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On 7/11/2018 5:49 PM, Tracey wrote: Hey Uncle Phaedrus I had an old recipe from a former employee that was for a Serbian pork stew. She called it “mushkalista”, but I can’t seem to find it online. It is similar to Muckalica recipes I have found and the spelling indicates a similarity. It’s basically pork stew with bacon, peppers and spices. I do not recall tomatoes in it. It’s served with a dry crumbly white cheese, not unlike feta. I appreciate any insight you may have. Thank you!! Cheers, Chef Tracey
Hi Chef Tracey,
I found two recipes for "mushkalitsa (muskalice)." (Note the spelling: "itsa", not "ista".) See:
I found a couple of recipes for "Serbian Pork Stew" or "Leskovacka muckalica" or simply "muckalica" with bacon. However, they do have tomatoes:
There are a lot of recipes for "Serbian Pork Stew" or "Leskovacka muckalica" or "muckalica" with tomatoes and without bacon, and that seems to be the traditional dish.
I could not find any history of the dish called "muskalitsa."
Doing this site and searching for recipes from cultures around the world, I have found that recipes and names for dishes are far from being standardized, even in the same nation or district or town. Within the confines of one country, the recipe and the name or spelling of the name for a particular dish can vary. Families often modify recipes for a dish to suit themselves and may even change the name of a dish as used within their own family.
So, if I may step out on a limb and speculate for a bit, I'd say that perhaps "muckalica" and "muskalitsa" are variations of the same dish. "Muckalica" usually contains tomatoes and a few recipes have bacon; "muskalitsa" has bacon and usually does not have tomatoes. Perhaps they evolved from the same dish.
Phaed