Serbian Pljeskavica (burgers)

Theophan

I’ve met people from all over the world in my church, and I’ve become a big fan of Serbian caseless sausages called “cevapi” ("pronounced, “che-VAHP-ee”) or “cevapcici” (“che-VAHP-chee-chee”), though I’m too lazy to mix up my own sausage meat very often.  I’ve seen several different recipes for Serbian burgers called “Pljeskavica” (pronunciation below) with beef and pork and often lamb as well, that are pretty similar in the ingredients to the cevapi.  In all of the pictures I’ve seen, they are very large, almost plate-sized, but very, very thin.  I finally tried one of the recipes, and I thought they were really good, a nice change, though I’ll probably make regular burgers most of the time.

One of the web sites where I found recipes said,

Pljeskavica (PLYESS-kah-vee-tsah) are Serbian hamburgers popular in one form or another throughout the Balkans. The name for these meat patties comes from pljesak, a word meaning "to clap the hands," the motion used to form these thin, large burgers. They can be made with any combination of pork, lamb and beef and can be grilled, broiled, baked or pan fried, although grilling is traditional.

Apparently it’s typical to serve these with ajvar (“AYE-var”), a Balkan eggplant and red chili spread that’s much better than it probably sounds, and kajmak, some sort of mild fresh cheese common in the balkans that I’ve never had.  I’ve seen recipes on making a good counterfeit by mixing together sour cream, feta cheese and cream cheese, but haven’t trie them yet, and I didn’t have any ajvar so I just had it with a little salad of tomatoes and sweet onions, which I think is pretty common also in the Balkans.

It was late when I cooked one the first time, and I was hungry and didn’t want to wait for the Egg to heat up, so I just fried one in a skillet.  But then today for lunch I grilled them at about 600°, quite briefly (a minute or so each side) because they were so thin.

Serbian Pljeskavica

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef chuck
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground lamb
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sweet or hot paprika


Original (i.e. not BGE) Directions:

1. Mix together all ingredients until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate for several hours for flavors to meld and mixture to firm.

2. Heat grill. Using slightly dampened hands, divide meat mixture into 6 portions. Form into thin patties, 9 inches by 1/2 inch or about the size of a small dinner plate.

3. Grill, broil or pan fry pljeskavica about 7 minutes per side (other recipes have much less). Indoor grills work well, too. Serve with green onions or chopped raw onion, tomatoes, pogacha (balkan bread) and Serbian potato salad or cole slaw on the side. Some Serbs place the patty on a large bun like an American hamburger.

Here's the ingredients, beef on the bottom, pork to the right, lamb to the left:


Here's the one I cooked in the skillet (more of a normal burger size, though much thinner than I usually make burgers), and had with a bun:



Here's one I tried to make flatter by pressing it between sheets of waxed paper (with a shot glass for scale):


I think they were actually too thin, because when they cooked, they wound up with holes in them.  I thought I got a picture of one after I flipped it, but apparently my phone decided not to cooperate.  Here is one before being flipped:


And on the plate:

1move

Looks great! However being from that region I have to correct you as its doing injustice to Cevapi! Cevapi are not Serbian but they are Balkan! 

Pljeskavica to my knowledge was invented in Serbia however it is also found all across the Balkan region as well.

Foghorn

I'd hit that.  Great cook. And thanks for the education.  It's posts like this that make this site great.

Theophan

1move said:

Looks great! However being from that region I have to correct you as its doing injustice to Cevapi! Cevapi are not Serbian but they are Balkan! 

Pljeskavica to my knowledge was invented in Serbia however it is also found all across the Balkan region as well.

No offense or disrespect intended!  It just happens that the people who first taught me about cevapi, and gave me the recipe I love, called them Serbian, and I didn't know any different, and another guy I knew in church, whose ancestry was both Serbian and Bosnian, and a couple of Serbs I met, all talked about these as if they were Serbian, but since most of them had some connection to Serbia, that may be why they thought of them as Serbian.  And I've tried "kebabcheta" which I'm told are Bulgarian sausages, and "mittetei" which are Romanian, and they're all similar, but not quite the same.

By all means, educate me!    Are different ingredients more typical of different regions in the Balkans, or are they pretty much the same all over?  The ones I really like have a mixture of beef, pork and lamb, but Muslims obviously wouldn't be putting pork in anything, so are a sausage with pork and a sausage without pork both cevapi?  And the lamb I really think is what makes them for me, and most of the recipes I've seen that weren't specifically Serbian didn't have lamb in them. Is lamb typical in cevapi all through the Balkans?

Again, NO disrespect or offense intended!  Delighted to meet someone from the Balkans on this forum!

1move

Cevapi never had pork to begin with until recently, because it became much cheaper than lamb. They tend to be the same across the region with a variation of different spices throughout the region. However putting pork in Cevapi in an area where people are Cevapi fanatics is like spitting in their food.

Cevapi are are the best made with about 75% lean beef and 25% lambs fatty meat. Salt, pepper, garlic and a top secret ingredient of perier or bubbly water to make the mixture moist and softer. 

Theophan

1move said:

Cevapi never had pork to begin with until recently, because it became much cheaper than lamb. They tend to be the same across the region with a variation of different spices throughout the region. However putting pork in Cevapi in an area where people are Cevapi fanatics is like spitting in their food.

Cevapi are are the best made with about 75% lean beef and 25% lambs fatty meat. Salt, pepper, garlic and a top secret ingredient of perier or bubbly water to make the mixture moist and softer. 

VERY interesting!  I really think it's the lamb that makes them so good, not the pork.  I might try it your way, or maybe even more lamb -- thanks!

Here's the recipe I was given, and I love it.  There's no bubbly, but there is baking soda (the powder).  I've seen it in many recipes for cevapi, and have wondered why.  If there's any acidity at all in the meat, and maybe there is, it would make some bubbles.

Ćevapčići

1 lb. lean ground beef 
1/2 lb. ground lamb 
1/2 lb. ground pork 
4-7 finely minced garlic cloves 
1-2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda 
2 teaspoons cracked or freshly ground black pepper 
1 (+) tsp. cayenne pepper 
1 beaten egg white 

I have an Uzbek recipe for Shashlik that has you soak lamb chunks in soda water (seltzer) with salt, coriander and cumin -- it's really good!  Again, I'm not sure what the soda water does, but it's a good recipe.

Do you have a favorite grilling or smoking recipe from the Balkans that you'd like to share?

Legume

Good general history here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ćevapi?wprov=sfsi1

1move

Theophan said:

Ćevapčići

1 lb. lean ground beef 
1/2 lb. ground lamb 
1/2 lb. ground beef from the ribs and stomach area
4-7 finely minced garlic cloves (boiled) then crushed and mixed in
1-2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cracked or freshly ground black pepper 
250ml of carbonated water

Try that next time. I have a lot of recipes just not sure what you like. Take a look at Sudžuk on Google or Suho Meso

Theophan

Legume said:

Good general history here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ćevapi?wprov=sfsi1

That was very interesting -- thanks!!!

Theophan

1move said:

1 lb. lean ground beef 
1/2 lb. ground lamb 
1/2 lb. ground beef from the ribs and stomach area
4-7 finely minced garlic cloves (boiled) then crushed and mixed in
1-2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cracked or freshly ground black pepper 
250ml of carbonated water

Try that next time. I have a lot of recipes just not sure what you like. Take a look at Sudžuk on Google or Suho Meso

I've been planning to grind my own short ribs and/or brisket for hamburgers, sometime, so I'd feel a little safer cooking them medium rare, which I haven't done for years because of the danger of ground meats.  If/when I do, I'll try it in that recipe, too.  Otherwise, I might try it with regular chuck and lamb and your soda water, sometime.  I'll be very interested to see what it's like.  Thanks!

YYZegger

I have grown up eating cevapcici, mostly homemade by my mother when I was a child, and now I can buy them fresh in Toronto and grill them up.  They are one of my favourite things to grill, glad you gave them a try and enjoyed them!

dldawes1

Awesome post !!!!  Being a person of variety and new taste and culture experiences, I love learning new cooking methods and recipes. I will def check into the soda water additive. 

Thanks everyone for posting. Sounds delicious and looks awesome !!!

Theophan

YYZegger said:

I have grown up eating cevapcici, mostly homemade by my mother when I was a child, and now I can buy them fresh in Toronto and grill them up.  They are one of my favourite things to grill, glad you gave them a try and enjoyed them!

I'm lazy, and mixing together meats and seasonings for sausage or meatloaf is enough of a chore that I don't do it often, and I wish I could just go out and buy cevapcici instead of having to make them.  There's a specialty store that's not super far away that does sell a few different kinds of Balkan sausages frozen, and some of them are called cevapi, but none of them have had lamb in them, and I think it's the lamb in the recipe I have that I especially like, so I have to make them myself if I want them.  I envy you being able to just go out and buy them!  

andersa

I tried your Cevapcici recipe a couple of weekends ago Theophan with great result. Thanks for posting it! I also baked some lepinja bread and served it with Trader Joe's Red pepper and Eggplant spread, closest thing to Ajvar I could find.

Theophan

andersa said:

I tried your Cevapcici recipe a couple of weekends ago Theophan with great result. Thanks for posting it! I also baked some lepinja bread and served it with Trader Joe's Red pepper and Eggplant spread, closest thing to Ajvar I could find.

I've seen recipes for lepinja, but I haven't tried to bake bread in years.  I know it'd be even more wonderful if I baked it in the Egg.  I ought to try it sometime.  There's a specialty store sort of near me that sells a few kinds of ajvar, but I see that Amazon also carries it, so you can order it.  I've never had the Trader Joes, but red pepper and eggplant spread sure sounds like ajvar to me!

I also found a recipe online for something that resembles kajmac, and I think next time I make cevapi I'm going to try it.

Glad you enjoyed the cevapcici!

andersa

I cheated and baked the bread in the oven. I used this recipe - http://www.coolinarika.com/recept/bosanske-lepinje/
Yeah, it's in Croatian (I think), but Google translate worked OK and it's not like it's a long list of ingredients anyway!
Never heard of kajmac before, I need to check it out.

gmac

YYZegger said:

I have grown up eating cevapcici, mostly homemade by my mother when I was a child, and now I can buy them fresh in Toronto and grill them up.  They are one of my favourite things to grill, glad you gave them a try and enjoyed them!

@YYZegger just curious where in Toronto do you get these?