equivalent for \code{} in R-markdown

[pbiecek]

An article prepared in LaTeX should have function names in the \code{} block.
But how to get such an effect for an Rmd file?
If I use backquotes then they are rendered incorrectly to \texttt in tex.
But if I use the \code{name} command in the Rmd file it is rendered to an empty text in the html file.

How do I get the effect of the `code{} command when preparing an Rmd file?

An example:

When calling `function` for the first time, the following three arguments are mandatory:  (this will be incorrectly rendered in tex)

When calling \code{function} for the first time, the following three arguments are mandatory: (this will be incorrectly rendered in html)

[pbiecek]

I have same problem with the \begin{example} \end{example} environment
triple backquotes are rendered to

\begin{Schunk}
\begin{Sinput}

instead of

\begin{example}

but if I use \begin{example} in the Rmd file then it will not be rendered in the HTML output.