Püffertjes and Cevapci: Best of Europe 2010 Trip

Amsterdam

Food-wise, we got off to a good start in Amsterdam: herring sandwiches, believe it or not.
I thought they would be slimy, sour, and disgusting, but they weren't. Really. I'm not joking.
They were fresh like the sea, and a wee bit salty, but not at all like the pucker-inducing specimens known as pickled herring. They're sold at little kiosks around town, are super cheap, and super tasty. I highly recommend them as a light lunch or afternoon snack.











The next Dutch delicacy we partook of was Püffertjes. They're little round puffy pancakes, sort of like unfilled Aebelskivers, topped with butter and powdered sugar. Simple. Super wonderful. Even more wonderful that I ate them at a cozy braun cafe. Mmm.








Another Amsterdam favorite is Jenever, which I bought a couple little bottles of to drink at home. I still haven't tried it yet, but Jenever is an ancestor to gin, and the method of imbibing is to fill a tiny little glass to the absolute brim with ice-cold Jenever, and then slurp it so it won't spill. I'm looking forward to trying it, but waiting for the right moment.

Now for the Balkans

Rick Steves didn't have the greatest opinion of Balkan cuisine, nor did Sanela, my Bosnian friend. We figured that maybe they were both just being overly critical. We were wrong.
Now don't get me wrong, there were definitely some tasty things there, it's just that the food you see in cookbooks is cooked mainly at home; restaurants that serve the more interesting fare are few and far between. If you aren't persistent, you'll end up eating mostly mediocre, overpriced pizza and pasta (I might as well quote our friend Rick directly here). So I'll only discuss the hits.

Food in Bosnia was inexpensive. Food in Croatia and Montenegro is expensive, although I suspect less so in big cities such as Split.
In Bosnia and Croatia, we drank beer and ate ice cream cones every day as a little refreshment. I liked that routine. Beer was cheaper than sparkling water, and an ice cream cone was only 75 cents in Bosnia, and a little more in Croatia. Everyone, locals and tourists alike, had a daily ice cream cone. The ice cream was lighter and fluffier, like gelato, but not quite as sweet.





The first place we went in Sarajevo was the Sarajevo Brewery. It's huge, yet cozy with dark wood paneling and brass fixtures, and has been around since 1864. We both ordered dark beers and shared the Bosnian plate, which showcased Bosnian cured meats and cheeses.
























































Later that night, Derek wanted a snack, and we discovered the wonder that is cevapcici. It's finger-sized skinless sausages stuffed in a focaccia-like bread (many people compare it to pita bread, but it's crustier and chewier than that), served with chopped onions and kajmak, a fermented clotted cream to smear on it. Oh. My. Gosh. It was so good! (After eating it on four other occasions, we didn't find it so revelatory any more.)









Bosnian bread comes in many varieties, and all were remarkably good, such as the ornate knot pictured at left. I used it to scoop up a cucumber and yogurt salad, which was just like my dad makes. Apparently cucumber yogurt salad is cross-cultural.












In Mostar, we had a light lunch of burek, a snake-shape of filo dough filled with either meat, cheese, or spinach and cheese, and coiled up into a knot. Highly recommended.










In Dubrovnik, we started encountering the overpriced pizza/pasta routine, but our first night there we had a very nice dinner at a place Rick Steves recommended. Octopus salad, I discovered, is delicious and not at all rubbery. We also had Mussels Buzzara (a garlicky breadcrumb sauce), a seafood risotto, all accompanied by a well-chilled local white wine called Posip, whose grapes are grown on Korcula, an island we visited on our trip.













We took a day-trip to Montenegro, and while driving up up UP into the mountains, we encountered a few of these little huts selling locally-produced products: cheese, prsut (Balkan proscuitto), honey, and grappa. We bought a little of each, and I even smuggled the cheese and prsut back into the U.S. Derek bought two different kinds of grappa, one, supposedly good for digestion, and the other good for your heart and cardiovascular system.


Another food highlight was the pastry in Korcula. Fancy cakes galore in beautiful bakeries! I ate a perfect slice of what appeared to be a common cake combo: creamy, ever-so-slightly chocolately filling sprinkled with walnuts. Apple strudel was also very common, and good, although both times I ate it, I noticed that they chopped the entire apple, including the seeds, into the filling, instead of coring it. Sorry, no photos of either.

So those were the food highlights of my trip to Amsterdam and the Balkans. Next post will feature a guest writer, the famous DEREK, narrating a tale of of a terrible, yet hilarious dinner in Dubrovnik. Think Balkan Basil Fawlty.