Cooking with Gin: We Opened the New Course Season with Poetica, Recipe Included

Gin is not only for the glass. The first workshop of the new season of cooking courses at the ŠKMER Culinary Academy proved it: participants cooked with Poetica, an internationally awarded craft gin from Vrgorac. In our kitchen last Thursday, gin was an ingredient, a seasoning and the signature of every dish. Participants learned how it behaves in a pan, in a sauce and in a cake, and along the way they got to know the different aromatic profiles of Poetica.

The evening started with prawn and gin ravioli. The dough was kneaded by hand, and the filling combined skuta (a fresh whey cheese), prawns, parmesan and lemon zest. The prawns were flambéed with gin, and the finished ravioli went into a sauce of peeled tomatoes that had cooked for an hour. Next came Poetic Chicken. The sauce, made from chicken wings, cooked for an hour, was reduced and finished with cold butter and gin. It was served with chicken breast from the grill pan, finished in the oven.

To close, there was a lemon cake with gin, brushed with a mix of lemon and gin and covered with a glaze. Fresh, slightly tart and ideal for the end of the evening.

The first course opened the 2026/2027 season, and you can see the whole programme of cooking workshops at skmer.hr/en/amateur-classes/.

Recipe: Poetic Chicken

Ingredients:

about 1 kg chicken wings or backs, cut into smaller pieces
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
a sprig of thyme
50 g butter + cold butter to finish the sauce
chicken stock
Poetica gin
chicken breasts
salt, pepper

Method:

Put the chicken wings, onion, garlic and thyme in a deep pan and fry them in a little butter and oil.
When the chicken turns golden brown, slowly add the chicken stock. Cook for about an hour, topping up with stock.
When the sauce has reduced, strain it and stir in the cold butter and gin. Season with salt and pepper.
Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, grill them for 2 minutes on each side, then finish them in the oven at 180 °C.
Serve the breasts (or a roulade, or drumsticks) with the sauce.

Tip: add the cold butter at the end and stir it in a pan over gentle heat. The sauce will get a shine and a smooth texture.

The programme was developed within the project Kompetencije za izvrsnost u ugostiteljstvu (Competences for Excellence in Hospitality), supported by the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, to promote the profession, build professional knowledge step by step and make Croatian gastronomy more competitive.