Pljeskavica: Serbian Burgers

These are the SUPERSIZE burgers of supersize burgers, about the size of a salad plate. They come served on special large rolls/buns, called "lepinja" (pronounced as if, "lepeenyah," in Serbian, and they are sort of a flatbread. I bought some extra large rolls to make my "pljeskavica," which is pronounced as if, "pless-kah-veet-sah," but I wouldn't be surprised to find actual "lepinja" here in Cleveland in a couple of areas where fairly large numbers of Serbian and Croatian immigrants settled. Pljeskavica are somewhat spicy, but not terribly so, although you can spice up the meat with extra chili pepper flakes, and by using hot paprika.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground chuck
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 pound ground pork
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons Hungarian paprika, regular (sweet) or hot, your preference
2 teaspoons (or to taste) chili pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
large rolls/buns for serving (+ butter, paprika and chili flakes)

Knead the ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate for 4 or 5 hours, then take it from the refrigerator about 30 to 45 minutes prior to cooking. Form into patties 6 or 7 inches in diameter (or according to the rolls/buns you will use), and about 1/2 inch thick. Grill or fry the patties on a griddle or in a large skillet. Melt some butter in a skillet, add a little paprika and some chili flakes. Season the cut side of the top of each roll/bun by dipping into the butter mixture. If you have fried the burgers on a griddle or in a skillet, you can just gently dip the bun into the already seasoned meat drippings instead of melting the butter. Place each burger onto a roll/bun and serve with cheese or "kajmak" (Serbian/Croatia cheese spread)* and ajvar/ljutenica, ** or your favorite toppings.

* Here is the link to my recipe for "kajmak:" http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/06/serbian-cheese-spread-kajmak.html

** Here is the link to my recipe for "ajvar/ljutenica:"  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2017/07/red-pepper-relish-serbian-croatian.html

1) Pljeskavice with just grilled red sweet peppers and with tomatoes and onion on the side  2) With ajvar/ljutenica  3) With kajmak and ajvar/ljutenica

WORD HISTORY:
Cravat-The distant origins of this word are uncertain, and its history is a bit shaky, but it goes back to transliterated Serbo-Croatian "Hrvat," which means "Croat" (where this came from is uncertain). During the 1600s some Croatian cavalry served in the French army as mercenaries. These Croatian troops wore a kind of scarf or cloth around there necks, which was called "cravate," by the French, a term which then spread to German, as "Krawatte," and to English, as "cravat," in the mid 1600s. There "seems" to be an alternate idea that the word originally was picked up by German as "Krawatte," and then spread to French. My German sources indicate the word came TO German FROM French; thus, my history above.