This is the second in a series about “The Serbian Cooking Show” initiated in the May/June 2010 issue of Serb World USA. This installment was published in the July/August 2010 issue and is posted here with permission from Serb World USA. Click here for the recipe: Recipes by Paula ~ Roštule
Growing up I may have taken roštule for granted. They seemed so simple, so basic. Thinly rolled sweet dough was cut and shaped and fried until golden. The delicate pastries were then sprinkled with powdered sugar. No nuts, no filling ~ just pure, light-as-air delight in your mouth.
Over the years, I have tried many different pastries that look like roštule, always seeking that childhood memory of my Baba Rosa’s roštule. I have tasted Italian crostoli, Polish kruscik, Croatian and Dalmatian hrvostule, Hungarian csoroge, and any pastry that goes by the name of “Angel Wings” or “Bow Ties.” I keep searching for that light, delicate taste, that crisp bite that melts in your mouth ~ none of them delivered.
I can’t remember my first taste of roštule. I was too young. I certainly remember my most recent: it was at the Junior Potluckers’ “Serbian Cooking Show.” The roštule that the sisters Natalie & Romilda demonstrated that day evoked all my childhood memories and filled my adult palate with wonderful flavor. How had all those other seemingly similar pastries failed? After receiving a copy of their recipe, and researching many others, the answer seems to lay in two factors: 1. Whiskey. None of the other recipes contained whiskey and 2. Montenegro. Specifically the Montenegrin coast.
While I cannot locate my baba’s recipe, I recall it was a sweet dough with whiskey. The recipe presented by Romilda and Natalie also contains whiskey. My baba came from the Montenegrin coast, specifically the Bay of Kotor. Natalie & Romilda’s family was also from the Montenegrin coast, the Pastrovic seaside community of Petrovac na mom. Now, I am sure there may be other regions of the former Yugoslavia that also make great roštule: I just have not tasted them yet. As a proud descendant of Crna Gora, I am reluctant to consider that Montenegro may not be a major factor.
The roštule recipe that Romilda and Natalie shared at ‘The Serbian Cooking Show” is one that has been handed down in their family for countless generations ~ four of them here in the United States. The sisters learned it from their mother, Helen, who had learned it from her mother-in-law Andja, who most likely learned it from her mother, and so-on and so-on.
Andja came from Petrovac na mom on the Adriatic Sea along the coast of today’s Montenegro. In Bisbee, Arizona, she met Nikola from the selo, or village, of Rafailovici on the Budva Riviera. They were married in Bisbee in 1909. Some time around 1920, they moved to San Diego, California, with their two sons and two daughters. Another daughter was born later.
Their son, Mitchell, married Helen in 1940. Soon Helen was in the kitchen with her mother in-law learning the family recipe for roštule. Interestingly, Helen’s family came from the Cetinje region of Montenegro, which is inland and was once the capital of Montenegro. To her daughters’ knowledge, Helen did not know how to make roštule prior to her marriage. However, she soon became an expert. In turn, Helen taught her daughters Romilda and Natalie, to make these delightful pastries. Not only are they family favorites, but they are integral to special occasions: at the Christmas table for Boiic; for the daca, the meal following a funeral; and for slava, the Serb family’s patron saint’s day.
As youngsters, Romilda and Natalie would dread the hours spent making roštule. But they always had a good time. Once they were in the rhythm of the kitchen, they would laugh and share stories and forget time altogether. Later, when Romilda and Natalie had families of their own, their mother would prepare the dough in advance so that, when they arrived, it was ready for shaping and frying. While they then spent less time in the kitchen, they were still making roštule together, and laughing and chatting as they had since they were girls.
Over 100 years have passed since Andja and Nikola were married, and their family tradition of teaching each generation how to make light-as-air roštule continues.
Helen’s recipe has been included in bridal shower gifts for all her grand nieces. Natalie’s daughter, Meghan, first learned to make roštule in her grandmother’s kitchen. She now helps her mother and aunt make them. Romilda is looking forward to the day her granddaughter, Madeline, will be old enough to join her in the kitchen for roštule. Natalie and Romilda’s aunt, Helen, is Andja and Nikola’s youngest child, and she spent time making roštule this past Christmas season with a new generation: her granddaughter and eight-year-old great granddaughter who made the trip from San Francisco to San Diego in order to spend a day learning about the treasured roštule.
Sadly, we lost Helen (Natalie & Romilda’s mother) in 2000. Her legacy, however, continues through her daughters, her five grandchildren and five great grandchildren, her many friends, and now all of us who are sharing her story and her recipe.
Click here for the Roštule Recipe
A Bridal Shower Idea …
Taking a cue from sisters, Natalie and Romilda, who include a copy of their roštule recipe in bridal shower gifts: why not host a Serbian* Cooking Show Bridal Shower instead of a catered or restaurant affair?
What better way to join two families while helping the couple start their new life? Introduce the bride to her husband’s heritage or teach the bride treasured recipes from her own family. Sharing good food, recipes, and family stories is sure to please all.
The kitchen utensils used in the demonstrations would be wonderful shower gifts-anything from measuring cups to the electric frying pan favored by Natalie and Romilda.
It will surely be a party treasured by all and may begin a new tradition for generations to come.
*Of course it doesn’t need to be Serbian, just put together some family treasured recipes along with family, friends and the joy of sharing.
