greek cuisine

GREEK CUISINE REPORTED BY: ROGER ALAIR

In this Chapter We Discuss

The Following:1.History2. Overview3. Origins4. Some Regions5 Typical dishes1.5.1 Breads2.5.2 Appetizers and Salads3.5.3 Soups4.5.4 Vegetarian main dishes5.5.5 Meat and seafood dishes6.5.6 Quick meals7.5.7 Desserts and sweets8.5.8 Cheeses9.5.9 Non-alcoholic beverages10.5.10 Alcoholic beverages11.5.10.1 Wine12.5.10.2 Beer13.5.10.3 Other14.5.10.4 Coffee

WHAT IS GREEK CUISINE???

Greek cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use of olive oil, vegetables and herbs, grains and bread, wine, fish, and various meats, including lamb, poultry, rabbit and pork. Also important are olives, cheese, eggplant (aubergine), zucchini (courgette), and yogurt. Greek desserts are characterized by the dominant use of nuts and honey. Some dishes use filo pastry.

Greek cuisine has a long tradition and its flavors change with the season and its geography. Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western cuisine, spread its culinary influence - via ancient Rome - throughout Europe and beyond. It has influences from the different people's cuisine the Greeks have interacted with over the centuries, as evidenced by several types of sweets and cooked foods.

It was Archestratos in 320 B.C. who wrote the first cookbook in history. Greece has a culinary tradition of some 4,000 years. Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality and was founded on the "Mediterranean triad": wheat, olive oil, and wine, with meat being rarely eaten and fish being more common. This trend in Greek diet continued in Roman and Ottoman times and changed only fairly recently when technological progress has made meat more available. Wine and olive oil have always been a central part of it and the spread of grapes and olive trees in the Mediterranean and further afield is correlated with Greek colonization.

The Byzantine cuisine was similar to the classical cuisine including however new ingredients that were not available before, like caviar, nutmeg and lemons, basil, with fish continuing to be an integral part of the diet. Culinary advice was influenced by the theory of humors, first put forth by the ancient Greek doctor Claudius Aelius Galenus. Byzantine cuisine benefited from Constantinople’s position as a global hub of the spice trade.

WHAT IS GREEK CUISINE???

While Greek cooking has influenced and been influenced by other cultures, as have the cuisines of most countries, of all of those countries, Greece must be foremost in the ranks of having a "fusion" cuisine which is easily traced back to 350 B.C.

In c.350 B.C., when Alexander the Great extended the Greek Empire's reach from Europe to India, certain northern and eastern influences were absorbed into the Greek cuisine.

In 146 B.C., Greece fell to the Romans which resulted in a blending of a Roman influence into Greek cooking.

In 330 A.D., Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, founding the Byzantine Empire which, in turn, fell to the Turks in 1453 and remained part of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 400 years. During that time, dishes had to be known by Turkish names, names that remain today for many Greek classics.

With each successive invasion and settlement came culinary influences - from the Romans, Venetians, Balkans, Turks, Slavs, and even the English - and many Greek foods have names with origins in those cultures, most notably the Ottoman Empire. Dishes with names like tzatziki (from the Turkish "cacik"), hummus (the Arabic word for chickpea) and dolmades (from the Turkish "dolma"), that can be found in kitchens from Armenia to Egypt, have also found a home in Greek cooking, and been adapted over hundreds of years to local tastes and traditions.

And during those times, the classic elements of Greek cuisine traveled across borders as well, adopted and adapted in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and ... with Alexander the Great, farther east.

WHAT IS GREEK CUISINE

The most characteristic and ancient element of Greek cuisine is olive oil, which is used in most dishes. It is produced from the olive trees prominent throughout the region, and adds to the distinctive taste of Greek food. The basic grain in Greece is wheat, though barley is also grown. Important vegetables include tomato, aubergine (eggplant), potato, green beans, okra, green peppers, and onions. Honey in Greece is mainly honey from the nectar of fruit trees and citrus trees: lemon, orange, bigarade (bitter orange) trees, thyme honey, and pine honey. Mastic (aromatic, ivory coloured resin) is grown on the Aegean island of Chios.

Greek cuisine uses some flavorings more often than other Mediterranean cuisines do, namely: oregano, mint, garlic, onion, dill and bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices include basil, thyme and fennel seed. Persillade is also used as a garnish on some dishes. Many Greek recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use "sweet" spices in combination with meat, for example cinnamon and cloves in stews.

OVERVIEW

The climate and terrain has tended to favour the breeding of goats and sheep over cattle, and thus beef dishes are uncommon. Fish dishes are common in coastal regions and on the islands. A great variety of cheese types are used in Greek cuisine, including Feta, Kasseri, Kefalotyri, Graviera, Anthotyros, Manouri, Metsovone and Mizithra.

Too much refinement is generally considered to be against the hearty spirit of the Greek cuisine, though recent trends among Greek culinary circles tend to favour a somewhat more refined approach.

Dining out is common in Greece, and has been for quite some time. The Taverna and Estiatorio are widespread, serving traditional Greek home cooking at affordable prices to both locals and tourists. Recently, fast-food has also become more popular in Greece and Europe, with local chains such as Goody's springing up, but the McDonald's have mainly closed down.[10] Although fast food is gaining popularity and many major fast-food chains have opened all over Greece, the Greek people still rely primarily on the rich and extensive repertoire of Greek cuisine. In addition, some traditional Greek foods, especially souvlaki, gyros, pita such as tyropita and spanakopita (respectively, cheese and spinach pie) are often served in fast food style.

OVERVIEW

ORIGINS

Kalamata olives

Greece has an ancient culinary tradition dating back several millennia, and over the centuries Greek cuisine has evolved and absorbed numerous influences and influenced many cuisines itself.

Some dishes can be traced back to ancient Greece: lentil soup, fasolada, retsina (white or rosé wine flavored with pine resin) and pasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey); some to the Hellenistic and Roman periods: loukaniko (dried pork sausage); and Byzantium: feta cheese, avgotaraho (cured fish roe) and paximadi (traditional hard bread baked from corn, barley and rye). There are also many ancient and Byzantine dishes which are no longer consumed: porridge as the main staple, fish sauce, and salt water mixed into wine.

Many dishes are part of the larger tradition of Ottoman cuisine and their names reveal Arabic, Persian or Turkish roots: moussaka, tzatziki, yuvarlakia, keftethes, boureki, and so on. Many dishes' names probably entered the Greek vocabulary during Ottoman times, or earlier in contact with the Persians and the Arabs. Some dishes may be pre-Ottoman, only taking Turkish names later; Ash and Dalby, for example, speculate that grape-leaf dolmathes were made by the early Byzantine period.

Thyme, one of the most traditional Greek herbs, was mentioned

in the Odyssey.

REGIONS

"Dakos", traditional Cretan salad

“Tsigaridia", traditional dish of Cephalonia

Dakos or ntakos (Greek: ντάκος), also known as koukouvagia or koukouvayia (κουκουβάγια, "owl") or –in eastern Crete– kouloukopsomo (from koulouki + psomi, pup + bread, allegedly the bread given to puppy dogs), is a Cretan meze consisting of a slice of soaked dried bread or barley rusk (paximadi) topped with chopped tomatoes and crumbled feta or mizithra cheese, olives and flavored with herbs such as dried oregano.

Greek Pork Belly

Distinct from the main stream regional cuisines are:

Cuisine of the Aegean islands (including Kykladitiki, from Kyklades)Cuisine of the Ionian islandsIpirotiki (Epirotic cuisine)Kritiki (Cretan cuisine)Kypriaki (Cypriot cuisine)Macedonitiki (Macedonian cuisine)Mikrasiatiki, from the Greek refugees of Asia Minor, including Politiki, from the tradition of the Greeks of Istanbul (Constantinople)Pontiaki, found anywhere there are Pontians (Greek immigrants from the Black Sea region)

REGIONS

Greek cuisine is very diverse and although there are many common characteristics amongst the culinary traditions of different regions within the country, there are also many differences, making it difficult to present a full list of representative dishes. For example, the vegetarian dish " Chaniotiko Boureki" (oven baked slices of potatoes with zucchini, myzithra cheese and mint) is a typical dish in western Crete, in the region of Chania. A family in Chania may consume this dish 1-2 times per week in the summer season. However, it is not cooked in any other region of Greece. Many food items are wrapped in Filo pastry, either in bite-size triangles or in large sheets: kotopita (chicken), spanakotyropita (spinach and cheese), chortopita (greens), kreatopita (meat pie, using minced meat), etc.

TYPICAL FOOD IN GREEK

Lagana

Daktyla

Eliopsomo, bread with olives

Paximadi, Cretan bread

SOME EXAMPLE OF TYPICAL DISHES IN GREEK CUISINE


Greek salad: the so-called Greek salad is known in Greece as village/country salad (horiatiki) and is essentially a tomato salad with cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, dressed with olive oil. In Cyprus it contains also cracked wheat (bulgur), spring onions instead of red onions, and lemon juice.

Spanakopita: spinach, feta (sometimes in combination with ricotta cheese), onions or scallions, egg and seasoning wrapped in phyllo pastry in a form of a pie.


Saganaki: fried yellow cheese, usually graviera cheese; the word "saganaki" means a small cooking pan, is used to say "fried" and can be applied to many other foods.

Kolokythoanthoi: zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or cheese and herbs.


Fasolada: a bean soup defined in many cookery books as the traditional Greek dish, sometimes even called "the "national food of the Greeks". It is made of beans, tomatoes, carrot, celery and a generous amount of olive oil usually served with a variety of salty side dishes.

Psarosoupa: 'fish soup' can be made with a variety of fish, and several kinds of vegetables (carrots, parsley, celery, potatoes, onion), several varieties include the classic kakavia which is drizzled with olive oil.


Magiritsa: the traditional Easter soup made with lamb offal, thickened with avgolemono.

Revithia: a chickpea soup.


Gemista: baked stuffed vegetables. Usually tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables hollowed out and baked with a rice-and-herb filling or minced meat.

Arakas me anginares: oven-baked fresh peas with artichokes.


Lachanorizo: cabbage with rice.

Anginares a la Polita: artichokes Constantinople style with artichoke hearts, olive oil, potatoes, carrots dill.

Spetsofai: a stew of country sausage, green mild peppers, onions and wine. Originates

from Pelion.


Moussaka is an eggplant and/or potato-based dish popular in Balkan and Mediterranean cuisines, with many local and regional variations.The same name and recipe is found throughout the lands that were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire. In Greece, the dish is layered and typically enjoyed hot. In Turkey, it is sautéed and served in the style of a casserole, and is consumed warm or at room temperature. In Arabic countries, a variant of the same recipe is eaten cold.


"Strapatsada" or "Strapatso" is a popular dish in many regions of Greece, due to the availability and low cost of its ingredients (fresh tomatoes, eggs and olive oil). It is often prepared "on the spot" and served for lunch or a light snack, however it can also be served cold.

In cuisine, an omelette or omelet is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat (often ham), or some combination of the above. To obtain a fluffy texture, whole eggs or sometimes only egg whites are beaten with a small amount of milk or cream, or even water, the idea being to have "bubbles" of water vapour trapped within the rapidly cooked egg. Some home cooks add baking powder to produce a fluffier omelette; however, this ingredient is sometimes viewed unfavourably by traditionalists.


Baklava is normally prepared in large pans. Many layers of phyllo dough, separated with melted butter, are laid in the pan. A layer of chopped nuts—typically walnuts or pistachios, but hazelnuts are also sometimes used—is placed on top, then more layers of phyllo. Most recipes have multiple layers of phyllo and nuts, though some have only top and bottom pastry.

Before baking, the dough is cut into regular pieces, often parallelograms (lozenge-shaped), triangles, or rectangles. A syrup, which may include honey, rosewater, or orange flower water is poured over the cooked baklava and allowed to soak in.

Baklava is usually served at room temperature, often garnished with ground nuts.


Diples or Thiples (Greek: Δίπλες) is a Greek dessert, made of thin sheet-like dough. The dough is rolled into long, thin strips, fried and folded in hot oil and then dipped in syrup. Traditionally, warm honey is used in place of syrup, and the diples are sprinkled with chopped nuts and cinnamon Diples can be made in different shapes, of which the most common are bow ties and spirals.[3] Diples are a typical dessert in the Peloponese and are also served at weddings and at New Year's celebrations.

Another form uses an iron mould dipped in diples batter and cooked in cooking oil until the diples separates from the mould. It is topped with honey, crushed walnuts, and cinnamon.


Feta Cheese- is a brined curd white-cheese made in Greece from sheep's milk, or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. Similar white-brined cheeses produced outside the European Union are often made partly or wholly of cow's milk, and they are also sometimes called feta. It is a crumbly aged cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. Feta is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads and pastries. Most notable is its use in the popular phyllo-based dishes spanakopita ("spinach pie") and tyropita ("cheese pie"), or served with some olive oil or olives and sprinkled with aromatic herbs such as oregano. It can also be served cooked or grilled, as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, or as a salty alternative to other cheeses in a variety of dishes.


Kefalotyri or kefalotiri (Greek: κεφαλοτύρι)(Turkish: (Kelle peyniri) is a hard, salty yellow cheese made from sheep milk and/or goat's milk in Greece and Cyprus.[citation needed] A similar cheese Kefalograviera, also made from sheep and/or goat milk, is sometimes sold outside Greece and Cyprus as Kefalotyri. Depending on the mixture of milk used in the process the color can vary between yellow and white.

Kasseri -is a medium-hard pale yellow cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk with very little, if any, goat's milk mixed in, in Greece and Turkey. There is also a cow's milk version.

It is a soft textured, stringy rather than crumbly, chewy, hard-rind cheese and belongs to the pasta filata family of cheeses, like Provolone or Muenster. The use of fresh unpasteurized milk is necessary to obtain the correct flavor and texture, and aging of at least four months is required for the development of flavor. Aged kasseri faintly resembles Parmesan or Asiago but is not as creamy.

The name "Kasseri", produced in Greece is a protected designation of origin in the European Union.

Non-alcoholic beverages-There is a variety of non alcoholic beverages that are drunk in Greece even to this day.

Portokalada (orangeade) and Lemonada (lemonade), in 1971, these beverages were served everywhere, in homes, cafes, tavernas and restaurants. They were made with fresh strained orange juice or lemon juice either mixed with carbonated water or flat mineral water and you added sugar to taste. There were also bottled local versions. In 1989 on the island of Rhodes there were 2 companies that made & bottled their own portokalada & lemonada using local oranges, lemons and water. These beverages are still standards today, as of 2014, the difference being that most of the small local companies sold their businesses to the big companies like Fanta etc., thus, greatly changing the quality.

Visinada (cherryade) is made from dark cherry syrup (which was originally homemade) mixed with cold water.


Alcoholic Beverages:Wine-The origins of wine-making in Greece go back 6,500 years and

evidence suggesting wine production confirm that Greece is home to the oldest known grape wine remnants discovered in the world and the world’s earliest evidence of crushed grapes. The spread of Greek civilization and their worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, spread Dionysian cults throughout the Mediterranean areas during the period of 1600 BC to the year 1. Greece's viticultural history goes back to prehistoric times,iand wine production was thriving until the 11th century.After World War II, Greek winemakers imported and cultivated foreign grape varieties, especially French ones, in order to support local production.In 1960s, retsina, a dry white wine with lumps of resin, was probably the most well-known Greek wine abroad. In recent years, local varieties are rediscovered and often blended with foreign ones. In early 1980s, a system of appellations, modelled on the respective French one, was implemented to assure consumers the origins of their wine purchases. Today, there are 28 appellations (Appellations of Origin of Superior Quality and Controlled Appellation of Origin) throughout the country, from Macedonia to Crete.



The mineral profile of the grapes bodes well for blending and in recent times its has been blended often with Sauvignon blanc, Sémillon and Malagousia. Assyrtiko grapes clusters are large, with transparent yellow-gold skin and juicy flesh. In the volcanic soil of Santorini, there appear to be some unique characteristics that develop in the grape variety, and therefore in the wine. One of these characteristics is that Assyrtiko does not lose its acidity even if it is very ripe. Throughout Greece, the grape is vinified to make a variety of dry and sweet wines, including Vinsanto-like musky and syrup-sweet dessert wines. In Retsina, it is often blended with the less-acidic Savatiano grape.


Agiorgitiko (Greek: Αγιωργίτικο; also known as Aghiorghitiko, Mavro Nemeas and St. George) is a red Greek wine grape variety that, as of 2012, was the most widely planted red grape variety in Greece, ahead of Xynomavro. The grape has traditionally been grown in the Nemea region of the Peloponnese but can be found throughout the country including Attikí (Attica) and Makedonía (Macedonia).

A Nemea wine made from 100% Agiorgitiko.

CoffeeThe traditional coffeehouses in Greece are called kafenia, and

they offer coffee, refreshments, alcoholic beverages and snacks or meze. However, in recent years coffee culture evolves and, especially in the large urban centres, kafenia are gradually replaced by modern "cafeterias". Preferred types of coffee by the consumers are, among others, the Greek coffee (a variation of the Turkish coffee), frappé (a Greek foam-covered iced coffee drink), and the freddo versions of capuccino and espresso, which vary from the Italian original. Iced coffee-based drinks, such as freddoccino or freddito, are also popular, especially during the summer period.


Kafenio-A kafenio typically serves various types of Greek coffee, including Greek coffee and frappé, as well as beer, retsina, and ouzo. Most kafenia provide meze or free snacks and rarely serve full meals. Kafenia were traditionally family-run businesses and furnished simply. The walls are often whitewashed. Kafenia often serve as social centers of the villages and islands where they are located. People socialize after work or play a game of cards. In previous centuries, the kafenio was a place where women were not welcome but now kafenia are frequented by girls and women.



Frappé coffee (also Greek frappé ) is a Greek foam-covered iced coffee drink made from instant coffee (generally, spray-dried).[1] Accidentally invented in 1957 in the city of Thessaloniki, it is now the most popular coffee among Greek youth and foreign tourists. It is very popular in Greece and Cyprus, especially during the summer, but has now spread to other countries. The word frappé is French and comes from the verb frapper which means to 'hit'; in this context, however, in French, when describing a drink, the word frappé means chilled, as with ice cubes in a shaker. The frappé has become a hallmark of the post-war outdoor Greek coffee culture.

Tea and herbal teas

•Chamomile- (chamomile tea)•Mint tea- right out of the garden•Faskomilo- (sage tea) tea made from dried of fresh sage•Tsai vounou- tea from steeped mountain sage. To this day the Greeks still like to drink a tea made from steeping dried or fresh mountain sage•Sideritis


Chamomile- A Chamomile or camomile is the common name for several daisy-like plants of the family Asteraceae that are commonly used to make a herb infusion that can help to induce sleep. Because chamomile has been known to cause uterine contractions that can invoke miscarriage, the U.S. National Institutes of Health recommends that pregnant and nursing mothers not consume chamomile. People who are allergic to ragweed (also in the daisy family) may also be allergic to chamomile, due to cross-reactivity. However, there is still some debate as to whether people with reported allergies to chamomile were actually exposed to chamomile and not a plant of similar appearance.


Sideritis-Sideritis (also known as ironwort, mountain tea and shepherd's tea) is a genus of flowering plants well known for their use as herbal medicine, commonly as an herbal tea. They are abundant in Mediterranean regions, the Balkans, the Iberian Peninsula and Macaronesia, but can also be found in Central Europe and temperate Asia.


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