Smoked Tongue, Szekely Goulash and Apple Strudel.
Gastronauts are restless people. The Puntijar Hotel, Museum and Restaurant in Gračani district in Zagreb was their last refuge this year before a short winter rest on December 12, 2015. In Puntijar, love towards gastronomy has been transformed into a story whose basis is the largest private collection of cookbooks in Europe. The collection contains the smallest cookbook in the world, a most interesting 2×2 centimetre “relic” which on 136 pages contains a hundred recipes. We must also mention a rich wine cellar where guests can keep their wines and a restaurant which offers dishes from historical times. Stari Puntijar is one of a few restaurants in the world which have welcomed a pope as many as three times – Pope John Paul II twice and Benedict XVI once.
During the stay in Puntijar, in addition to a tour and lecture about the history of gastronomy in the Puntijar Museum and Hall of Menus, Gastronauts took part in a demonstration of how a bottle of sparkling wine can be opened with a sabre. During dinner, they tasted a number of dishes from the 17th century Zrinski cookbook, paired with wines produced by PP Orahovica and Belje.
“Stari Puntijar Restaurant is one of nine restaurants in Croatia which have been included among the 100 leading Croatian restaurants for the last 20 years. It is important to say that the voting for the 21st selection of the 100 leading Croatian restaurants is currently open on the internet and offline. There are more than 2,400 restaurants in competition, so we invite everyone to vote at www.gastronaut.hr”, said Karin Mimica, head of the Gastronaut Club. In addition to leading Croatian restaurateurs, the event in Zagreb included FIJET’s travel journalists from Slovakia, France, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. And what was on the menu?
“Gastronauts always love to experiment a bit, so this time, during the tasting of Dukat cheeses and Zigante oils which marked the beginning of the event, they selected the homemade smoked cheese and olive oil flavoured with black truffle as the best combination”, Mimica explained. Later, they successfully used a sabre to open Mladina sparkling wines Poy Selected Rose, Poy Classic and Poy Prestige, and tasted them with pancakes and polenta with Zigante truffles.
But, that was not all. Gastronauts visited a mill and fish pond of the Banić family, and they will certainly never forget the dinner with dishes prepared according to the 17th century Zrinski cookbook, which were perfectly paired with wines from Belje and PP Orahovica wineries.
The feast began with smoked tongue stuffed with prunes in bacon (served with Belje Frankovka), and continued with celery stuffed with mushrooms and paired with 2013 Silvaner by PP Orahovica. They were quite impressed with szekely goulash, baked capon with “mlinci” (capon came from the Tena, Eko Stočar farms), and venison in black soup and cheese dumplings (2012 Frankovka by PP Orahovica). At the end, apple strudel was served paired with Chardonnay Goldberg 2013 by Belje. But, even that was not all…
Cooperation with the Association of Zagorje Traditions
Prior to Puntijar, Gastronauts spend some time with FIJET travel journalists in Zagorje, where FIJET and the Association of Zagorje Traditions have established good cooperation. After this year’s Marco Polo Awards were presented, the Association and Vina Belje organized a presentation of traditional holiday specialties for local and foreign journalists.
