A Pound of Questions for Lalich Deli: Zoran Lalich
April 1, 2009
1. How long has the Lalich Deli been in business?
Originally we started back in 1984 the day after Thanksgiving. I’ll never forget it. The day before Thanksgiving we had our closing, Thanksgiving Day we spent until 3:00 AM in the morning stocking up, and the day after Thanksgiving we opened. I was 14 years old.
It was my Dad’s business, kind of born out of the recession of the late 70’s early 80’s. He was a butcher and used to work for a meat packing plant, which closed down late 70’s. It was very difficult to get work at the time. My dad went into the construction business, which was pretty much what the rest of my family did, but that became extremely difficult at the time.
That’s when he basically said, “I ‘m going back to my roots and doing what I am -- that’s a butcher.” He actually studied to be a butcher; he went to butcher school.
2. Have you always had the two locations? The original location was the store on Lawrence?
Correct. It was 1984 was when we purchased it and to this day that’s where we do all the production. There’s actually a store right next to it. We just moved to the other place, which is a bigger place for production.
At the time Lawrence Avenue was just the place to be. That’s where some of the original Serbian stores were, the original delis, right around that area. It was interesting because we originally looked at that place and the person whose business it was were actually was about to sell it to us, but they ended up selling it to their cousins, and after a month they called us and said “Do you want to take this business over?”
We’ve been on Milwaukee Avenue since 1989.
3. When did you start making sausages?
As a kid I always liked doing trimmings it was how my Dad occupied my time. So he gave me a knife and he kept me busy.
I was actively participating after college. I got my BS in accounting from IIT. I was taking care of the books and that lead me into accounting. But making sausages was tinkering around and experimenting with meat.
4.What training did you have?
Everything was on the job, watching my Dad. His stories, paying attention – and the most important thing was to have a good sense for it. Anyone can do anything – but you have to have the feel for it. The meats in your hand, is it too hot, too cold – you feel it in your fingers and that’s your sense for it. You can read it out of a book but you have to have that feel.
It’s a literally a hands on experience.
5. How many sausages do you make? What do you sell the most of?
We have ten to fifteen types. In the summer we might do as few four or five types than sometimes in other seasons we’ll scale up. It’s a seasonal thing.
We sell the most of the domaca (homemade sausage) – we have two types regular and spicy. The Hunter Sausage is the next best sausage. The Ćevapčići that you have had many times is mostly a summer sausage.
In the summer time they are mostly a weekend product. Winter time we’ll do 300 to 500 hundred pounds; in the summertime will do 800 to 2000 pounds of Ćevapčići a week.
Smaller batch sausages we’ll do 100 to 300 pounds per week. In terms of total yearly pounds of sausage I’ll have to get back to you on that.
6. Where do you get your Serbian recipes? Where in Serbia are you from?
I was born here and my parents immigrated here about a year before I was born. They’re from a region Vojvodina (a northern province of Serbia) and their town is called Novi Bečej. It’s north of Belgrade.
My father was trained as a butcher in Serbia he knew how to work with meats. And, our recipes, all these sausages, he invented them all in one-way shape or form. He had basic recipes but he fine-tuned them to serve our clients.
For example, for the Ćevapčići, when we first opened up the store we had a few people who actually tried to sell us recipes. For about $65,000 we could get these recipes. My Dad being a butcher saw the challenge and it took him about three years to get it right. There were a lot of five and ten pound batches – to make it right.
7. Do you try out new recipes and what reactions do you get from customers?
For awhile we have not, because we were afraid to. When my father passed away 13 years ago we respected his legacy – why experiment when it was working. We’re slowly starting to do this because our client know now that we do this and they know now we know what we are doing. Last year we started experimenting but I haven’t found anything I like so much that I want to take public.
8. Do customers ever ask you to make a certain sausage?
Yes they do. That’s how we got to the garlic Ćevapčići. Before my father died we started to get Romanian customers and they suggested we add the garlic. That sounds simple but garlic actually speeds up the breakdown of meat. And it can spoil a little quicker so that was the “How do we do it question?” That took a little time to perfect it. It wasn’t until after he died that we perfected it. And, it’s actually become very popular.
9. What Serbian sausages do you consider the main stays of Serbian cuisine?
There is nothing specific, it’s pretty much regional. Every town can have their own. Pretty much everything that is homemade. Wintertime would come, they slaughter the pigs they would make what they liked, pretty much by taste.
They would smoke the meats, and all the fats into bacon or reserved fats. The regions in Serbia make for the meat choice preferences. In the north you get predominately pork. In the mountains people will like more lamb or goat. The Muslims and Bosnians would go more for beef. So regional variations make for different meat preferences.
10. What sausages are you going selling a lot for Easter?
For Easter our shop will have a lot of lamb. But for appetizers we have home made smoked sausage. But, if Easter is warmer weather we’ll get people who are ready for the
Grill and we’ll sell more fresh sausage. We have a sausage that looks like Italian sausage but much different in the taste.
11. Your cevaccippi are just excellent. Is this a traditional recipe or have you customized it a bit? What are the ingredients?
Ćevapčići are meat and spices – no fillers. Ćevapčići are interesting because there is a good deal of regional differences. You can town to town and they’ll all be different. I’ve tried every kind of Ćevapčići. From straight lamb, straight pork, straight beef to all kinds of combinations, including goat.
To each their own, you like what you like. Ours is straight beef. We tried lamb a long time ago but lamb can be pungent meat, and anything the lamb eats will show up in the meat. So, we left lamb out – and our customers like our version a lot.
All our products are meat and seasonings no chemicals go into what we make. My Dad impressed that on me very early.
12. Aside from the cevaccippi, if someone new came into your deli, what sausage should they definitely try?
I would suggest that they give me about five minutes so that I can prepare and have them try a variety of things. From smoked bacon to various kinds salami’s and smoked sausages – that kid of stuff. Everyone has their likes and dislikes – I let everyone make their own decisions. You want spicier or less spicy; more garlic or less garlic. You can taste and make your own decisions.
13. What does it mean to you to be a Serbian sausage maker? What traditions do you bring to your craft?
One thing I learned from my father about whether it’s sausages or everything: like what you do and are true to it. Make it the best way you can; no B.S.
I don’t consider myself a sausage maker but he was and he taught me and I guess I am now. So, I think my father’s value as a Serbian father its what I bring to our products.
I’m proud of what we do and our products are done with quality – maybe that’s a Serbian attitude.
14. What seasonings or ingredients are most prevalent in Serbian sausage making?
Salt, pepper, paprika and garlic. The basic building blocks – those are the key four.
We just don’t do chemicals or chemical preservatives. Our primary curing is done with salt; my grandfather did that, my father did, we do it. Why go against tradition.
We went to a trade show in the 80’s. A vendor had two sausages out on display. One looked fresh and one looked very old. The vendor said this fresh looking one has been out the same time as the old one but you use this chemical. A couple drops in a hundred pounds of meat and keeps it.
My Dad said, “If that chemical is doing that to the meat what is it going to do to our insides?”.
So we said NO and we continue to say NO to that artificialness.
15. Where do your customers come from? Do you ship sausage to people?
Most of my customers are from within 20 to 40 miles. I have people from Milwaukee, far western suburbs.
We do ship our smoked products. We’ve shipped to Hawaii and Alaska. Farthest away we’ve shipped to is Dubai. One of our customer’s sons was in the military and he wanted some sausage.
That was interesting process because it’s a Muslim country and there was smoked pork in the sausage. It was interesting.
16. How many pounds of sausage do you make a year?
(Zoran laughs.) More than a pound and less than a million. I’ll figure it out sometime.
Important Sausage Insight: Zoran’s Ćevapčići are some of the best sausage’s we’ve ever tasted. You can only buy them on Friday and Saturday at the shop. He doesn’t freeze them and recommends his customers to not freeze them.
You want to cook them the same day. Cooking them on the grill is the best option – and don’t over cook them. If they start plumbing up pull them off and let them rest a minute before you serve them. You should cook the sausage until there’s a little pink left in the middle.
If you can’t use the grill, bake them in the oven at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit). Turn them every five minutes. They’re done when there’s a little pink in the middle of the sausage.
Location:
Lalich Deli
8133 N. Milwaukee, Niles, IL - (847) 581-1120
4208 W. Lawrence, Chicago, IL - (773) 545-3642
No website at this point.
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