Where There’s Smoke, There’s Good Food

And there’s a bonus – besides curing your food and keeping it in the long run, smoke also adds an extra flavour, irresistible for many. Although smoking food is not so vital to our survival today, many meat products as well as some other foods are still traditionally dry-cured by smoking, and we consume most of them in the wintertime.

“Češnjovka sausage gets that little extra something when lightly smoked.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Of course, meat products are most often smoked, and this process usually also combines salt-curing and drying because smoking alone is not enough for proper preserving. Take a look at our winter diet or just take a peek in an average butcher’s shop in Zagreb and most of the things you see will include at least a bit of smoking. All kinds of sausages, salami, ham, bacon, ribs… Obviously, this is not something you just casually do at home, unless you live in the countryside and have your private little smokehouse, or pušnica, as we call them here. One of local favourites is češnjovka, a spicy pork sausage with garlic (hence the name). It can be fresh, but it’s best when it’s lightly smoked, and then boiled and served only with sautéed sauerkraut.

“Buncek or smoked ham hock before cooking.” Image credit: Enogastrobrutal

Pots and pots of bean stew are eaten during winter, and this popular and omnipresent dish is way better and richer if you add a chunk of dried and smoked meat. Anything goes, from dried ribs and bacon to smoked pig’s feet and legs. Yet, the king of all smoked meats is buncek – smoked ham hock. After a few hours of simmering in the stew it becomes wonderfully tender, falling of the bone spontaneously. If you have any leftovers, you can eat it cold later, and it pairs perfectly with horseradish sauce. Or it can make a very cool local substituted to pulled pork and similar meats in a nice juicy sandwich. Which reminds me of another rare delicacy, also suitable for gourmet sandwiches – smoked beef tongue. If you find a good dealer, let me know.

“Buncek after cooking, happily served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes.” Image credit: Domagoj Jakopović Ribafish

When we are talking about the cold cuts, the most famous local cured sausage is the protected Samobor salami. Cold smoking is one of the stages of production, to enhance the flavour, but it’s really important that the flavour of fermented meat is dominant, while hints of spices and smoke are in the background. And when you’re cutting salami and other goodies to fill the charcuterie board, naturally you also need cheese. Same as meat, cheese is often smoked to keep longer. Visit the dairy section at a local farmers market like Dolac and find the ladies who sell fresh cheese, cream and eggs, and look out for a wheel of cheese with a brownish crust. Inside you’ll find young and tender cow’s milk cheese, upgraded with a subtle flavour of smoke. It can also be both dried and smoke, but then the moisture is gone and you get a really dry, hard, intense product that’s not easy to eat on its own, but can be used as an interesting ingredient.

“Smoking young cow’s milk cheese improves its quality and aroma.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

In seaside places fish is traditionally smoked, and around Zagreb this can be applied to trout. Smoked trout fillet is a real delicacy, and you can find it in an interesting combination as cold starter in Kod špilje restaurant near Samobor. When life gives you too much smoked trout fillets, you can easily whip up smoked trout pâté. As we go further east towards the Danube, smoked carp will appear, but you don’t really find it in the cuisine of Zagreb.

“Smoked trout fillet and pâté, a great little bite with a glass of wine.” Image credit: Pupitres FB

Smoking food may not be a necessity anymore; it is just another traditional method of preserving food or prolonging its shelf life, loved by many because it gives that special taste and even texture to food. In Zagreb, some foods and some dishes are inconceivable without a bit of smoking involved. The emerging new trend of BBQ smokers is just another proof how smart our ancestors were.

“Just add smoke.” Image credit: Taste of Croatia

Header image credit: Taste of Croatia

Author: Morana Zibar / Taste of Croatia