Dalmatian Peka – croatian recipes (2024)

After living here 5 years, we have come to love some of the local dishes, so I thought I wanted to start sharing some of them with my blog readers.

One of my absolute favourite dishes is the Dalmatian Peka, So what is a Peka, well a Peka is a Baked dish with meat and vegetables made in a pot or a tray, the pot is put into the embers of a fireplace, in many houses here in Dalmatia, especially on the country side, you have a special place in the barn or at the ground floor of the house for preparing the Peka.

Peka is an absolute top dish in the area, something which is put on the table when there is guest in the house, we as “semi” natives often have had the privilege to taste a real home cooked Peka, and I can tell you it is delicious. My personal favourite is the Veal Peak the meat gets so soft that you can literally chew it with your eyebrows!

One of the interesting things about Peka is that you can make with any kind of meat you like, also in restaurants you normally have option to choose between several kinds of meet like, Veal, chicken, lamb and octopus, my colleague has been so kind to reveal, how she is preparing the Peka, so if you are up for trying to make you own Peka here is how it goes.

How it is made:

Dishes under the lid are some of the top gastronomic offers in the Dalmatian cuisine, perhaps I am a little subjective because I am a big fan of food prepared under cripnja (this is Dalmatian term for the special bell shaped lid, which is put over the pot/tray, for cooking the Peka). The food is easy to prepare, only you have to catch the “hand” for the right mix of ingredients … and success is guaranteed. For the food prepared in the embers of a fireplace, we can use all types of meat, octopus, fish, squid … here I will post the recipe for preparing veal and octopus under the bell.

Veal Peka:

Ingredients:

• 1-1.5 kg beef,
• 2 dl olive oil
• 0.8-1kg potatoes
• 2 zucchini
• 1 onion
• 4-5 carrots
• 2 peppers
• 1 dl white wine
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sprig fresh rosemary

Preparation:

All the ingredients except the wine to put in a flat round tray and put under cripnja (iron bell in fireplace), and left an hour under the embers. After an hour of baking stir the meat and vegetables and add a decilitre white wine, cover the cripnja again, and let it bake on the embers for another half hour.

Octopus Peka – Octopus under the bell

Ingredients:

• 1.5-2 kg octopus
• 0,8-1 kg potatoes
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 dl olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sprig fresh rosemary
• (If desired you can add more vegetables)
• 1 dl white wine

Preparation:

All the ingredients except the wine to put in a flat round tray and put under cripnja (iron bell fireplace), and left an hour under the embers. After an hour of baking, stir the octopus and potatoes and add a decilitre white wine, cover the cripnja again, and let it bake on the embers for another half hour.

Additional advice for the preparation of the octopus: If you have a fresh octopus it is best to freeze for a day, because then the octopus will be softer. Serve the Peka preferably with homemade bread, and typical dessert prepared in Dalmatian the rožata. Enjoy!

Where to eat Peka:

Peka is one the menu in more or less all traditional Dalmatian restaurant, so this is for sure something you can try during a vacation here in Croatia, be aware that Peka has to be ordered up front (If you have lots of patients you can of course also order when you come to the restaurant) as it takes more than an hour to prepare.

The Price for a portion of Peka in restaurant is normally about 60-80 kuna depending on which meat you choose, to our experience we normally only have to order 3 portions to have a enough for 2 adults and two kids with a great appetite.

The Peka is normally served on in the Iron pot on the table, so watch out for the smaller kids, as the pot is usually very hot.