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The most popular meal in Dalmatia - “UnderPeka”
Dalmatian peka or dish under Peka is a Dalmatian way of preparing dishes from all kinds of meat and fish. Translated, this would mean that peka is actually a name for a heavy iron lid. Dishes under the Peka have traditionally been prepared in smoky taverns of the Dalmatian hinterland. With a whisper of a local recipe You will be able to feel that smokey tavern of the Dalmatian hinterland smell.
For those of you who do not want work on producing an original Peka iron bell there is also a solution. It is a bit more modern, since it is an electric peka, but it is much faster so you will only need an hour and half of cooking. Below you can see photos of our “house peka” for those days when we are too lazy to cook. We just throw everything inside of it and it turns out almost as traditional. If this is too much of an investment, you can also try to do it in the larger deep pan, cover it with a lid, and place a pan in the oven, it should take you around 2 hours to prepare it this way, but yet..it is worth a try..
Ingredients:
2.5 kg of veal
10 dg fat
3 peppers
1.5 kg of potatoes
2 whole onions
2 laurel leaves
paprika
salt, pepper
200 ml of white wine
you can add some carrots or mushrooms too
Traditional recipe
Light a fire at least one hour before baking. Peel onions and potatoes. Season the meat with salt, pepper and paprika. Dry the potatoes as needed (they shouldn't be wet) and cut them into quarters, cut the onions and peppers into larger slices. Drizzle onions and peppers with wine, salt and pepper.. Transfer the potatoes to a separate bowl, then pour over the melted pork fat, salt and pepper.
Coat the pan with pork fat, place the meat on the bottom, then the onion, laurel leaves, paprika and potatoes. Place a pan on the fireplace, cover it with Peka and leave it for about an hour and 15 minutes. After an hour and 15 minutes remove the Peka, add 200 ml of white wine and transfer the potatoes to the bottom so that they are in the roasting juice, place the meat on top of the roast. Once you did that, cover the iron bell with embers from the fireplace and leave it for one more hour or until the meat is super soft.
Your Peka is now ready to be served. Do it in Dalmatian style - place the pan in the middle of the table and let the games begin,... as you may think Peka tastes even better with a glass of quality red wine on the side ;).
Dobar Tek!
