When the best pršuta from Zlatibor is mixed with kajmak (home-made old milk cream), a flat bun, an egg and pretop (fat and sauce of lamb or pork roast), you get the authentic specialty of the Užice area also called “a flat bun with everything in it”. Far from the regular flat bun and average taste, this dish became the main characteristic of this region and unavoidable delicacy for many tourists.
If you want to eat something unusual and tasty, something that will wake all of your senses and give your palate an unforgettable experience, then you have to try komplet lepinja. A specialty, the traditional recipe of which is kept as a secret, is best made at Zlatibor. Although komplet lepinja is considered a winter dish, at this popular mountain it is made and sold all year round.
“A flat bun with everything in it” can be easily called “a flat bun for everybody”. Everyone likes it – children, teenagers and pensioners. Persistent taste will feed you that much that you won’t think about eating anything else in the next few hours, and some say that it is the best cure for hangover. Residents of Zlatibor and villages around it love to joke about it and say that this dish is “the cure for everything”. See for yourself, after all.
It is considered that komplet lepinja is created before World War II. It was branded by Dragan Lazić, and most likely named by the masters that had been eating it a lot. Namely, the masters used to send their students to buy them komplet lepinja with eggs, milk cream and pretop, but it was easier for them to say “a flat bun with everything in it”, so the name remained like that.
It is suggested for this dish to be eaten for breakfast. Large amount of calories will give you the strength for a walk, sightseeing and skiing in the winter months at the mountain of “golden pines”. Usually people order cold Zlatibor yoghurt, or even better, home-made sour milk which is usually served in an earthenware. This combination is a guarantee of a complete satisfaction.
For this specialty you will need a fresh bun, old milk cream, eggs and pretop. The taste of lepinja depends on the quality of ingredients. If the bun and milk cream are home-made, you have a great base for the tasty komplet lepinja. It is also important whether you bake it in the oven or in the wood stove like the professionals for this dish.
According to the many people, the most important ingredient is pretop, moca, moča or the soft. You can call it either way, but this magical spice give the special and juicy taste to this specialty of Užice. Also, it gives the komplet lepinja a great amount of calories. But who cares about calories when you have a fresh air and unreal beauty of Zlatibor?
Preparation of pretop goes like this: you catch the fat after baking a lamb or a pig, stir it and leave it to cool down. While pretop is being cooled down, you separate the fat upwards and downwards the gel which is dark brown, really salty and contains an appropriate percentage of water. The original pretop is made by baking a lamb or a pig in the so-called “furuna”.
Once the lepinja is made, the tempting scent will be the first reason to try it. Traditional custom is to eat it with your fingers. Namely, you take down the “cover” which is then being torn into pieces and dipped in the middle. After that, you can eat the outer side. Although, in whichever way you decide to eat this specialty from the Western Serbia, you will remember its taste for a long time. Enjoy!
Recipe: A flat bun is cut horizontally with a soft lean towards the middle, so it approximately looks like a dish and the upper part as a cover. Bottom part is spread with milk cream. You whisk the egg and spread it over the milk cream. Then you put the bottom part of the bun in the previously heated oven and bake it for 10 minutes (depending on whether you like it “raw” or “crispy”). You put the cover into the oven just before taking out the bun. After baking it, the bun is taken out of the oven and spread with the heated pretop.
Featured image: Ivan I. Flickr.com
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