The Pejačević family was one of the most prominent and significant families that strongly influenced the history of Slavonia, but also of Croatia. The Pejačevićs received the title of counts in 1772, and they were divided into three family branches (Našice, Ruma-Retfala and Virovitica), each of which would have an impact on the development of the places in which she lived.
From the 18th to the middle of the 20th century, the noble family was an important factor in the Croatian political, economic, cultural and social scene. The high architectural level of their castles is relatively well known to the public, but also the artistic and musical heritage, but less literary. Apart from being patrons of art, they were also important for the economy and politics of Croatia.
A number of famous people emerged from the family. The most famous members are Croatian bans Ladislav and his eldest son Teodor and the first Croatian composer Dora Pejačević. Ladislav was an influential Croatian politician who participated in 1868 in concluding the Croatian-Hungarian settlement. He was ban from 1880 to 1883, when, after the Council of Ministers in Vienna decided that bilingual Croatian-Hungarian coats of arms would remain in Croatia, despite the opposition of the Croatian state leadership, he resigned, and then Dragutin Khuen from Hungary became ban. - Hedervary.
In the 19th century, when Count Ladislav Pejačević became the Croatian ban, Pejačević Castle in Virovitica was the center of Croatian social life.
One of the curiosities of this castle is that the kitchen was located in a separate building in the park, and the food was transported by electric train in an underground tunnel that connected the castle with the kitchen.
In their castle, this noble family prepared meals the way they did at the most famous court of that time - Vienna. One such dish is veal shank. The method of preparation is described in Pejačević's original instruction:
Boil the veal legs in water, so that they are soft, then discard the legs (think of the bones; remove the meat from the bones), and cut the remaining meat into pieces, salt, put in a grinder (flour), from this into scrambled eggs (scrambled eggs), from these into grated bread crumbs (bread crumbs, pretzels) and bake in fat. ”
Boar shepherd was often prepared in the Pejačević castle. From that time remains the recipe I bring below.
Ingredients: 1 kg of wild boar, 1 dl of red wine, salt and pepper as desired, 0.5 dcl of oil (once used fat), 2 cloves of garlic, 15 dag of onion, 1 dag of sweet red ground pepper, 1 dl of mashed tomato.
Clean the boar's leg of veins and grease. Put it in a suitable bowl, pour over red wine, salt and pepper. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Dry the marinated meat with a clean towel and cut into small pieces. Peel a squash, grate it and chop finely. In a suitable pan, fry the garlic and red onion in hot oil (sometimes fat, which gave a much better taste). When the red onion gets the color of old gold, add the boar meat. Stir occasionally until the meat is tender. When softened, add the tomato puree, red ground pepper and hot pepper. Add red wine. Stir. Reduce heat to half power and cook covered for 70 minutes.
