I live in the town of San Pedro, which is part of the city of Los Angeles, and is home to thousands of Croatians, including my butcher. For years, I have seen these little cigar-like Balkan Sausages at the butcher shop but unfortunately never bothered to ask about them. The other day, the lady in front of me bought loads of them. She said her family is wild about cevapcici and she usually grills or broils them and serves with onions and peppers in olive oil. So…I added some to my order. It was time to give these little guys a try.
After some research on the Internet, I found they are almost always served with onions then ingredients like sour cream, peppers, paprika, and flat bread are not far behind.
I sautéed onions and peppers then added salt, garlic and spicy paprika, meanwhile cooking the cevapcici under the broiler.
I even found a video on how to make them, although I couldn’t understand a word except “cevapcici,” I did see how they are formed, by a unique kitchen gadget, into what I would call a particularly unfortunate shape as they are not too pretty for the camera if you know what I mean. But, boy, are they ever delicious!
My butcher instructs me to pronounce all the c’s like a ch, so I sound like a Croat.
Che-Vap’-Chi-Chi.
He makes his with lamb and beef and spices although some also add pork to the mix.
You may recognize these famous Croats in food and wine respectively:
Lydia Bastianich and Mike Grgich.
I plan to serve a lot of cevapcici this summer (now that I can pronounce it), hot off the barbecue grill, maybe with a yogurt cucumber dip? If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and give them a try.
I plan to serve a lot of cevapcici this summer (now that I can pronounce it), hot off the barbecue grill, maybe with a yogurt cucumber dip? If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and give them a try.
UPDATE:
TRY THIS CEVAPCICI FLATBREAD PIZZA TOO! Recipe here.
Discover more from Taste With The Eyes
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I forgot to add that you do not have to mix meat..I am using plane beef for these, and mixing ingredients by myself…but you did wonderful, they look really amazing!
I am really glad that somebody put those up, other then me:))
Cevap was my favorite childhood food, especially if you put it in homemade flat pita bread, with onions in …yummmm!
Hi Sandra – our town, San Pedro, has a Croatian heritage, so around here, everyone even knows how to pronounce them!
LL
I had no problems with the pronounciation :). They seem to be a great mixture, although I’ve never heard about them.
Hi Marla – I just bought a jar of AVJAR at the meat shop. YAY! Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Anon – nice to hear from you! It is South Shores Meat Shop on Western at 25th Street.
Hi Cynthia – oh please come by!
You make me want to head to LA right now!