Dalmatinska pašticada s njokima

The story

In Dalmatia, the long stretch of Croatian coast around Split, Christmas lunch follows an order that people there can recite without thinking. One woman from Split summed it up for a Croatian news site: cured ham, cheeses and French salad to start, soup without fail, and then always pašticada, with a roast and potatoes on the side. The dish is one piece of beef from the leg, studded with garlic and pancetta, left overnight in wine and vinegar, then cooked for hours with onion, carrot, red wine and prošek, the local sweet wine, until the sauce turns dark, thick and sweet-sour. It is set on the table with pride, with potato gnocchi or pasta to catch the sauce. Because it asks for two days and a patient cook, Dalmatians keep it for the occasions that matter most, Christmas and weddings above all, and its roots are usually traced to the Venetian influence on the cooking of the coast. For American families with roots on the Dalmatian coast and islands, setting the beef in its marinade the night before is a way to begin Christmas the way it begins in Split.