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80636 Dishes

Patatnik
Main

Patatnik

Patatnik or patetnik is a Bulgarian potato dish characteristic of the Rhodope Mountains in the country's central south. Patatnik is made of grated potatoes, onions, salt and a type of very mild mint called Gyosum in Bulgarian, all mixed and cooked on a slow fire. Some restaurants add sirene (white cheese) or eggs, but this is not traditional; some people also use savory and peppers. The grated potatoes are squeezed out and mixed with the onions. Some of the doughy mixture that has formed is rolled into two sheets. One of the sheets is placed on the bottom of the dish and should be larger in diameter than it so as it comes out a fair bit. The remaining mixture is spiced with savory, poured on top of the first sheet, covered with the other sheet; the edges of both sheets should cover each other: in that respect, it resembles a "potato banitsa". According to one of the preparation methods, the patatnik is turned over when the bottom is well cooked and slipped into the dish with the heated side. According to other recipes, no sheets are formed and instead the ingredients are mixed until they become homogeneous; these are then cooked in a deep dish on a slow fire. After 20 minutes the mixture is turned over and covered and then cooked further. The dish is traditional for the entire Rhodopes and the nearby regions, from Bansko in Pirin through Smolyan and Zlatograd to as far east as Chernichevo. The name is derived from the local word patato or pateto, "potato", with the Bulgarian masculine suffix –nik. The word is typical for the Rup dialects spoken in the Rhodopes. It is distinct from both standard Bulgarian kartof (картоф) and the western Bulgarian kompir (компир). In Nedelino, the dish is known as kashnitsa (кашница).
Sarma
Main

Sarma

Sarma is a traditional food in Ottoman cuisine – nowadays, Turkish, Greek, Levantine, Arabic, Armenian, etc. – made of vegetable leaves rolled around a filling of minced meat, grains such as rice, or both. It is commonly marketed in the English-speaking world as stuffed grape leaves, stuffed vine leaves, or stuffed cabbage leaves. The vegetable leaves may be cabbage, patience dock, collard, grapevine, kale or chard leaves. Sarma is part of the broader category of stuffed dishes known as dolma, and has equivalents (such as the Polish Gołąbki) in Eastern European cuisines from the northern Baltic through Romania. Sarma is a Turkish word meaning "wrapping". Sarma made with grape leaves are called yaprak sarması (lit. 'leaf sarma') or yaprak dolması (lit. 'leaf dolma') in Turkish, yabraq (يبرق) or waraq 'inab (ورق عنب) lit. 'vine leaves' or waraq dawālī (ورق دوالي) in Arabic. yarpaq dolması (lit. 'leaf dolma') in Azerbaijani, and dolme barg-e mo (دلمه برگ مو, lit. 'vine leaf dolma') in Persian. In Assyrian it is called ܦܪܵܟܼܹܐ (prakhe) which refers to the fact that the rice is rubbed in the grape leaves. In Armenian, they are called մսով տերեւափաթաթ (missov derevapatat), տերեւի տոլմա (derevi dolma), թփով դոլմա (t'pov dolma) and տերեւի սարմա (derevi sarma). In Greek they are generally called ντολμάδες (dolmathes) but may also be known as γιαπράκια (yaprakia), γιαπράκια γιαλαντζί (yaprakia yalandzi), ντολμαδάκια (dolmathakia), ντολμαδάκια γιαλαντζί (dolmathakia yalandzi), σαρμάδες (sarmathes), or σαρμαδάκια (sarmathakia).
Cherni Vit
Side, Snack, Appetizer

Cherni Vit

Cherni Vit is a Bulgarian cheese exclusively produced in and around the village of Cherni Vit in Teteven Municipality, Lovech Province. Made from sheep milk, Cherni Vit cheese owes the green colour of its crust and its characteristic taste to the formation of mold. This occurs naturally due to the specific conditions in the region and the technology of production. Produced for centuries, Cherni Vit cheese was nearly extinct in the 2000s until it was rediscovered and popularised by Slow Food representatives. Cherni Vit cheese has been continuously produced in Cherni Vit, a village at the northern foot of the Balkan Mountains, for several centuries. However, in the past the mold was considered poisonous by the locals, who would often throw mouldy batches of cheese away, considering it an undesired side effect of cheese production. Although it was very popular in the village in the mid-20th century, in the 1970s green cheese quickly began to disappear due to the replacement of the wooden casks required for the molding with plastic cans. By the early 21st century, Cherni Vit green cheese had ceased production and all but disappeared. In 2007, the mayor of Cherni Vit, Tsvetan Dimitrov, was contacted by Italian representatives of the Slow Food movement who enquired about traditional dishes from the village which were in danger of disappearing. Eventually, Dimitrov discovered a single matchbox-sized piece of green cheese that was preserved in the cellar of an elderly couple who lived in the highlands above the village. The Italians were impressed with the green cheese and it was presented at the international festival in Bra to a great reception. According to Slow Food representatives, Cherni Vit cheese is the only traditional mold cheese in the Balkans.
Kaymak
Side, Snack, Appetizer

Kaymak

Kaymak, sarshir, or qashta/ashta is a creamy dairy food similar to clotted cream, made from the milk of water buffalo, cows, sheep, or goats in Central Asia, some Balkan countries, some Caucasus countries, the Levant, Turkic regions, Iran and Iraq. The traditional method of making kaymak is to boil the raw milk slowly, then simmer it for two hours over a very low heat. After the heat source is shut off, the cream is skimmed and left to chill (and mildly ferment) for several hours or days. Kaymak has a high percentage of milk fat, typically about 60%. It has a thick, creamy consistency (not entirely compact, because of milk protein fibers) and a rich taste. The word kaymak has Central Asian Turkic origins, possibly formed from the verb kaymak, which means 'melt' and 'molding of metal' in Turkic. The first written records of the word kaymak is in the Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk of Mahmud al-Kashgari. The word remains as kaylgmak in Mongolian, which refers to a fried clotted cream, and with small variations in Turkic languages as qaymaq in Azerbaijani, qaymoq in Uzbek, қаймақ in Kazakh and Shor, каймак in Kyrgyz, kaymak in Turkish, gaýmak in Turkmen, კაიმაღი (kaimaghi) in Georgian, καϊμάκι (kaïmáki) in Greek, and кајмак (kajmak) in Serbo-Croatian, caimac in Romanian. This dairy food is called sarshir (سَرشیر) 'top of the milk' in Iran. They use this name because after boiling milk, a layer of fat stands on the top of the boiled milk.
Korovai
Side, Snack, Appetizer

Korovai

The korovai , karavai (modern Russian: каравай [kərɐˈvaj], Belarusian: каравай, Old East Slavic: караваи), or kravai (Bulgarian: кравай [krɐˈvaj]) is a traditional Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Russian bread, most often served at weddings, where it has great symbolic meaning. It has remained part of the wedding tradition in Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, as well as in the Russian and Ukrainian diasporas. Its use in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine dates back to hospitality and holiday customs in ancient Rus. A similar bread (Polish: korowaj) is made in parts of eastern Poland. A round korovai is a common element of the bread-and-salt ceremony of welcome. The bread has ancient origins, and comes from the pagan belief in the magical properties of grain. Korovai was a large round braided bread, traditionally baked from wheat flour and decorated with symbolic flags and figurines, such as suns, moons, birds, animals, and pine cones. Wheat stalks, herbs, nuts, flowers and fruit were used to embellish the korovai. The white, shaped decorations are typically made from salt dough, also known as dead dough or baker's clay. The bread has no set design, and the style and ornamentation of the korovai varies by region, although colors red, gold and silver were most commonly employed in decoration. The bread was traditionally prepared in the home of the bride by women who sang traditional songs to guide them through the making. These women were called the korovainytsi, and were most often invited in odd numbers to do the job of making the bread, usually seven.
Lukanka
Side, Snack, Appetizer

Lukanka

Lukanka is a Bulgarian (sometimes spicy) salami unique to Bulgarian cuisine. It is similar to sujuk, but often stronger flavored. Lukanka is semi-dried, has a flattened cylindrical shape, and brownish-red interior in a skin that is normally covered with a white fungus. The mix of small pieces of meat and fat give the interior a grainy structure. Traditionally, lukanka salami is made of pork, veal, and spices (black pepper, cumin, salt), minced together and stuffed into a length of dried cow's intestine as a casing. After stuffing, the cylindrical salami is hung to dry for about 40 to 50 days in a well-ventilated location. In the process of drying, the salami is pressed to acquire its typical flat form. Lukanka is usually finely sliced and served cold as an appetizer or starter. The taste qualities of lukanka depend on natural characteristics of the region it is produced in, and are formed under the influence of the typical microflora of the local geographic environment. There are several regions in Bulgaria well known for lukanka production. Most of these are located in central Bulgaria, at the foot of the Balkan mountain range, notably the Smyadovo, Panagyurishte, and Karlovo regions. "Karlovska lukanka" is a name protected on a local level by the Patent office of the Republic of Bulgaria for lukanka from the Karlovo region. The "Lukanka panagyurska" of Panagyurishte has obtained an EU and UK-wide Traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG) denomination.
Murri
Side, Snack, Appetizer

Murri

Murrī or almorí was a liquid condiment made using a fermented solid-state starter called budhaj that was made with barley flour or wheat flour, known from Maghrebi and Arab cuisines. Almost every substantial dish in medieval Arab cuisine used murrī in small quantities. It could be used as a substitute for salt or sumac, and has been compared to soy sauce by Rudolf Grewe, Charles Perry, and others due to its high glutamates content and resultant umami flavor. There are two types of murri known from historical recipes that have survived into the present day. The Iraqi-style murri from the 10th century Kitab al-Tabikh by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq and the 13th century Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada was made by wetting a combination of ground flatbread, barley flour (budhaj flour) and salt and allowing it to ferment. The Maghrebi style of murri described in detail in Kitab Wasf is made only with barley flour, and flavored with carob, fennel stems, citron, pine nuts, mixed spices and bitter orange wood. The consistency is similar to treacle. Kitab Wasf also describes a "Byzantine murri", but it is made with toasted bread instead of spoiled bread and includes caramelized honey. The authors of some Arabic lexicographical wrote that murri may be a word of foreign origin, and based on this, some modern scholars have speculated that the word could be derived from the Greek halmyris ('a salty thing' and source for the Latin word for brine, salmuria) and the condiment related to the Ancient Roman condiment garum (or garos in Greek). Although murri is not made with fish, the Arabic translation of Artemidorus' Oneirocritica uses garos for murri. While calling this "a translator's 'bright idea'", Charles Perry, an expert in medieval Arab cuisine, notes that both condiments do share the traits of being fermented, salty liquid seasonings, but it is unknown whether the technique or culinary use of a fermented sauce is of Greek origin. Perry writes that murri may represent "the Greek idea of a salty liquid seasoning as interpreted in the basically Persianized—and fish poor—Near Eastern environment," but cautions that this interpretation has some problems, including recorded recipes of a distinct "Byzantine murri". David Waines, a British scholar of Islamic history, has written that there are two types of murri, "the more usual made from barley flour, and the other from fish." He further explains:
Pastirma
Side, Snack, Appetizer

Pastirma

Pastirma or Pasterma, also called pastarma, pastırma, pastrma, pastourma, basdirma, basterma, basturma, or aboukh is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef that is found in the cuisines of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt, Kurdish region, Greece, Cyprus, Iraq, the Levant, North Macedonia, Turkey and Georgia. Basturma existed in ancient Armenian cuisine, where it was known as aboukh' .[full citation needed] The word abookhd (Classical Armenian apukht) was already used in the Armenian translation of the Bible, in the fifth century AD, meaning “salted and dried meat”. Pastırma is mentioned in Mahmud of Kashgar's Diwan Lughat al-Turk and Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname.[better source needed] According to Turkish scholar Biron Kiliç, the term is derived from the Turkic noun bastırma, which means "pressing".[better source needed] The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink writes that pastırma is the word the Ottomans used for a type of Byzantine cured beef that was called paston (παστόν). According to Johannes Koder, an expert in Byzantine studies, paston could mean either salted meat or salted fish, while akropaston (ἀκρόπαστον) means salted meat. Andrew Dalby gives the definition of paston as "salted fish" and akropaston apakin as "well-salted fillet steak". Gregory Nagy gives the definition of akropaston as "smoked", describing apakin as "a kind of salami sausage, probably similar to pastourma". The Oxford Companion for Food says that a Byzantine dried meat delicacy was "a forerunner of the pastirma of modern Turkey".