Last week an event was held in Samobor, the 23rd meeting of the owners of the legendary Citroën 2CV car, which took place for the first time ever in Croatia. There werre a lot of people, and various food and drinks stands offering the oldtimer-lovers refreshments, but one of them stood out for two things: it was offering a traditional fast food item that isn't often seen, and the person behind the counter is well known to the Croatian public!

Davor Dretar Drele, a former musician and hitmaker, radio and TV host who has been present in the media for almost 30 years, now completely changing his career, Zoran Vitas writes for Večernji list.

While he's not working in the media any more, he and his wife Mišel have started the "Vruča Čuča" brand and are selling a traditional Northern Croatian speciality as a fast food item: deep-fried chicken. The name of the brand has a ring to it, with its typographical "error" and the very local name for chicken (which also, we'd be remiss not to mention that, has an additional meaning which will make some people snicker).

The chicken is in a traditional recipe coated in eggs, flour and breadcrumbs or any combination of those, sometimes a type of batter with spices added or not, and Drele's recipe is, of course, the brand's secret. After coating, it's deep-fried in oil in a traditional kotlovina dish and served with french fries, fried onions, lime or lemon, and a selected sauce.

The smell of the freshly deep-fried chicken does take a lot of people from Northern Croatia back to their childhood days, and offering it as a kind of traditional fast food might appeal to many.

Drele explains that it's imperative that the oil temperature is high enough, otherwise the meat will get too soaked in fat. The sauces they're offering with their chicken are not traditional, they're imported from Belgium but work well with the chicken and are well accepted among the customers.

So, while Drele's biggest claim to fame will continue to be his radio and TV work, and the fact that he's still in the Guinness Book of Records for hosting a talk-show for over 35 hours during Špancirfest in Varaždin in 2007, hopefully, his next business venture will be just as successful.

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