Yesterday, the traditional Kotlićijada (Stew/Cauldron Festival) was held in the courtyard of the Holy Resurrection Church in Chicago, in which several teams consisting of culinary masters from various parts of Chicago, as well as neighboring states, Indiana and Wisconsin, participated.
The Kotlićijada is an event that, as the years go by, attracts more and more audience, more precisely, tasters, as well as teams. For good reason, or rather, several reasons.
Namely, this is an opportunity to try delicacies that are rarely encountered at our church festivals, and which are not even on the menus of Serbian and Balkan restaurants in Chicago and the surrounding area…
TRADITION AND QUALITY: The ABC team offered excellent goulash, beans, and mushroom soup
Thus, various types of soups, goulash, and stews can be found from all kinds of meat, from pork, veal, and lamb to roe deer and wild boar, wedding cabbages, beans prepared in a million ways, fish soups, and various other delicacies… and of course – roast meat!
Of course, the hostesses and hosts also serve appetizers for this occasion, pies and cheese pies (gibanica) are baked, but still, the focus is on what is eaten with a spoon and cooked for several hours in iron cauldrons and earthenware pots.
This year we also tried something new – ćevapi and pljeskavice (meat patties) made from roe deer meat, which were prepared by last year’s champions, the “Serbian Hunters” team, led by the legendary chef Bojan.
ONLY ANTLERS REMAINED: The Serbian Hunters built their strategy on game this year. And on what else would they…
THE HIT OF KOTLIĆIJADA: Ćevapi and pljeskavice from roe deer from the kitchen of master Bojan attracted great attention in Chicago
On their stand, next to the Serbian flag, hung the antlers of a prize stag, from whose meat the aforementioned ćevapi and pljeskavice were made, and there was enough left to cook a powerful wild game goulash.
-No lies, no cheating. What’s in the window is what’s in the shop. The prize stag fell, but we must not reveal where, for understandable reasons. This is the first time we are making these roe deer ćevapi and many people like them because they have an unusually beautiful taste. What spices do we put in? Well, if the recipes were so easily revealed, where would we stop?, master Boki says jokingly.
The “Bosnian Bears” team had a small problem supplying raw materials from the motherland, especially after Trump’s latest tariff increase.
PROBLEMS WITH THE “RAW MATERIAL”: The Bosnian Bears prepared goulash to our taste
-Instead of four bears, we only imported two in the end, because the meat became more expensive due to tariffs. But we managed to make a finger-licking goulash from those two, the witty “Bears” stated for Serbian Times, adding that next year they will try to settle indigenous Bosnian bear varieties in America, so they are within easy reach for the needs of the Kotlićijada.
Among the teams was also a humanitarian organization, Porijeklo (Origin), which consists of our brothers and sisters from Montenegro.
HUMANISM AND CULINARY ARTS: The “Porijeklo” stand at this year’s Kotlićijada
-We love to cook, we love to socialize, and the Kotlićijada is also a nice opportunity for us to inform people about our humanitarian actions, Milan Ćupić tells our portal.
BEAUTY OF THE MAIDEN: And the verses of Marko Miljanov come in handy to refine it
As the day progressed, a column of gourmets from Chicago and surrounding cities moved from one stand to another, tasting in turn what the teams had offered at their stands. It was washed down with homemade rakija and beer, and for a complete atmosphere, there was live folk music.
Finally, it should be mentioned that all visitors received a token at the entrance with which they could vote for one of the participating teams.
And considering what was offered, the choice was very difficult.
THE JURY WAS IN AGONY: And the organizers tried their best to make everything as it should be
After counting the votes, the jury declared the best, the champions of Kotlićijada 2025, the Ukusa Zavičaja (Taste of the Homeland) team who, it must be said, deservedly won the title.
Second place was taken by the Bosanski Međedi (Bosnian Bears), who presented an excellent, spicy goulash, and third place went to the “Porijeklo” team, who had several interesting “spoon dishes.”
DESERVED: The “Porijeklo” team won third place at the Kotlićijada
All teams promised at the farewell that they will come even better prepared next year and that we will see some new interesting dishes on their menus and tables.
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE: The teams and guests finally merged into one, gourmet mass
Author: Antonije Kovačević