Pastrmajlija

Štip's long boat of bread under cubes of salted pork and their rendered fat, with an egg broken over it in the last minutes

Origin: Štip & North Macedonia

From the journey of Wheat.

Pastrmajlija is bread with meat on it and is one of very few dishes in the Balkans that a visitor will immediately want to call a pizza and should not. The dough is rolled into a long oval, the edges are rolled up into a raised rim, and cubed salted or dry-cured pork is pressed into the surface with their fat still on; as it bakes the fat renders down into the dough and the whole thing goes from bread to something closer to a pastry. In the last minutes an egg is broken into the middle and set. The name comes from pastrma, salted and dried meat, which is the same root as Turkish pastırma and as the pastrami of the New York deli counter, all of them descended from a Turkic practice of preserving meat by salting and pressing. Macedonian pastrma is traditionally lamb or mutton, though pork is now more common in the dish. Štip in the east of the country claims it and backs the claim with an annual Pastrmajlijada, a festival held each autumn since 2008 at which the town's bakeries compete. The dish is sold across North Macedonia, but Štip is where it is treated as civic property. What makes a good one is the fat and the shape. The meat has to carry enough fat to baste the dough from above, the raised rim has to be high enough to hold the rendered fat in rather than letting it run onto the tray, and the oven has to be hot enough to set the base before the top dries. It is eaten with pickled peppers and a glass of rakia, and it is not cut into slices but torn.

Ingredients

Dough

500 g strong white bread flour
7 g fast-action dried yeast
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
300 ml warm water
3 tbsp sunflower oil

Topping

600 g pork neck or shoulder with its fat, in 1.5cm cubes
2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, crushed

To finish

4 eggs
2 tbsp sunflower oil, for brushing

To serve

4 pickled peppers, to serve

Method

Toss the cubed pork with the salt, paprika, pepper, and garlic and leave it in the refrigerator for at least four hours, or overnight if you can.
Keep the fat on the meat rather than trimming it. The fat renders down into the dough as it bakes and is most of what makes the dish work.
Make the dough: mix the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar, work in the warm water and oil to a soft dough, and knead for ten minutes.
Cover and leave to rise until doubled, about an hour and a half.
Heat the oven as high as it will go, at least 250°C, with a heavy tray or baking stone inside.
Divide the dough into four and roll each piece into a long oval about 30cm by 15cm, on baking paper.
Roll the edges inwards to make a raised rim all the way round, and pinch it firmly. The rim has to be high enough to hold the rendered fat, which is a good deal more than it looks.
Press the cubes of pork into the surface in an even layer, pushing them slightly into the dough so they do not slide off.
Brush the rim with oil and slide the pastrmajlija onto the hot stone.
Bake for twelve to fifteen minutes, until the rim is deep gold and the pork is browned and sizzling in its own fat.
Pull the tray out, break an egg into the centre of each, and return them for three or four minutes until the white is just set and the yolk still soft.
Serve at once, torn rather than cut, with pickled peppers and rakia.

Notes

Do not trim the fat from the pork; it is the basting and the sauce. A high raised rim is what keeps that fat in the bread rather than on the tray. The oven must be genuinely hot with a preheated stone, since the base has to set before the top dries out. Marinate the meat the day before if you can, which both seasons it and draws out a little moisture so it browns rather than steams. The egg goes on at the very end and wants to stay runny. Lamb or mutton is the older meat and is worth trying if you can get it well marbled.

The Gastrographer

Name: Pastrmajlija
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Štip & North Macedonia
Ingredients: 500 g strong white bread flour; 7 g fast-action dried yeast; 1.5 tsp salt; 1 tsp caster sugar; 300 ml warm water; 3 tbsp sunflower oil; 600 g pork neck or shoulder with its fat, in 1.5cm cubes; 2 tsp coarse salt; 1 tsp sweet paprika; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; 4 eggs; 2 tbsp sunflower oil, for brushing; 4 pickled peppers, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control