Serbian Christmas

[srhcb]

TODAY IS SERBIAN (Orthodox Church) CHRISTMAS!

Many Serbs, (my Mother's parents included), came here to Northern Minnesota in the early 1900's to work in the iron mines. The Orthodox Church still uses the old calendar, which is fifteen days behind. There were always jokes about how the Serbs celebrated two weeks later just so they could do all their shopping at the after-Christmas sales.

This site has a good description of the traditional celebration:

http://personalpages.tds.net/~duonexus/ves...articles_6.html

Within my memory, the only part of the celebration I recall is that Grandma Baich always used to roast a whole pig for the occasion. That was many years ago, and I'm only half Serbian, but I did make pork last night. (okay, pork fried rice, but pork none the less)

Traditionally, no local businesses take down their decorations until after today for risk of offending their Serbian customers.

SB (Remember, "we" started half the World Wars ever)

[Mabelline]

Merry Serbian Christmas!

[Raynickben]

How interesting! Thanks for sharing.

[Pan]

Merry Christmas, srhcb!

[Marmish]

Hristos se roti! My husband is Serbian. We celebrate Orthodox Christmas together, and "American" Christmas with my family, and "American" Christmas Eve with his family at his German grandmother's. Thanks for the link.

Edited January 8, 2004 by Marmish (log)

[Al_Dente]

I went to a Serbian Christmas celebration last night at a co-workers house. We roasted a whole pig and a goat too!

Had a bit too much Serbian Plum Liquor

Here is the thread:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=31264

We may post some pics later.

[Wolfert]

Hristos se rodi

My grandfather on my father's side was from Serbia. He used to call me Pavlina.

[suzilightning]

Had a bit too much Serbian Plum Liquor

ah slivovitz...

it can do a number on your head if you aren't careful.

did they have any burek or cevapcici? guess i'm going to have to do some this weekend

[Marmish]

Had a bit too much Serbian Plum Liquor 

ah slivovitz...

it can do a number on your head if you aren't careful.

did they have any burek or cevapcici? guess i'm going to have to do some this weekend

How do you do your cevapcici? I've only tried once, and was only somewhat successful.

[Al_Dente]

Had a bit too much Serbian Plum Liquor 

ah slivovitz...

it can do a number on your head if you aren't careful.

did they have any burek or cevapcici? guess i'm going to have to do some this weekend

No burek. I'm not sure what cevapcici is-- can you elaborate?

They did serve some great bacon, eggs fried in the fat, a sort of polenta like dish, and an excellent kind of casserole with cheese and phyllo. I suppose that was a bit like a giant burek.

[Marmish]

Cevapcici are cigar shaped sausages usually cooked on a small grill. The Mister says they used to grill them behind the bar during dances at the church hall.

[prasantrin]

Merry Serbian Christmas!

I love Serbian food--the Serbian Pavilion is one of my favourite places to eat during Folklorama .

Any chance someone might know what this delicious thing is? It's sort of madeleine-like in that it's cakey yet cookie-y but it seemed to have been soaked in syrup. It was absolutely delicious and I am longing to find a recipe. The Serbian cookbook I bought doesn't seem to have it (but it does have my favourite stuffed peppers recipe!)

[suzilightning]

Cevapcici are cigar shaped sausages usually cooked on a small grill. The Mister says they used to grill them behind the bar during dances at the church hall.

yeah what she said

i use a mix of ground beef and veal, paprika, salt and pepper

my grandparents served it with a tzsiki made from draining yoghurt for at least 24 hours and mixing it with lemon juice,chopped cucumbers that had all the seeds taken out and some more paprika

[Ruth]

The Romanians have something very similar they call mititei - also know by some as Romanian hamburgers! They can be made with any combination of meats (I use pork and beef) but if the meat is very lean one has to add some fat back or pork fat. They are spiced with coriander or cumin, loads of garlic and hot pepper and grilled to a medium rare. I used to eat cevapcici in Belgrade years ago. They used to cook them through (I don't think the quality of the meat was very reliable) but they too must be delicious grilled rare or medium rare.

[srhcb]

For any of you who speak the language:

http://www.istrianet.org/istria/literature...erbian-xmas.htm

or, even if you don't.

SB (surprised how many Serbs are out there!)

[suzilightning]

actually dalmatian and croatian(something i learned not to admit to a serb since i was reamed out - in serbo-croatian - by my future fil's friend who was serb)

but my grandparents ate all those foods - guess the more different we are the more alike we are

[Wolfert]

My great-grandmother used to make cevapcici with hand chopped veal, beef, plenty of fat, and spices. She always worked in some tablespoons of soda water before she packed them onto skewers in sausage shapes. They were the lightest I ever tasted.

[srhcb]

actually dalmatian and croatian(something i learned not to admit to a serb since i was reamed out  - in serbo-croatian - by my future fil's friend who was serb)

The

The border lines seperating the Balkan countries have never been very distinct for very long. Whether that's the cause of or the result of all the ethnic animosities I wouldn't dare guess.

Regardless of nationality, language or religion, the foods eaten by the various ethnic groups are remarably similar for obvious reasons. Even then, minor variations distinguish the dishes.

The Slovenian "Potica" is identical to the Serbian "Povitica". At least, they're as identical as foods based on Grandmother's unwritten recipes can be, so I don't know whether food gives the various peoples common ground or just another reason to argue?

SB (like Grandma Baich used to say, "Those Montenegrins! Now they're really crazy. Like gypsies!")

[Al_Dente]

Some pics of the big event...

Puttin on the spitz:

Starting to cook:

I couldn't wait to take a bite:

Clamped to the spit:

Not just another pretty face:

Next up, goat:

Stitching it closed:

Thanks for a great dinner David!

Edited January 11, 2004 by Al_Dente (log)

[Katherine]

The border lines seperating the Balkan countries have never been very distinct for very long. Whether that's the cause of or the result of all the ethnic animosities I wouldn't dare guess.

No matter what the nominal nationality of any of the states that formerly comprised Yugoslavia, within each are many enclaves of all the other ethnic groups.

My grandfather came from the coast of Dalmatia, but had a Turkish family name. My grandmother said she was from "Austria". We can only guess where she actually was born, probably somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

They were both Serbs, and only spoke Serbian when they arrived in this country.

[Pan]

My grandmother was also from Austria, which in that case means just west of the River Zbruch, which is now some 200 miles into Ukraine. Austro-Hungary was a huge multi-national empire. This is also shown by the fact that my grandmother spoke Yiddish (the language of the Jews, of which she was one) and Ukranian (the language of the local peasants) to begin with, then learned Polish (the language of the local nobility), German (the language of the Austrian overlords), and French (the language of culture). By the time she was done learning the language of the neighboring Russian Empire, the nearby Romanian-speaking people and so forth, she became a translator for the local Imperial officials. Then she came to the U.S.

[suzilightning]

My grandmother said she was from "Austria". We can only guess where she actually was born, probably somewhere in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

They were both Serbs, and only spoke Serbian when they arrived in this country.

interesting since in my baby book for my dad's grandmother it says austria. but still haven't been able to track that down. i do have some of the names in croatia and dalmatia so i'm sure of those.

the last name is simovic^ (tippitey witchit over the c) which became simovich in this country. i'm usually asked if i am russian - not.

funny but in my grandparents house you spoke serbo-croatian or french(grandmere was born in lyon). out of the house you spoke english.

[Bozic]

I owe most of you an appology - I've promissed lots of Serbian Recipes, but haven't had the time for it.

Real quick, to reply to many at once:

That "nice, tasty thing" is called "URMASICA", and that is not a Serbian dish. It would be lovely if Serbs could say "hey, this awesome thing was first made by us" (I'm a Serb myself), but it is completely - Turkish (Ottoman times). Some places in DC are even selling it and it goes for about $3.50 per Lb here.

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STUFFED PEPPERS - I have the recipe, and it is very similar to a stuffed cabbage:

Ground meat (mix - veal and pork, but I recommend lamb, tastes even better) is fried on sunflower or veggie oil for a short period of time - 2-03 minutes, untill it loses the red color. Add white rice and spices - Pepper, Vegeta*(look below), Paprika and Bay Leaves, some salt. Let this sit for an hour or until it cools down so you can hadle it.

Red Bell peppers are best for stuffing - best if you pick the smaller ones.

Take all the seeds out, stuff your peppers until 2/3 full (and rice inside will take care of the rest while cooking).

You can close the pepper tops with tomato slices.

Boil in water on medium heat (actually precise temp is not that important) for about 2 hours, making sure there is enough water in the pan. 2 hours later, you can take stuffed peppers off the stove, put them immediatelly in range oven and bake them on 250-275 for about 45 min to an hour. (pix available)

Cabbage (Kraut): same as peppers, just add smoke-curred bacon and ribbs. The dish is served extremely hot and is called "Sarma". Origin - Austro-Hungarian. (pix available)

Bon apetit!

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CEVAPI (pron. “Chevapi”) – “chevapchichi” is a diminutive of “cevapi”

Origin – Turkish, again.

Ground veal, lamb and (not necessarily) pork are mixed together. Add spices (pepper, but careful – not too much, it will dry them out). Let it sit for about 2 hours. Re-grind. 2 hours. Re-grind. 2 hours. I am not repeating myself – this is the process, and only this way will the chevap be perfect. Push the mixture through a bottleneck (shaping it in your hands will not bring the right results to your table), cutting to pieces as they come out – 1-1/5 inches long. You can let them sit on a plate and rest until the day after (I can provide some pix to accompany this, but need help from the admin in “Serbian recipe” section). Fry on the grill (medium to medium hot) for 5-7 minutes each side. The dish is usually server with chopped onions and is very popular in Bosnia.

Just an FYI: this dish is harder to prepare than it seems.

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Dalmatian language - I'm affraid no such thing even in Dalmatia (southern, coastal part of Croatia), the closest thing to it is "ikavski" dialect. While Yugo was in one piece, the language that was officially used was called Serbo-Croatian (equal rights for all and stuff). The language is actually Serbian, but there are many dialects reflecting different areas of former Yugoslavia. It was a nice place once, but this is not the topic...

How did you like the piggy? It tasted... well, what do you think?

(Vegeta - Croatian made spice or Veg - Hungarian are a must. In Serbia we have "Zacin C", not as popular as "Vegeta" though). You can obtain this spice in Mediterranean, European or even Russian stores across the US. It is used in almost all dishes in Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian or Macedonian cuisine.

Bozic (= Christmas in Serbian)

[Marmish]

Bozic,

Wow! Thanks for posting all that info. And Al Dente too, for the pics of the roasting. I think I'll wait on those cevapcici, but am making sarma this week. I picked up some cabbage from the Greek store. I would have some from the inlaws, but theirs spoiled this year. No sarma for their slava.

[Bozic]

My pleasure. Here are some pics I had in mind today:

Tulumbe

Stuffed Pancake

Sarma

Cevapi

Enjoy!