Peka
Croatia’s under-the-bell roast: lamb, potatoes and rosemary slow-cooked in their own juices. The dutch oven version, no embers required.
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 2 h 30 min
- total
- 2 h 50 min
- serves
- 6
- level
- medium
Peka is both the iron bell and the dish cooked under it: meat and potatoes buried in embers on the Dalmatian coast, steaming in olive oil, wine and their own juices for hours while everyone has another glass.
A heavy dutch oven in a home oven is the honest translation, and it captures the heart of it: nothing stirred, nothing added, everything emerging tender in a sauce it made itself.
Peka is one of the world's classic dishes from 67 countries.
method
Toss everything together in a heavy dutch oven: meat, potatoes, onions, garlic, rosemary, oil, wine, paprika, salt and pepper.
Cover and cook at 200°C (400°F) for 30 minutes, then at 180°C (350°F) for 2 hours. Do not open, do not stir.
Uncover, raise to 220°C (430°F), and give it 25 to 30 minutes to brown the top.
Rest 15 minutes and serve from the pot, spooning the juices over, with bread and the rest of the wine.
chef's tips
- The sealed, unstirred cook is the dish; the ingredients braise and roast at once.
- The juices at the bottom are the sauce; bread for them is mandatory.
- Octopus peka is the coastal variant; same method, 90 minutes, no paprika.