What some statesmen, politicians and historians failed to do, to put Marshal Tito and leader Karađorđe in the same context, Milovan Mica Stojanović succeeded, at least in the field of gastronomy.
This professor of culinary arts and head chef of the lifelong president of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz, claims that more than half a century ago he created one of the most famous domestic dishes - Karađorđ steak.
He named it after Đorđe Petrović, the leader of the First Serbian Uprising and the progenitor of the Karađorđević dynasty, and he made it quite by accident, by improvising the ingredients on the spot.
"I'm glad that we have one national team when a Frenchman, a Czech, and an American come to take something typical," says Milovan Mića Stojanović, for the BBC in Serbian.
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This fried steak, which is made from veal, pork or some other type of meat, filled with cream, is today an indispensable item on the menu of most Serbian restaurants in the country and around the world.
Bojana Kalenjuk Pivarski, professor at the Department of Gastronomy, at the Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel Management at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Novi Sad. believes that "no dish created some 50, 60 years ago has such popularity and representation" in Serbia.
"I think she deserves a lot of respect because she still managed to preserve herself all these years and because almost every Serbian restaurant has it on offer," she told the BBC in Serbian.
Similar name and cooking history
Recipe for Karađorđ steak, one of the most famous dishes of Serbian national cuisine, was created by a combination of unforeseen circumstances, while Mića Stojanović was working in the "Golf" restaurant on the slopes of Belgrade's Košutnjak forest.
It was, according to the memory of the creator of this delicacy, in 1956 or 1957, when a guest asked him for a Kiev cutlet, a Ukrainian-Russian dish made of chicken and butter.
"I didn't have those ingredients, but I was resourceful and made some improvisation, and she liked it," says Mića Stojanović, sitting in the family restaurant surrounded by portraits of Karađorđe and other Serbian greats.
Thus, the future Tito's chef unintentionally "cooked history", using available ingredients - veal schnitzel and cream, which actually makes this dish authentic.
Since Serbian cuisine, both in terms of products and names, mainly relied on foreign gastronomy, he decided to give his own culinary invention an original name, after the leader of the First Serbian Uprising of 1804 and the progenitor of the Karađorđević dynasty.
"Many of our scientists, fighters or statesmen were not suitable for communism, so I had to take care that the state would not punish me," explains the 88-year-old chef.
This dish named after Karađorđe, which he says was acceptable to the authorities at the time, was "officialized" ten years later at a cooking exhibition in a Belgrade restaurant. "the sun".
Then, it is said, the name KArađorđ steak appeared for the first time in written form as part of a pamphlet printed for the occasion.
Whether KAradorđeva schnitzel, the original product?
Karadjordje's steak has met with various criticisms in its more than 65 years of existence.
Its origin is mostly contested and compared to other foreign dishes of similar preparation, such as the Swiss delicacy cordon bleu.
"I would absolutely not make such a comparison and I think that it deserves to be respected in the original because we cannot dispute its popularity and recognition in the world when it comes to Serbian cuisine," explains Professor Kalenjuk Pivarski.
She says that she would not compare it to other dishes because it is characteristic both "in terms of shape and filling".
Although Mića was inspired by the Kiev cutlet, it differs from it, and other related dishes, in terms of the garnish, i.e. side dish and accessories, but primarily in the main ingredient - cream.
"Kajmak is our local domestic product and has certain sensory and nutritional characteristics that are given to it by our geographical climate, the place where it is obtained and the way in which it is obtained.
"And it gives it that authenticity and depicts our cuisine in comparison to some other fillings or ingredients that have other performances," the professor of gastronomy points out.
However, through various projects and research in catering, Kalenjuk Pivarski has come across different types of filling, which is why the "average consumer" often expects ham, cheese, pickles or some other ingredients to be found inside the schnitzel.
"And there is only a little dispute about its authenticity, which may not have managed to be completely preserved as such, but instead received a different form of filling, so for that reason it is often compared to some other dishes," adds the professor.
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Soldier, ribbon and order
Mića Stojanović, as he says, made hundreds of authentic Serbian dishes, and in order to "compose them as faithfully as possible, he dealt with science and history".
So alone KArađorđ steak in his gastronomic story, it represents a soldier, the indispensable tartar sauce is a ribbon, and the decorated lemon is the Order of the Star of Karađorđe.
This sign was awarded in the kingdom, but it was also recognized in socialist Yugoslavia, while since 2009 it has been awarded again. "for special merits and successes in representing the state and its citizens", in three degrees.
"Where the Karađorđevs lived, mostly in the part of Šumadija where there is cream and meat, and I wanted to sew a star, it's a lemon, and sauce - a ribbon, and so I composed it to make it believable.
"When someone asks me, I could defend them, because it's typically present," adds the multiple award-winning chef.
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During the first preparation KAradorje steaks, Mica used veal and cream as the main ingredient.
However, other types of meat also come into consideration and it is desirable to adapt the recipe if someone "due to custom, tradition or religion" cannot consume the original ingredient.
"If, for example, an Indian does not eat veal, we give him turkey or a Muslim does not eat pork, we make it with veal - the meat can be changed, but the cream must always be present," stresses Mića Stojanović.
Worldly, but still only ours
Karadjordje's steak According to its creator, it has reached almost all continents where culinary paths have taken it.
"I haven't been to Australia, so maybe it's not there yet, but since our people are moving, probably one of my students, guests or housewives who settle down will compose it," says the chef.
Since he spent an enviable part of his career cooking in the West, where he could not provide domestic cream, he made ends meet by making it according to his own recipe, which "doesn't have that flavor and taste, but does not change much in composition".
Professor Kalenjuk Pivarski says that it is KArađorđ steak an indispensable item in the offer of Serbian restaurants in the world and in the region.
"No dish is represented as much," he adds.
Researching other cuisines, she came to know that this delicacy "gained great popularity during the lifetime of its creator", which is not often the case.
"It entered the group of traditional dishes because it has been on the market for more than half a century."
However, it has not "received the epithet of international food" and is still "tied to the national level".
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What was it like to cook for Tito?
For more than 20 years, Mića Stojanović cooked for the lifelong president of Yugoslavia - Josip Broz Tito.
He started as an assistant, but eventually became head chef, thanks to his ability to "respond to the requirements of protocol".
Mostly, he says, he worked by invitation when foreign delegations came and when he went on a trip, but he also spent some time in Tito's seaside residence, on the Brioni archipelago (a group of islands), in today's Croatia.
He perceived the Yugoslav president as "the greatest politician, connoisseur and gourmet".
"He wasn't picky, he ate and drank everything, but I wouldn't be able to tell if he tried KAradjordjeva steak.
"I did make it, but I don't know if he ate it," recalls Stojanović, as he slowly thickens the brandy he mixed with water.
Since upon starting his job, he was told to "not take up the president's time and to talk and answer normally" if Tito asked him something, Mića only talked to him a few times.
He remembers that once in Brioni, passing through the kitchen on the way to the beach, Tito asked him what he was cooking, and then tasted the dish.
"I took out a piece of meat on the board, cut it, he ate it and said: 'Now I'm going to swim,'" recalls Stojanović with a smile.
The second time he found him in the workshop next to the villa.
He addressed him with "good job, President", to which Tito replied "bring me something to drink", after which a syringe, a mixture of white wine and sour water, arrived soon after.
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He often traveled abroad with delegations, where he took care of what would be served to Tito for food.
"I always had everything under my eye and always tried, I never let anything go to waste."
He says that in some countries where "it was suspicious" and hygiene was at an unenviable level, he cautiously left the residence or the ship and, in agreement with his colleagues, followed what was being prepared.
"I had the good habit of mostly recording everything and then just winking if the one over there in the corner wasn't very clean," he adds.
"But Tito was secured and guarded everywhere, and among the people there were few who were against him," says Mića.
He was also in the presidential team during the tours of Yugoslavia, and his trip by train to the east of Serbia was especially etched in his memory.
While they were traveling, doctor Vladimir Vojvodić approached him and said that if Stari (one of Tito's nicknames) wants scrambled eggs, to make him without the yolk, and kačamak without crackers.
And scrambled eggs.
"He took the plate and said: 'My God, what is this?', and I: 'Comrade President, Vlad said that you shouldn't eat egg yolks,' to which he replied; "Let him be this, give me scrambled eggs," recounts Mića.
They had their last meeting, ironically, in Karađorđevo near Bačka Palanka, a few days before Tito left for treatment in Ljubljana, where he died on May 4, 1980.
A tradition that is passed down from generation to generation
Karađorđe steak Mica's children - Petar, Milan and Milica - had the opportunity to try it in their early childhood.
"Since we didn't have a deep fryer, dad made it in a big pot - he heated the oil to the maximum and let it go KArađorđev to sail like submarines and boats.
"When they cool down a bit, we pass them through our hands and put them on, without bread," says Mica's son, lawyer Petar Stojanović, for the BBC in Serbian.
He says that their parents animated them from a young age "through the making of various dishes and delicacies", and they prepared, ate and socialized together in the kitchen and at the table.
In the early 1990s, the Stojanovićs built a facility in Zemun where they are still made today KAradorje steaks according to the original recipe.
Although everyone participates in the family business in their own way, the "first line of chefs" consists of Mica's son Milan, grandson Mateja and six colleagues in the kitchen, but often the father or grandfather "takes over the baton".
"He will not say that he is in charge, but I like to ask what he proposes," says Milan Stojanović, 57-year-old Mica's son, for the BBC in Serbian.
He doesn't remember exactly when he prepared the first time he prepared it KAradjordjeva, but he remembers that his son Mateja, with the help of his father, was already preparing this dish at the age of five.
It is, he says, the most requested in their tavern.
Guests often ask him about the recipe, which his father Mića made available to the public long ago, and that's why he has no problem sharing it because it has almost no secrets.
"There are two small nuances in the preparation itself, but that decision is not dominant, it does not determine the taste KArađorđev", explains Milan.
The present and future of the Serbian delicacy
One of the main chefs in Mica's restaurant and his son, Milan Stojanović, believes that popularity KAradorje steaks is growing which is "proof that it will always exist".
"The only condition is that we have real cream - it cannot be made industrially, but only in rural households, so God bless the village to the end," says Milan.
Professor Bojana Kalenjuk Pivarski also believes that the current status of Carađorđ schnitzel in national cuisine is good.
And as for its future, he adds, it depends a lot "on the restaurateurs, who have to preserve its authenticity and try to incorporate it into the offer, but through a slightly more modern approach to serving and gastronomic arrangements".
"Nevertheless, what legendary describes our kitchen, as Mića put it then, without going into any details, is definitely that KArađorđ steak which everyone has," concludes the professor.
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