta
Dalmatinska pečenica
Dalmatinski pršut
Drniški pršut
Istarski pršut (Istrski pršut)
Lička janjetina (Likan lamb)
Krčki pršut
Malostonska kamenica
Međimursko meso ‘z tiblice
Meso istarskog goveda – boškarina (Meso istrskega goveda – boškarina; Meat of Istrian cattle – Boškarin)
Paška janjetina (lamb from Pag island)
Samoborska češnjovka (Samoborska češnofka; smoked saussage from Samobor)
Slavonska crna svinja (Slavonian black pig, hr)
Slavonski kulen (Slavonski kulin; Slavonian kulen/kulin)
Zagorski puran (turkey meat from Hrvatsko zagorje)

Fruits and vegetables

Brački varenik
Neretvanska mandarina
Komiški rogač (Komižan carob)
Lički krumpir (Likan potato)
Ogulinsko kiselo zelje/Ogulinski kiseli kupus
Varaždinsko zelje

Olive oils

Bračko maslinovo ulje
Ekstra djevičansko maslinovo ulje Cres
Korčulansko maslinovo ulje
Krčko maslinovo ulje
Šoltansko maslinovo ulje

Other oils

Varaždinsko bučino ulje (Varaždin pumpkin seed oil)

Pastry

Lumblija (aromatic sweet bread)
Poljički soparnik (Poljički zeljanik or Poljički uljenjak)
Rudarska greblica
Varaždinski klipič
Zagorski mlinci
Zagorski štrukli (Zagorski štruklji)

Sea products

Novigrad Mussel, Mytilus galloprovincialis cultivated in farms in the Novigrad Sea and Novsko Ždrilo
Paška sol (sea salt from Pag island)