Can you identify these chiles on sale in Serbia and Macedonia?

Question

In the market in Niš, Serbia yesterday there were the most beautiful capsicums (bell peppers, red peppers) and chiles on display that I've ever seen.

But also on sale were these "ugly" ones that I first though were some kind of root vegetable due to their characteristic dull finish. Note also the characteristic "etched" concentric rings going around them:

My Serbian host has little English and after much effort and phone calls was proud to tell me they are called "hot chille peppers", but hopefully the culinary experts here can find a much more specific name or description.

I don't mind if the only names you can find are in Serbian or some other language, but I am interested to know why they look so different to the shiny chiles and how they are put to use in this part of the world, especially uses which differ to the more familiar looking varieties.

Answer

I've now found them on sale in a posh supermarket in Skopje, Macedonia. This time labelled:

потекло скопско

пиперки везени

благи / кг

Which Google Translate massages into:

origin Skopje

peppers embroidered

mild / kg

So an answer is "пиперки везени" or "embroidered peppers", for at least one name used in at least one country. Here is a close-up photo giving a better look at the striations:

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How to take care of glazed earthenware?

Question

I got a traditional gyveche (гювече) as a gift, and since it would be hard to replace here, I intend to take good care of it.

For those who don't know it, a gyuveche is an earthenware pot intended for baking a single portion of casserole-like mediterannean dishes. There are unglazed and glazed ones; mine is glazed both on the outside and the inside. That's a picture of one similar to mine.

I have some trouble cleaning it. I'm not yet used to it, and sometimes bake the dish too long, which means that I get overbaked egg caked on the inside.

My usual strategies against overbaked egg are a stainless steel wire pad and soaking. But I'm afraid that the wire pad will hurt the glaze and that soaking will seep into the clay. Is this really a concern? If I can't use wire pad or soaking, what is my best option? The rough side of the sponge isn't enough by itself.

Also, if anybody has general tips about the care, I'll be glad to hear them.

Answer

Speaking as a potter, do not use the wire pad.

The pot you have is a very low-fire ceramic, and the glaze is most likely softer than steel, so a wire pad could scratch the inside of the pot irreparably. Note that this is not true of high-fire ceramic, which is harder than steel (as is glass).

There is no issue with soaking the pot, really. Water will not hurt it. It is possible, even likely, that the clay will soak up water through its bottom or tiny cracks in the glaze. In this case, you just need to make sure the pot is dry before exposing it to sudden heat, or it could crack. Dry it on a dishrack, or even in a low-temperature (less than 200F) oven. Also, don't use very much soap while soaking it, as the pot may soak up some of the soap and affect the flavor of the food.

Additionally, several companies make plastic or even copper scrub pads. I've found, in particular, that the red-and-yellow plastic scrub pads made by Tuffy are particularly effective for scrubbing delicate surfaces. I don't know if the copper scrub pads are pure copper, so I don't know if they will scratch your pot or not.

Finally, let me also recommend against putting your gyveche through the dishwasher. Not only will this expose the pot to almost certain chipping, but the porous earthenware may soak up bleach which can both ruin your food and cause the clay to break down and chip or crack.

By the way, that's a beautiful pot. I can see why you like using it.

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Identify this seafood from the Black Sea known in Romanian as “rapane”?

Question

Here on the Black Sea in Romania people are eating a shellfish called in Romanian "rapane" which they translate as "oyster" when I ask.

But they are elongated spiral shells which to me look nothing like the chunky flattish oyster shells in Australia. Besides which there is another Romanian word "stridie" for oyster and I can't find "rapane" in my print dictionary or any online dictionary. One person told me these are "sea oysters" as opposed to "ocean oysters". I've also been told they're not a native local species.

Here are some photos of a dead rapane shell on the beach. I'll replace them with better photos when I can take some:

Answer

They look like a species of whelk, which is a catch-all term for sea-snails. See the Wikipedia article here.

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Does a Romanian omletă ţărănească (peasant omelette) have standard ingredients?

Question

I am currently travelling in Romania and have been enjoying a breakfast each morning of "omletă ţărănească", which can be translated to English as "peasant omelette".

What I'm wondering is whether it has a standard fixed list of ingredients or is it one of those dishes where you throw in "whatever is laying about" (or at least typical Romanian ingredients laying about).

The one I just ate seemed to contain at least tomato, mushroom, bits of bacon, and those pale green bell peppers common in the Balkans.

There doesn't seem to be an article on it in Wikipedia and I've seen it on the menu of two restaurants in the same small town which makes me think it should be a typical dish.

Answer

Judging from search results and the handy firefox babelfish addon, the peasant (or country-style) omelette seems to be, as you suspected, one of those dishes where anything handy is thrown in.

EDIT: the firefox addon is actually unnecessary as google provides an option on the search results page for translated versions of the search results.

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