Igor Clark

It’s about 2 years since I’ve partaken of this traditional Serbian dish. Though I’ve happily added the experience to my ever-growing collection of gustatory anecdotes, the unfamiliarity of the circumstances in which I found myself at the time of that first indulgence meant that my memories of the actual dish and its eating are now hazy at best, so I was pleased to be able to give it another bash last Saturday night.

The apparently equally traditional highlight of my meal at the relatively recently-opened Елемент (Element) restaurant a few short streets away from Trg Republike (Republic Square) in Beograd — a beef steak stuffed with thick smoked bacon and strong yellow Serbian cheese — safely out of the way and the subsequent myocardial episode booked in at the city hospital, this delicacy was brought with minimal ceremony to the table and despite my already significantly distended belly, I made sure to take a sample. Purely for research purposes, you understand.

As far as I can tell, the good bits of the calf’s head (presumably mainly the cheeks) are stripped off and fried up with some onions, at which point vegetables and various herbs and spices are added, and the whole thing is left to reduce down, leaving behind after some unspecified length of time a casserole of medium to light consistency.

The overall impression was surprisingly subtle, certainly not as overpowering as offal-avoiders may fear, and the onion seemed to have caramelised somewhat, adding a pleasant, slightly sweet nuance to the overall concoction. The meat itself was tender, as can only reasonably be expected from a casserole, and had kidney-ish textural overtones, though on balance it remained firmly on the “meaty” side of the entrail divide.

In summary: I ate baby cow’s head. It was good.

Nearly-birthday boy gets special birthday dinner in Mirjevo, Beograd: a chopped-up baked half-pig, followed by extremely good cake with fruit and white chocolate and lemon and stuff. Anyone who hasn't been treated to such a repast: for your information, this is basically where it's at.

… is that you can get circular packs containing 6 of the above foil-wrapped triangles of cream cheese. Something like Dairylea, you might think? Nothing special? Well, you'd be on the right lines, except that it's nicer cheese, and, oh yeah … IT'S FILLED WITH HOT CHILI PEPPERS. Yes. It also comes with meat or mushroom fillings. I love this stuff.