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Enjoy life like an Istrian

Baccalà / stockfish class

Baccalà / stockfish class

Available: Year round
Group size: 2-12 guests
Vegan/vegetarian option: No
Premium wine tasting option: Yes
Duration: 7h Full-day class / 5h Half-day class

Ruling Istria for centuries, Venetian Republic left its mark in its traditional cuisine. The most common dish is bakalar na bijelo (known as baccalà mantecato in Italian), paté made from stockfish (air dried cod), which was being imported to Venice since centuries ago.

This rich and creamy dish, the centerpiece of this class, is usually served as appetizer, but Istrians also prepare it with posutice, a type of diamond-shaped local pasta – which is what we make for ths class. This dish, traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve, was normally preceded by maneštra, a thick beans soup made, in this case, chickpeas. To complement the stockfish galore, we also prepare bakalar na crveno, more Dalmatian-style stew made with fish with potatoes.

NOTE: this class has to be booked at least three days in advance, as we need to source stockfish and soak it a couple of days beforehand.

Other Programs

Vegetarian / vegan class

Vegetarian / vegan class

Being a poor area for a long time, Istrian cuisine was short on meat, so many of its traditional dishes are vegetarian / vegan or can be easily made so. For this class we make minestrones, creamy risottos or pastas with vegetable- or mushroom-based sauces, in spring – wild asparagus in every possible way…

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Labinski krafi / Istrian ravioli class

Labinski krafi / Istrian ravioli class

Easily the best kept culinary secret of our peninsula, this ravioli-like pasta hails from east Istrian town of Labin, and is hard to find even on the menus of local restaurants. Traditionally made on special ocasions such as Christmas, it boasts rich, cheese-based filling, accompanied by an unusual combination of condiments including vanilla, nutmeg, lemon zest and raisins.

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Truffles galore class

Truffles galore class

Learn to cook with truffles from starter to desert. A showcase for Istria’s most renowned food item. Where best to learn to cook with this delicate mushrooms if not in region graced by plenty of both black and white ones?

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Traditional fish class

Traditional fish class

For our easily most creative class, we browse the fish market for daily offer and pick the best of the catch according to your preferences – be it shellfish, calamari, sardines, crayfish… Then we turn it into dishes our grandmas used to make and feed us when we were kids.

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Čripnja / peka class

Čripnja / peka class

Dating back to ancient times, čripnja/peka is a baking bell made for cooking on open fire. Food prepared in them turns out neither cooked nor baked, but somewhere in between, crispy on the outside, yet tender on the inside. Veal, lamb or octopus usually find their place in a čripnja/peka.

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Filleting & grilling fish class

Filleting & grilling fish class

For this class we source the best pieces of fish Pula’s fish market can offer, along with some seafood of your choice. We practice fish filleting, and use fillets to prepare raw fish dishes such as carpaccio, popular in Istria in recent years.

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Pasta class

Pasta class

Although heavily influenced by Italian cuisine, Istria developed its own, unique types of pasta. For this class we prepare the most popular ones, namely fuži and pljukanci. We usually serve them with another local staple, žgvacet, a slowly cooked stew made from chicken or beef.

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