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Asač (Cyrillic:Сач;Croatian:peka) is a large metal or ceramic lid like a shallow bell with whichbread dough or various dishes to be baked are covered, and over which ashes and live coals are placed. Dishes prepared in asač are evenly cooked, retain their juiciness, and are praised for their rich flavour.
Sač can also refer to a dish made of meat, vegetables and potatoes and baked in asač oven.
The bell itself probably comes from thesaj, a curved metal utensil used on itsconvex side forflatbread baking, and with theconcave side employed similarly to awok in theMiddle East and large parts ofAsia.
Traditionally, thesač was a simple, primitive oven for baking various foods used by less well-off families who could not afford astove in their homes, and the lid itself often doubled as a plate forflatbread baking.
Today, the baking appliance is commonly used byrestaurants all overTurkey[dubious –discuss] and theBalkan Peninsula –Albania,Bulgaria,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia (where it is called "peka"),Greece (where it is called "Παραδοσιακή Γάστρα", "Σινί" or "Χάνι"),Kosovo,Montenegro,North Macedonia,Serbia, andSlovenia.
Cooking in thesač enables evenconvection baking, and the bell shape allows thesteam to recirculate, allowing the meat, fish and vegetables to remain juicy, and thepotatoes and other vegetables to intermix their flavours with that of the meat. It is also used for bakingbread and traditionalpastries likeburek andpizza. This traditional style of cooking has been adopted mostly because of its specific flavour-enhancing properties, which enable the food to be lightly smoked during the convection cooking process.
InBulgaria, the wordсач (sach) orсачѐ (sachè) refers to a flat clay plate, which is heated to a high temperature, and placed on the table, where thin slices of vegetables and meat are cooked on it. Fat is not used, and it is not covered. In the region of theRhodopes typically more meat is used.
In some regions ofRomania, the equivalent ofsač, calledțest [ro], a derivate of the Latintestum, was used for baking bread.[1][2]
