Talk of pastrmajlija can inflame spirits in many Macedonian cities. There is most likely no other single dish in the country that has ever been the object of so much rivalry. Everybody claims that pastrmajlija is theirs, and that they make the best one, or even more likely, the “true one”. One should always be careful in expressing a culinary judgment concerning the pastrmajlija in front of one’s hosts. If one is in the town of Štip, then of course the Štip pastrmajlija is the best and the only type of pastrmajlija. If one is in Veles (another town in the central part of the country, not far from Štip), then naturally, no pastrmajlija can compare to the Veles type. Or even better, the guest has not even heard of the existence of types other than the Veles one. 

Pastrmajlija is an oval pastry (similar to pizza), usually with chopped pieces of pork meat on top of it. It can differ in size, the method in which the meat is prepared, the presence of additional ingredients such as cheese or eggs, and so on. But it is always oval-shaped and with chopped meat. It is most often served with hot peppers. It slides down delightfully with red vine.

The Štip pastrmajlija is arguably the most famous in the country. The Štip pastrmajlija model is minimalist and based on simplicity. The pastrmajlija contains only spiced, chopped pork and no additional ingredients. The Štip pastrmajlija festival is probably the largest in the country. Last year, over 20,000 of the famous dish were reportedly made and sold during the “pastrmajliada”, as the event is called.

Some 30 kilometres northwest of Štip is the small town of Sveti Nikole. The local inhabitants are proud that their pastrmajlija contains also cheese and eggs.  Living in the shadow of their larger neighbour Štip which has, according to natives of Sveti Nikole, usurped the ownership of the brand, people of Sveti Nikole talk with disdain of the meager Štip pastrmajlija and its tiny slices of meat, which according to them is due to the stinginess of their neighbours. The people of Sveti Nikole take pride in the fact that their pastrmajlija is rich with ingredients. While the "Štip type" is served nationwide and dominates the market in the capital city Skopje, the Sveti Nikole pastrmajlija can only be found locally. Visitors should nonetheless avoid badly-informed statements such as “Oh, I didn’t know your city made pastrmajlija, too…” 

“It is all local patriotism” says Dejan Georgievski, a local civil society activist and pastrmajlija buff, “but beyond that, the Štip pastrmajlija is just awful”, he adds with a wink.

Southwest from Sveti Nikole, in the centre of the country, lies the town of Veles. Veles is home to one of the country's greatest poets, Kočo Racin, and the Veles pastrmajlija or pita (pie), as locals call it. Veles has probably come the closest to fighting Štip over the ownership of the brand. The expression “Veles pita” is not unknown and is gaining ground throughout the country. The Veles festival of pastrmajlija, to be held for the 12th time in 2011, is also increasingly visible.  

People from Veles, of course, say that they and they alone make the true pastrmajlija. They claim that the very name of the dish comes from the word pastrma (dried mutton). Traditionally, pastrma was a necessary ingredient of the pie. Over the years it has by and large been abandoned, except in Veles.

“How can what Štip folk make be pastrmajlija when they do not put pastrma in it?” people from Veles say regularly. They also dismiss their neighbours in the south, in Negotino, who brag about the size of their pastrmajlija. “Theirs may be large,” say the Veleshani, “but it stiffens after half an hour, whereas ours remain fresh for much longer”.

According to some, the secret of good pastrmajlija is in the recipe. According to others, the recipe is fairly straightforward, but it is the traditional wood oven that makes the difference. Still others say it is the quality of the local water or air (needed for the maturing of the dough).

All pastrmajlija are exquisite in their own way, be they from Štip, Veles, or Sveti Nikole. But there is one which, in the humble opinion of this author, outstrips them all.

In the north-eastern corner of the country is the small town of Kratovo, home to medieval gold mines and, later, Ottoman towers. Locals say that several of the well-preserved towers were connected by a web of underground tunnels built underneath the town. Many have been destroyed over the centuries but some are still functional. One of the entrances to these tunnels is allegedly in a local pastrmajlija restaurant.

Unlike other varieties of pastrmajlija which use fresh meat, pastrmajlija in Kratovo is made with smoked pork and uses dough that is much softer than in the other varieties. Served only in winter, the Kratovo pastrmajlija is truly sublime.

To read how to cook pastrimajlija, click here

**The European Commission does not accept or recognise in whatever form or content a denomination other than “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”. All references, direct or indirect, to this country used in this article are those of its author