1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (119 page)

Despite sophisticated culinary technology, rustic and primitive methods often produce the most succulent results. A case in point is barbecued meat, these days done by gearheads who rely on complex and sophisticated automated grills and rotisseries. But on Greece’s ancient island of Crete, site of the vast and ingenious Minoan palaces and sculptures, small tavernas roast whole baby lambs on slowly spinning hooks above smoldering wood or charcoal fires. Seasoned with garlic and brushed with rosemary-and thyme-flavored olive oil, lemon juice, and white wine, the Greek meat of choice emerges in luscious chunks edged with crisp, bacony fat.

As good as that meat is, it’s only half of the tantalizing story. For under each spinning, roasting lamb will be a large, deep metal pan filled with thinly sliced, sea-salted potatoes that are constantly basted by melting fat dripping from above—much the way traditional Yorkshire pudding is baked under a standing rib roast on a grid. As they become gilt-edged and meltingly tender, the potatoes absorb the flavors and fragrances of meat, oil, and herbs. To many, the spuds are what this culinary creation is all about.

Where:
In Chicago
, The Parthenon, tel 312-546-3751,
theparthenon.reachlocal.net
;
in Montreal
, Milos, tel 514-272-3522,
milos.ca
.
Further information and recipes:
The Foods of the Greek Islands
by Aglaia Kremezi (2000);
The Parthenon Cookbook
by Camille Stagg (2008);
saveur.com
(search traditional greek roast lamb with potatoes).

A market overflowing with bounty from land and sea.

History buffs will be gratified to find the concept of the ancient agora still very much alive in Athens, where the sprawling and colorful Central Market is a bustling and delectably tempting series of streets, alleys, and buildings in the center of town, about a fifteen-minute walk from Syntagma Square, or Constitution Square.

Morning is the best time for a visit through winding streets displaying barrels of green, black, amethyst, and mahogany olives, sacks of dried ivory and green beans, jugs of golden oils and rosy vinegars. Throughout waft the bewitching scents of thyme, oregano, and mint, of roasting coffee beans and the yeasty hot-sugar accents of sesame-coated bread rings, of sweet almond cookies and chewy honeyed pastries. Chunks of snow-white feta cheese swimming in
vats filled with whey and yogurt can be ladled out to order.

The spectacular centerpieces of the market are two soaring, enormous halls, one offering fish and seafood, the other meat. The first is rife with water-dwelling creatures, like gnarled purple octopuses, starchy slabs of dried cod, piles of black mussels, and myriad varieties of bright-eyed, silvery fish. But the real stunner may be the meat hall. The painters Rembrandt and Soutine, both known for depicting giant, hanging beef carcasses, would have had a field day here. Aisles and stalls are curtained by bony sides of lamb, goat, pig, and steer, whole rabbits, ducks, and chickens, with glistening organ meats strewn about like bizarre baroque ornaments. The whole place vibrates with cacophonous hawking and haggling and a palpable, bloody freshness that borders on the primitive. Intrepid visitors tempted by the spongy chunks of tripe can head back to the steamy cafeteria, Papandreou, where tripe, or
patsa
, simmers in stews with tomatoes and potatoes, or in the egg-and-lemon-thickened avgolemono.

An appetite worked up on the market tour can also be pleasantly satisfied nearby, in the modest cantina of Diporto, where one peers into pots simmering in the kitchen to choose a meal that might include a stew of white beans with onions, tiny fresh sardines, a Greek salad, and a half-pitcher of the cool, piney wine retsina.

Where:
Just off Athinas Street, between Euripidou and Sofokleous Streets; Diporto, 9 Sokratous Street, tel 30/21-0321-1463.
When:
Monday–Saturday, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Further information:
smithsonianmag.com
(search athens central market).

Apium graveolens
, or celery, is one of the humblest of vegetables, valued primarily for the refreshing, icy crunch it lends to appetizers and salads, and as an herbaceous flavoring in soups and stews. A hardworking staple of the vegetable drawer, it becomes ever more useful when its leaves, so often discarded, are incorporated into a refreshing and flavorful salad that’s a standard of the Greek kitchen.

Celery exists in three forms: the original plant, a hedgerow-grower with thin, hollow, pale green stalks and an edible leafy top; celeriac, which has an enlarged base that resembles a turnip; and wild celery, also known as
selino
, a parsleylike marshland plant common in the Mediterranean and parts of Asia (especially China), with a stronger flavor than the original
variety. Although the leaves from the common celery plant may certainly be employed in an interesting salad, wild celery yields especially pungent results, and has been used since ancient times in Egypt and Greece for various medicinal and religious purposes. The ancient Greeks used the leaves in their funeral garlands, which didn’t stop their cooks from also including them in a variety of recipes—there’s evidence that they ate celery leaves dressed with oil and pepper even back then. If you can’t find selino, Chinese celery is an acceptable substitute.

To make the salad, simply clean the leaves and, if they are large, gently tear them into bite-size pieces; just before serving, dress them with olive oil and lemon juice, or a few drops of white wine vinegar and a little salt and pepper. With an herbaceous, astringent flavor, the leaves also make a delightful garnish for fish dishes or roasts.

Where:
In Athens
, Varoulko, tel 30/21-0522-8400,
varoulko.gr
;
in Beijing
, Family Li Imperial Cuisine, tel 86/10-6618-0107;
in New York
, Alder, tel 212-539-1900,
aldernyc.com
.
Mail order:
For Chinese celery, Melissa’s Produce, tel 800-588-0151,
melissas.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Greek Vegetarian
by Diane Kochilas (1999);
Beyond Bok Choy
by Rosa Lo San Ross (1996);
Vegetables from Amaranth to Zucchini
by Elizabeth Schneider (2001);
The Foods of the Greek Islands
by Aglaia Kremezi (2000);
epicurious.com
(search bibb lettuce and celery leaf salad; crispy celery salad).
Tip:
Celery leaves are more perishable than the stalks, and should be rinsed and wrapped in damp paper towels before being stored in the refrigerator’s vegetable drawer.

With its smoky spiciness and musky warmth,
mastiha
, or mastic, lends a subtle, piney, pleasantly tobacco-ish aroma to whatever foods it enhances, providing the identifying flavor to many of Greece’s pastries and breads, the most traditional of which is
tsoureki
—Greek Easter bread. It also flavors chewing gum, ice cream, liqueurs, and stews, and has been valued since at least the classical era for its supposed healing qualities. It is used for the relief of stomach ulcers, and (today) as an aid for high cholesterol.

The mystery substance is the crystallized sap of the
Pistacia lentiscus
tree, a species of pistachio, though not the nut-producing kind. Only in the southern region of the Greek island Chios does this tree exude resin and each June in Chios, the bark of the mastic tree is ceremoniously slashed in order to draw forth the hazy, amber-golden substance. The resulting sap—referred to in Chios as “tears of the wounded tree”—hardens and falls to the ground before it is harvested as mastic and ground into a fine, crystalline powder. Unground mastic is chewed as a natural breath-sweetening gum, hence its relationship to the word
masticate.

Retail and mail order:
In New York
, Mastiha Shop, tel 212-253-0895,
mastihashopny.com
.
Mail order:
parthenonfoods.com
(search mastic);
greekinternetmarket.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Foods of the Greek Islands
by Aglaia Kremezi (2000);
The Food and Wine of
Greece
by Diane Kochilas (1993);
epicurious.com
(search mamool walnut cookies; cheese and honey tart santorini);
saveur.com
(search evergreen mastic ice cream);
greekfood.about.com
(search mastic).
Tip:
Whole mastic should be ground with a mortar and pestle. To prevent the spice from sticking to them, add a small pinch of salt if it is being used for savory foods, or a small amount of sugar if its destiny is sweet.

A spiced, lamb-based lasagna.

What baked macaroni and cheese is to Americans and lasagne to the Italians, pastitsio is to the Greeks. A rich, fragrant, and oozy baked layering of short, tubular, cooked pasta in a spice-scented sauce of tomatoes and ground lamb, it is topped with a creamy béchamel sauce and a sprinkling of grated kasseri or kefalotyri cheese. The bubbling, custardlike overlay puffs up and browns in the oven, creating an ideal foil for the zesty bites of pasta, meat, and sauce within—just the sort of appeal delivered by that other baked Greek specialty, moussaka. Any of the short, tubular types of pasta can be used in this dish, often prepared in its homeland with elbow macaroni, but more sophisticated when made with ziti or penne.

Greeks may not have invented pasta, but they have been enjoying noodlelike foods since ancient times. In fact, many of the terms we now associate with Italian food—
lasagna
and
macaroni
being just a couple—are believed by some to be of Greek origin. Whatever the surely complex truth, the wheels of culinary influence continue to spin, and pastitsio is said to have inspired Cincinnati’s famed red chili, that fragrant, cinnamon-spiked soup-stew of ground beef (no beans!) traditionally spooned over spaghetti and served with sides of grated American cheese and beans (if you must). In 1922, the story goes, a Macedonian immigrant to that Ohioan city, named Tom Kiradjieff, was inspired to deconstruct pastitsio. His chili remains a classic regional American favorite to this day, however local the taste for it may be.