🇲🇪 The cattle breeds of Montenegro

In Montenegro cattle show up mostly on the plate: their milk becomes kaymak, butter, yoghurt, sour cream and salty aged cheeses, while beef and veal go into broths and stews. Highland cooking leans on dairy and cornmeal; the Adriatic coast looks to the sea instead. No breed is named.

• Pljevaljski sir is a salted, aged cheese made from cow's milk.
• Kaymak, called skorup, is salted fresh cream pressed and served with bread and cornmeal.
• Beef and calf broths open the midday meal, with rice or pasta stirred in.
• Highland dishes such as kačamak pair cornmeal with kaymak and buttermilk.
• Cheese is made from skimmed milk and from unboiled milk in home dairies.

Cattle in Montenegro

Cattle keep a modest place in Montenegro's kitchen. They appear chiefly as meat for broths and stews and as the source of a wide run of dairy foods, from butter and yoghurt to kaymak, the salted pressed cream eaten with many dishes. The cooking splits by ground: the Adriatic coast works in Mediterranean style with Italian touches and fills its plates with seafood, while the northern highlands lean on cornmeal, potatoes, cheese and cream, the fare of shepherds. Wider habits came from Turkey and the Levant by way of Serbia, with Hungarian and Central European notes in stews, crêpes and breads. No Montenegrin breed of cattle is singled out by name.

Regions and communities

Montenegrin food divides between the Adriatic coast and the northern highlands. The highland table is where cattle products shine: kačamak, cornmeal with buttered potato, and cicvara, stewed cornmeal stirred with kaymak, eaten with chilled milk, buttermilk or yoghurt. Cheeses carry their home places in their names, among them Pljevaljski sir, an aged cow's-milk cheese, and Njeguški sir, stored in oil. On the coast, cooking turns Mediterranean, with seafood and Italian influence, and dairy steps back.

Milk, butter and beef

Milk products dominate what cattle give. Kaymak (kajmak or skorup) is salted fresh cream pressed into a spread, eaten with bread, popara, cicvara and kačamak. Cheeses include Pljevaljski sir, a salted aged cheese from cow's milk; prljo, from skimmed milk; cijeli sir, žetica and buča, all from unboiled milk; and Njeguški sir, kept in oil. Beef and veal go into broths thickened with rice or pasta, into a pea and beef stew, and into Balšića tava, fried veal with vegetables and dairy. Lamb cooked in milk, a national dish of Montenegrin Albanians, uses milk too.