Grilling ćevapi: the four mistakes almost everyone makes
Ćevapi are quick to cook and just as quick to ruin. Four things decide whether they stay juicy or come off the grate dry and falling apart.
Ćevapi have no casing. That is the whole difference from a sausage, and everything else follows from it: nothing holds the juice in except the crust that forms as they cook. Damage that crust and you lose the juice.
First mistake: putting them on too early. As long as flames are leaping, the charcoal is not ready. What rises off it settles onto the meat as bitterness. Wait until a layer of grey ash has formed over the embers — a good twenty to thirty minutes after lighting, and there is no shortcut.
Second mistake: turning them too early. Freshly laid on, they stick to the grate. Pull at them now with the tongs and you tear off exactly the crust that has just formed. They release by themselves once the underside has browned — that is the signal, not the clock.
Third mistake: piercing them. Neither a fork nor a knife tip has any business here. Every puncture is a hole for the juice to run out of. Use tongs to turn them, and roll rather than flip, so every side colours evenly.
Fourth mistake: leaving them on too long. Ćevapi are thin and therefore cooked through quickly. Two to three minutes a side is usually enough. If you are unsure, take one off and cut into it — that costs you one and saves the rest.
Serve them the classic way, in split flatbread with plenty of raw onion and ajvar. Reckon on more than you think you need: there are never any left.
Lagerfeuer Feinkost — handmade meat and delicatessen products from Wagna in southern Styria. Our products