This is the second recipe on the National Museum of the US Air Force’s page of war recipes from the Sarajevo Survival Guide (1993), and the one with the most personality. The milk powder was “bought at the black market”, the oil came “from humanitarian aid”, the garlic powder was a “present given by a good friend”, and you mixed it all “with a plastic spoon that can be found in the USA lunch package”. Then: “All should be then taken to your balcony, where the temperature is -10C; you can as well leave it in the kitchen where it is only -8C.” And finally: “Even if you had other ideas, this dish has to be served cold. Enjoy!”
It is not cheese, and nobody in Sarajevo thought it was. It is a thick, tangy, garlicky spread, closer to a soft cream cheese dip than anything else, and it turns a cracker or a piece of flatbread into something worth eating. It comes from cooking through war, which tells the rest.
The proportions are the original’s, measured with any small cup. An espresso cup of about 60 ml works.
- In a bowl, put 4 cups of milk powder, the garlic and the pepper.
- Add 1 cup of oil and 1 cup of drinking water, then half a cup of lemon juice, and stir hard. As the guide says, it thickens almost at once, “just like a pudding”.
- Stir in the herbs. Taste; it may want more pepper or a little more lemon.
- Chill it if you can. If you cannot, eat it now.
Make only what you will eat at one sitting. Once it is mixed, the milk in it keeps like fresh milk, and without a fridge that means not for long.
Spread it on crackers, oatcakes or pan flatbread, or eat it with the Sarajevo siege meat pie.
Serves 4 as a spread.