Slavonian Kulen

Kulen is a cured sausage from Slavonia, made of minced pork packed into a natural casing with a great deal of sweet paprika and some hot, then smoked over hardwood and hung to dry for months. It comes out dark red, dense and firm, and it is cut into thin slices and eaten cold with bread, cheese, raw onion and a glass of something local. Making it is a winter job tied to the pig slaughter, and plenty of families still do it themselves. There is a protected designation for kulen from Slavonia and a rival tradition in Baranja to the north-east; arguing about which is better is a regional sport.

Highlights

• Thinly sliced cured kulen - dark red, firm and heavily spiced with paprika, always served cold.
• Smokehouses and drying rooms - farm buildings where the sausages hang through the winter and spring.
• Autumn food fairs - village events across Slavonia where producers compete and sell direct.
• The standard plate - kulen with sheep cheese, fresh bread, raw onion and pickled peppers.

When to go

Kulen is made in the cold months and the best of the previous year's batch appears from late summer onwards, so autumn is the season for buying and for the fairs. Village events run through September and October. Farm shops sell year-round. Market stalls in Osijek have it most days, busiest on Saturday morning.

Practical notes

Real farmhouse kulen is expensive by the kilo, and supermarket versions carrying the same name are a different product entirely. It is fatty, salty and strongly spiced, and restaurant portions are generous enough to flatten your appetite for the rest of the meal. Buying direct means finding a producer, which needs a car and some Croatian, and standards at informal roadside stalls vary.

Nearby

The Baranja wine villages and the Osijek markets are both within about an hour.