Savory Crépe Terrine

I got the idea for this unusual terrine from a bad bad magazine. It was called Tajne kuhinje (Kitchen secrets) and along with Slatke tajne (Sweet secrets) was published from 2000 to 2002. Those were bestselling food magazines, but unfortunately, the majority of the recipes were stolen from foreign food magazines and cookbooks. They did share some of the most creative and wonderful recipes, but no credit was given ever. And their translations were terrible :) Missing ingredients, wrong measurements... When I see something I like, I try to construct the recipe myself, which I did with this terrine.

Throughout the years, I've stumbled onto one of the cookbooks they ripped off. Even today, many recipes from this one are popping up all over the internet. I get it, one country it is a small market comparing to the world and most of the people haven't heard of it, and you can get all the glory for yourself. Those magazines are dead now, but many new ones are popping all over. And many lifestyle magazines are getting themselves "a recipe corner". And still, a lot of them are just stealing the recipes most of the time.

I found one of my photos in a lifestyle supplement of Belgrade's (and Serbia's) most respected daily newspaper Politika, Politika Magazin. Of course, there are no proper laws in this country and they can still (hope not for long) do as they want. As a compensation for "misunderstanding", they offered to write an article about me. Needles to say it was ridiculous and I refused. What really bothered me is that my family buys this newspaper every day. My grandfather used too, and great grandfather. I mean, those people get payed for what they're doing. They shouldn't steal.

This is not the only example. An extremely popular Blic zena has another way to trick people into reading their recipes. OK from time to time, they make an article with the recipes form a pastry shop or two, but most of the time you'll see photo credits given as "Photos by Dreamstime". Who doesn't know, Dreamstime is one of the big stock photo sites. So, what do they do then? They download photos from the stock site and add recipes. But how? Do they have the grandmaster recipe writer who scribbles a recipe from a photo reference? Yeah, right. I think what we should all have in mind is the number of copies they sell, and enormous money they receive through adds. I think people should know what they're buying.

The point of most of the food blogs - sharing recipes. There is nothing that can describe the feeling when you see somebody made your recipe. Makes everything worth. My heart is full then. Knowing this I even give credits to people who inspire me. I want them to know what they did was inspirational, and gave someone a boost of creativity.

Bloggers steal from bloggers. Bloggers steal from magazines. Magazines steal from bloggers. What got me into thinking about this thing were articles on Rasa Malaysia and Cook Almost Anything (who has a list of links concerning content theft issue). And photos are fairly easy to track. But the recipes themselves are not. Especially if they are posted in different language. Are people afraid people will leave through a link and never come back? Or maybe they won't consider them a domestic goddess/god?

The bottom line, and then I promise I'm on to the recipe, are these things. I refuse to be the part of "I want the whole glory for myself" thing! I believe we should support each other. And I refuse to support magazines who steal! I know copyright is a tricky issue with recipes, but common sense and consciousness are saying - be gentlemen, give credit where credit is due. Respect other people's hard work. People invest their time, effort and money into this.

I'll rest my case quoting Margie's comment on Ivonne's article:

"I wouldn’t know what to do if someone took something of mine and passed it off as their own. Surely, I would be dismayed and shaken, but how does one really re-coop from a broken trust?"

Oh, and yes, please don't go away and leave me forever through these links I posted ;)

Now, seriously people, if anybody recognizes where was this published originally, I would really appreciate you let me know. Till then, the credit for this amazing idea goes to Mr. Jon Doe.

Savory Crépe Terrine

savory crepes (I made 2 batches of this crépe recipe from Sale & Pepe Serbia magazine. I love Sale & Pepe, they are fair, professional, talented and in my humble opinion the best. And they have the sweetest executive editor! Kisses Sanja! :) )
450 g button mushrooms
sour cream
400 g spinach
2 cloves garlic
400 ml tomato puree (domaći paradajz ili Tomatelo)
40-50 g corn starch (adjust depending on the thickness of the tomato puree)
dried marjoram
dry garlic powder
salt
ground black pepper

Chop mushrooms very finely. Saute them until water from the pan evaporates. Add salt, pepper and sour cream to taste.

Cook spinach with garlic. Strain everything and puree in a blender.

Boil tomato puree with marjoram, salt, powdered garlic an pepper (adjust seasoning to taste). Remove from heat and stir in corn starch quickly. Cook on low heat until it thickens enough.

Fill crépes with the fillings and place in a terrine mold (loaf pan) lined with a cling film. Pack it up just like Potato and olives terrine and leave in the fridge overnight.

The verdict: It is delicious and perfect for summer! But, the structure needs some cement. It was very fragile. If you make it, cut it very carefully, holding it with your hand while you do it.