Peka

Dalmatia's meat and potatoes cooked under an iron bell buried in embers, opened once at the halfway mark and not before

Origin: Split, Dalmatia & the Adriatic Coast

From the journey of Potato.

The peka is the lid, not the food. It is a heavy iron or terracotta bell, domed and handled, that is set over a shallow tray of meat and vegetables on the hearth and then buried under hot embers so heat comes from above as well as below. What cooks under it is lamb, veal, or octopus with a great weight of potato, whole garlic, rosemary, olive oil, and a splash of wine, and the result is somewhere between a roast and a braise: browned on top, steamed underneath, and sitting in a shallow amount of its own liquid. The potatoes are half the reason anyone orders it. Cut into large pieces and laid around and under the meat, they take up the rendered fat and the wine and the herb, brown against the hot tray, and steam inside the sealed dome, so that a peka potato is crisp at the edge and collapsing at the centre in a way an oven does not easily reproduce. Dalmatians will argue about the meat and agree about the potatoes. The method is old and is not confined to Croatia: the sač of Bosnia and Serbia and the gastra of Montenegro are the same iron bell, and versions run along the whole eastern Adriatic and into the interior. The Croatian coast has kept it most visibly, and it is now the standard thing a konoba will cook for a table that orders three hours ahead, which is genuinely how long it takes. The one procedural rule is about opening it. The bell is lifted once, at roughly the halfway point, to turn the meat and potatoes and add a little liquid if the tray has gone dry; before that the seal of embers is left undisturbed, because each opening costs a substantial amount of the accumulated heat that the whole method depends on.

Ingredients

Meat

  • 1.6 kg lamb or veal on the bone, in large pieces

Vegetables

  • 1.5 kg waxy potatoes, peeled and in large chunks
  • 3 onions, thickly sliced
  • 2 whole heads garlic, cloves separated and unpeeled
  • 3 carrots, in thick batons

To cook

  • 120 ml olive oil
  • 200 ml dry white wine
  • 150 ml water

Seasoning

  • 4 sprigs rosemary
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2.5 tsp coarse sea salt
  • 1.5 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Method

  1. Build a wood fire and let it burn down to a deep bed of embers. You need enough to cover the bell entirely and to keep going for two hours, so build it larger than looks necessary.
  2. Season the meat well with salt and pepper and toss the potatoes, onions, carrots, and garlic with the olive oil and the herbs.
  3. Arrange the meat in the centre of a shallow round tray and pack the vegetables around and under it in a single crowded layer.
  4. Pour the wine and water into the tray rather than over the meat. It should sit shallow in the base and not cover anything.
  5. Rake the embers aside, set the tray down on the hot hearth, and lower the peka bell over it.
  6. Shovel embers over the whole dome and bank them up the sides so the bell is buried. Heat from above is what browns the top, and a half-covered bell will not do it.
  7. Leave it undisturbed for an hour. Every lift of the bell costs a great deal of accumulated heat, and this is the step people spoil by curiosity.
  8. At the hour mark, rake the embers off, lift the bell, and turn the meat and potatoes over so the browned faces go down into the juices.
  9. Add a splash of hot water if the tray has gone dry, replace the bell, and rebuild the embers over it.
  10. Give it a further forty-five minutes to an hour. It is ready when the meat pulls from the bone and the potatoes are browned outside and collapsing within.
  11. For an oven version, use a heavy roasting tin tightly covered with foil at 200°C for an hour, then uncovered for a further forty minutes to brown; it is a good dish and not quite a peka.
  12. Serve straight from the tray with the pan juices spooned over and bread to finish them.

Notes

The bell must be properly buried in embers, since the heat from above is what separates a peka from a covered roast. Open it once and once only, at the halfway mark. Waxy potatoes hold their shape over two hours; floury ones dissolve into the juices. Cut everything larger than feels right, because two hours under a bell reduces it considerably. Octopus peka is the coastal alternative and needs about half the time. If you have no bell, a heavy cast-iron casserole with its lid buried in embers is the nearest domestic equivalent.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.