It was a gloomy autumn day in 1964, when the seventeen-year-old Agim Sinanović headed for the "Republika" hotel in Pristan, where he was supposed to start mastering the culinary trade as a student in the first year of school in economics.
The bearded young man was kindly welcomed by the chef Kabyle Karamanaga and experienced cooks Council of Milota i Anka Lješi. But the first look at the interior of the kitchen of the iconic hotel did not bring Agim peace of mind - the huge wood stove and pile of unwashed dishes only meant that the newly minted and by far the youngest member of the cooking team would have significantly more additional work.
Fifty-seven years after his first working day, Agim today remembers with nostalgia, as he says, happy times and good people.
"I hated washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen and the stove, but someone had to. At the same time, I learned the trade from really great cooks and good women. Fortunately for me, they arrived at the practice a month after me Mira Matovic i Hadila Molabecirović. I just quietly said, 'God, thank you,'" Agim says with a smile as we sit in the "Meraja" restaurant below the Green Market, where he makes good old specialties with new, young people.
Agim has been retired for a long time and although he is well into his eighth decade, he cannot do without his first job - he works four hours a day at "Meraja" and the menu includes škembić, beans, stew, stuffed peppers, škembić shaker...
Agim was born in 1947 in Shkodër, where his parents, from Ulcinj, lived from 1943 to 1949, when they returned to their homeland. They seized the last opportunity, because as Agim says, from that year the borders between Yugoslavia and Albania were closed due to bad relations between the two neighboring countries.
Agim stayed at the internship in "Republica" for two years and that period, apart from good interpersonal relations, he also remembers for the wood-burning stove, which was handmade and "finished all the work".
"It was three meters long and one meter wide. His oven was 50 cm X 80 cm and in it we prepared mainly roasts - pork, veal and chicken and moussaka made of potatoes, zucchini and eggplant. We also had đuveč, stuffed peppers, beans, stew, veal saute, pepper meat, meatballs, stuffed rolls, fried chicken fillet, chicken drumstick in sauce, burgers, kebabs and of course fish - grasshopper, sea bass, eel, kubla, penna, uklej , carp and kečigu", Sinanović enumerates the rich menu of "Republika", which was mostly enjoyed by foreign tourists, predominantly Germans.
The story goes that there was no gambor on the menu back then for some bizarre reason.
"At that time, our fishermen threw them out of their nets, they didn't know that it was a specialty... But today, these gambori are the most expensive, domestic ones were sold for up to thirty euros per kilogram this summer, and twice as expensive in restaurants," says Sinanović.
He adds that at that time there were no stuffed burgers, nor one of today's most important spices - vegeta.
"It was not produced here, but that did not mean that the dishes were less delicious. You could do without vegetables, there was no shortage of salt, allspice, pepper and various spices, and Saveta and Anka were magicians in the kitchen. Working with them and learning from them was an invaluable experience," says Agim.
He remembers that the food was not expensive and that the complete menu - main course, soup and salad - cost nine dinars. As a trainee, he received a symbolic 30 dinars per month.
"In the evening there was music on the terrace, there was a group from Sarajevo called "Veseli Bosanci". Everyone enjoyed themselves, sang, danced, the tables were full of anything and everything... But that was life", says Sinanović.
After two and a half years, he transferred to "Lido" as a final, third-year student. They will meet there Edvard Kardelj and meet elite chefs from Belgrade and Novi Sad. For that occasion, for one of the closest Tito's associates, a large flag of Yugoslavia was made from roses.
"Kardelj cut the ribbon and solemnly opened the hotel. There were many udbas in civilian clothes and chefs from Serbia, specially brought for the occasion, made special dishes and arranged long tables. Kardelj spent the night and left, as did the Udba agents, but some cooks stayed to work in the hotel and in the city, because Ulcinj did not have enough staff at the time," says Sinanović.
That was the first time he learned how to make homemade mayonnaise.
"The chef was Romanian at the time Franjo Chuco, who worked before that in Belgrade. He supplemented the menu with lamb kapama, sarma in a lamb handkerchief, Hadžija ćevap, Belgrade saute, Leskovac mućkalica... Then we had all the conditions, new electric stoves and grills arrived. Vegeta also arrived," he remembers.
Čučo introduced the rule that at noon or midnight, there must be beef or beef bone stock in the kitchen.
"These are ordinary bones for soup, which are cooked and seasoned with pepper, vegetables and parsley. Instead of water, such soup serves as an addition to various other dishes, for example when stewing... The butcher was Ivo, I don't know his last name now, but every day he left us the necessary bones for the soup", says Sinanović.
The head chef was Avdo Molabecirović, there were also Sabro Selita, one Ladybug from Novi Sad, Dahmo Vranjin from Bosnia, Military service a confectioner with his wife... Sinanović remembers that there were ten of them and that they worked in two shifts.
In "Lido", as second-year students, there were also Skender Uluci, Refik Goran, Andrija Jocović i Suljo Brkanović.
The guests were mostly Germans, and the most popular dishes were roasts, fish, stuffed peppers, đuvec and goulash. In the summer, beans were prepared once every seven days, and once a week, the guests had a cold dinner and a cold fruit soup.
A year later, when he finished school and became a KV chef, his path would lead him to GP "Primorje", which was the center of the main development projects in the city. Director Milo Ćetković he introduced a hot meal for the workers and Agim says that up to 300 employees attended the lunch. She was the main cook, he remembers Janica Srzentić, sister Mirko Srzentić, the hero, whose name the Ulcinj library bears. His job was to cut the meat and separate 300 grams per person.
"Those were really big and tasty portions. It happened that people couldn't eat everything, so they packed it up and took it home," he says and remembers the weekly menu - Monday: beans solo, Tuesday: spicy meat with cabbage, Wednesday: meat with macaroni, Thursday: meat and rice, Friday : beans with stuffed patty and Saturday: potatoes and peppers.
Finally, in November 1970, Agim moved to "Albatros", where he would work in the kitchen until 2007, and three years later he would retire.
When he arrived at "Albatros", the then chef and culinary instructor Refik Molabećirović, recognized in him a talent for preparing a la carte menus. And so began the upward trajectory of his career, which will result in a VKV chef's diploma in Opatija in 1975-1976, culminating in the Golden Plaque presented to him by the Tourist Association of Montenegro in the action "We choose the best" in 1991/1992. years.
In "Albatross", he was welcomed by the heads of the hall, he remembers Camil Taipović, Sabro Sulejmanović i Dzemalj Ljanica. Džemalj previously worked at the Italian embassy in Belgrade, says Agim, so he is its director Filip Martinovic brought to "Albatross" because of Italian hunters, who were frequent guests on the Ulcinj riviera and hunting grounds in those years.
Sinanović started working at "Albatross" as a cook on duty, while he was a waiter on duty Nebojsa Matović. They worked from 16 to 24 hours. As time went by, says Agim, the guests were more and more demanding, especially in the selection of food.
"I mostly sold steaks, quality fish, mućkalice, roasts and the specialty of the house "Epigram Albatros" - roast meat, plus Vienna schnitzel, plus Parisian schnitzel. It was more than 600 grams and meant for two people," says Agim.
In 2007, he took a severance payment of five thousand euros and applied to the Labor Bureau. After three years, he became eligible for retirement - he had 41 years of service.
With my wife Muradija has five children, a daughter Ardita, Azret, Zenepui Ziyadu and son Gezim. They have 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Now he enjoys "Meraja" and, as he says, he prepares dishes from a jar while the waiter Šaćir watches and learns... Like Agim back then at Saveta and Anka's...
Massage is better than washing dishes
Agim fondly remembers an anecdote during a short break at the "Republika" hotel.
"When Mira and Hadila arrived, I stopped washing the dishes. During the break, while I was walking around the kitchen and the girls were washing the dishes, the cook of the Council said to me: "Agime, since you have nothing to do now, come and massage my shoulders." And so, when I accepted the job, looking at the girls by the sink, I thought "better to massage than to wash the dishes", recalls Agim, who would do anything but not to wash the dishes.
The director secretly monitored how many meals he dispensed
When he arrived at "Albatros" and started working as a chef on duty, Agim did not know that he had received a special companion in the form of director Filip Martinović.
"From the second floor of the hotel, he monitored and wrote down everything I issued from the kitchen in order not to determine that it was not being done as it should be. The monitoring lasted almost a month and I didn't know anything. Every morning there were checks at the cash register to see if I had worked correctly. In the end, the director gave up because he saw that everything was regular", he says with a smile. He adds that the director often drank coffee on the hotel's terrace at dawn and recorded who regularly came to work and who was late. Martinović later sent Agim for training in Opatija at the hotel's expense for two years, where he improved his skills and received a VKV chef's diploma.
In Sidr and actors from Atelier 212
While working at "Albatross", Agim was additionally the head chef at the restaurants "Evropa" from 1982-1984, "Zlatni Tiganj" from 1984-1986, Kalaba from 1986-1988 and "Sidro" from 1988-1990. He especially remembers his work at the restaurant "Sidro", owned by Adem Tivarij.
"On the steps in front of the restaurant, guests were waiting for a free table. While they were waiting, they were served free of charge Russian brandy 'jurishka'. Inside, the most expensive possible dishes were served, and the guests were foreigners and at one time also famous actors from Belgrade's cult theater Atelje 212, who were not averse to jumping from Budva to Ulcinj for a good bite in a pleasant atmosphere", remembers Agim.
Okra in the Ulcinj style
Agim says that okra in the Ulcinj style is his favorite dish that he likes to prepare. And here's how the recipe works for four people - you need a kilogram of okra, 700 grams of veal, half a kilogram of onion, fresh tomatoes, salt, vegetables, pepper and tomato sauce.
"The loops are cut from the okra, and they are cut in half or in three parts, depending on the size. They are fried in deep fat and when they get a golden color, they are taken out in another container. In the same fat, sauté the onion and the meat cut into cubes, until the onion turns glassy. Then diced tomatoes, salt, pepper, green pepper and a little tomato sauce are added. Water is added from time to time until the meat is soft and then the okra is added. Let it simmer on medium heat for ten minutes. Then put it all in a pan and put 4 tomatoes cut in the shape of a star on top. Place in the oven at 200 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. The dish can be served in portions or the casserole can be placed directly in front of the guests for the waiter or them to share, taking care not to damage the tomatoes".
Bonus video:
