The Best of Croatian Cooking - Production & Contact Info (original) (raw)

Anna and Kristina aren't sure if Kristina's own ethnic Croatian background will help or hinder their efforts in testing "The Best of Croatian Cooking", one of the few Croatian cookbooks published in the English language. Kristina admits ...See moreAnna and Kristina aren't sure if Kristina's own ethnic Croatian background will help or hinder their efforts in testing "The Best of Croatian Cooking", one of the few Croatian cookbooks published in the English language. Kristina admits that she hasn't kept up with the cooking traditions of her family, but has had many an excellent Croatian food dinner cooked by her mother, to which Anna can also attest. They will be preparing six dishes in four hours: cheese burek, Dalmatian octopus salad, fried sardines, stuffed sauerkraut rolls, kashtradina, and chocolate chestnut mocha torte. Both Anna and but especially Kristina are facing who they believe will be their most critical guest tasters to date: Kristina's own mother Jasenka Matisic and her best friend Zdenka Zifkovic, who are renowned as the best Croatian chefs in their social circle. Jasenka has always told Kristina like it is when it comes to cooking, especially about Croatian food. Anna feels having Jasenka as a guest taster is sweet retribution as Anna's own mother was previously a guest taster on the show. Kristina admits that she is not looking forward to her mother being critical of her in her place of work. As Anna and Kristina prepare the meal, they have issue with the size of the octopus they bought, and with the stickiness of the non-stick pan they use for the torte. They also attempt the difficult task of making phyllo pastry from scratch. In addition, they test meat mallets, which they will need for the octopus. And they taste test different brands of instant coffee, which will be used in the torte. Written by Huggo See less