1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (96 page)

Where:
In Sarajevo
, for walnut pastries, Rahat Look, tel 387/33-921-461,
rahatlook.ba
;
in Chicago
, Restaurant Sarajevo, tel 773-275-5310,
restaurantsarajevo.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Balkan Cookbook
by Vladimir Mirodan (1989);
epicurious.com
(search tarator sauce);
food.com
(search tarator soup);
ilibili.blogspot.com
(search scordolea);
food52.com
(search egg walnut salad).

Cool, snowy, and custard-rich, the soured milk called yogurt lends its elegant piquancy to sweet and savory foods alike, as good combined with honey and ripe strawberries, raspberries, and peaches as it is with chopped cucumbers,
radishes, and scallions seasoned with dill and pepper. It’s also welcome as a topping for a hot baked potato, stirred into a bowl of steaming borscht, or crowning a juicy, spice-scented fruit pie.

But not all yogurts are created equal, and it’s not for nothing that the Latin name for one of the two yogurt-forming microbes is
Bacillus bulgaricus.
Discovered by the Nobel prize–winning Russian microbiologist Ilya Metchnikoff, it was so named because, while traveling in Bulgaria at the end of the nineteenth century, the good professor became intrigued with the eighty-seven-year average life span of the country people, many of whom were centenarians. Researching a connection between that longevity and the local dietary staple—the fermented milk called by its Turkish name,
yoghurt
—he isolated the microbe in yogurt that warded off the growth of a detrimental bacteria in the alimentary canal, which caused illness and a shortened life span.

Whether made of sheep’s, goat’s, or cow’s milk, classic Bulgarian yogurt is based on whole milk. A thick ivory layer of cream gathers on its surface and must be stirred into the whiter custardlike cream below, a step rarely necessary in countries where yogurt is made from skim milk and marketed to dieters.

Well-made domestic and imported whole-milk yogurts have a piquant flavor and pleasingly creamy texture, as well as valuable amounts of B-vitamins, calcium, and protein. But for the most sublime example of a distinguished farmhouse yogurt, you’ll have to go to Bulgaria. In addition to the special quality of the country’s milk, certain essential microbes naturally present in Bulgarian farmyards cannot be replicated elsewhere.

Where:
Whole Foods Markets,
wholefoodsmarket.com
, look for White Mountain Foods brand,
whitemountainfoods.com
.
Mail order:
For lactobacillus bulgaricus culture,
bacillusbulgaricus.com
;
findbgfood.com
(click Marketplace, then Lactobacillus Bulgaricus or Bulgarian Yogurt Kiselo Mlyako).
Further information and recipes:
The Yogurt Cookbook
by Arto Der Haroutunian (2010);
The Oxford Companion to Food
by Alan Davidson (1999);
cookstr.com
(search yogurt sauce with black salt; zingerman’s bulgarian cucumber soup; turkish eggplant puree with yogurt dressing and walnuts);
gourmet.com
(search yogurt and the bulgarian colonel).

A creamy, crumbly wonder.

If you think feta is feta, you haven’t tried the prized Bulgarian interpretation—regarded by many connoisseurs as the best of the teasingly pungent, snow-white cheeses that are firm yet subtly creamy. Made with the milk of goats, sheep, or cows (the last being the blandest and least interesting) and cured and packed in a pickling brine, blocks of the cheese emerge nicely salty with a sophisticated hint of earthiness.

Feta is at once moist and yet chewy; when drained and allowed to dry a bit, it can be grated for various toppings or broken into chunks to add texture and interest to salads (see
Shopska Salata
). Because the cheese is salty, it generally appears as an appetizer (it’s especially good cubed and tossed with black, oil-cured olives and a little thyme) or an
ingredient in main courses, especially those made with cornmeal (see
Mamaliga and Kachamak
), but it also makes an unusual and satisfying dessert when its brininess is complemented by the sweetness of ripe pears or figs, a drizzle of amber honey, and crunchy accents of toasted, unsalted walnuts or almonds.

Feta is widely available, but the smaller cuts often sold prepackaged in supermarket refrigerator cases do not show it off to its best advantage. Far better to shop for large blocks of the cheese sunk deep in barrels of brine, if you can find it—for these, you’ll probably have to look in markets in Greek and Balkan neighborhoods, or in specialty cheese stores. Although imports mainly come from Romania, Greece, Israel, and France, Bulgarian feta—whether of sheep or goat milk (or a combination)—is less salty and bears an especially soigné burnish of winey acidity and supple texture. Pay your money and take your choice. An international feta tasting might be in order.

Where:
In New York City and environs
, Fairway Market at multiple locations,
fairwaymarket.com
; Muncan, tel 718-278-8847,
muncanfoodcorp.com
;
in Queens
, Parrot Coffee at three locations,
parrotcoffee.com
;
in Chicago
, Elea Mediterranean Food Market, tel 312-207-1655,
eleafoodmarket.com
.
Mail order:
malincho.com
(search bulgarian sheep feta).
Further information and recipes:
The Balkan Cookbook
by Vladimir Mirodan (1989);
The Balkan Cookbook
edited by Snezana Pejakovic and Jelka Venisnik-Eror (1987);
Yugoslav Cookbook
by Spasenija-Pata Markovic (1963);
The Food and Wine of Greece
by Diane Kochilas (1990);
saveur.com
(search greek egg feta and herb tart alevropita);
easteuropeanfood.about.com
(search kachamak).

Among the world’s great vegetable stews, the savory, sweet, sour, and herbaceous
ghivetch
has to reign supreme—a culinary triumph of rich colors, textures, and aromas imparted by a combination of many vegetables and herbs, each giving up something of itself to enhance the whole. Taking its name from the deep round or oval earthenware casserole or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven in which it cooks, ghivetch by this or any number of other spellings (
ghiveciu
or
djuvetch
, to cite only a couple) is often made with chunks of meat, poultry, and even fish, but the all-vegetable version is the summer classic that is equally delectable hot, cold, or at room temperature.

Ideally a good ghivetch will have no fewer than twenty vegetables and, for a frisson of sourness, some tart fruit, fresh grape leaves, lemon juice, or the citric acid known as sour salt. With so many vegetables to choose from, no single one is essential, and some substitutions are welcome. For the true spirit of the dish, you will want to include summer or winter squashes,
fresh beans, sweet and hot peppers, root vegetables, and some members of the cabbage and nightshade families—tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes. To be excluded are broccoli, kale, collards, spinach, and Swiss chard, or any leafy intruders that soften too quickly and bleed into the stew, unbalancing its color or flavor.

Serves about 12 as a side dish

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup sunflower or corn oil

4 medium-size onions, sliced to ⅛-inch thickness

1 pound acorn squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed

2 medium-size zucchini, sliced

5 medium-size potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 medium-size carrots, scraped and sliced

2 pounds eggplant, cubed

¼ pound string beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 large green bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips

1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into strips

1 small head white or green cabbage, shredded

1 small cauliflower, broken into florets

1 pound fresh lima beans, shelled

1 medium-size parsnip, or 1 small parsnip and 1 small parsley root, scraped and diced

1 medium-size celery root, peeled and cubed

1 medium-size white turnip, cubed

3 leeks, white and light green portions, rinsed well and sliced

½ pound okra, thickly sliced

5 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped

½ cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped garlic

1 cup sour grapes (see
Note
)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

¼ teaspoon hot paprika (optional)

1 to 2 cups hot beef stock or water, if needed

Sour cream or yogurt (optional), for serving

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2.
Place 4 tablespoons of the butter and ½ cup of the oil in a flameproof 5-quart unglazed earthenware casserole or enameled cast-iron Dutch oven and heat over a moderate flame until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot, about 3 minutes. Add the onions and cook over low heat until they are faintly golden brown, about 7 minutes.

3.
Add all of the vegetables, the parsley, garlic, sour grapes, dill, black pepper, sweet paprika, and hot paprika, if using, and 1 teaspoon of salt and stir until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed.

4.
Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of oil together in a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Stir the butter and oil into the vegetable mixture. Add the other teaspoon salt and a dash of pepper. Cover the casserole or Dutch oven tightly, let the mixture come to a boil over high heat, and boil gently until liquid begins to accumulate at the bottom of the casserole, about 10 minutes.

5.
Transfer the casserole or Dutch oven to the oven and bake the vegetables until they are all tender, but not mushy, and most of the liquid has evaporated, 1 to 1½ hours. Stir the vegetables several times as they bake, adding a little stock or water if necessary to keep the vegetables from scorching. The final texture should be juicy but not runny. Remove the casserole or Dutch oven from the oven and let the vegetables stand for about 20 minutes before serving.

6.
Taste for seasoning, adding more salt and/or black pepper as necessary. Serve the vegetables hot, chilled, or at room temperature, with or without a topping of sour cream or yogurt. If you’re lucky you’ll have leftovers, which will ripen in flavor and are best served at room temperature. Stored tightly covered in the refrigerator, this will keep for 5 to 6 days. If you choose
to reheat, allow to come to room temperature, then heat over a low flame.

Note:
You can substitute 2 greengage or other sour plums, pitted and chopped, or 5 fresh grape leaves, or the juice of ½ lemon, or 1 generous pinch of sour salt (citric acid) for the sour grapes.

Variation:
To make ghivetch with meat, cut 2 pounds of lamb, beef, or pork into 1½-inch cubes and brown them lightly with the onions before adding the other ingredients.

Where:
In Chicago
, Little Bucharest Bistro, tel 773-604-8500,
littlebucharestbistro.com
.

Kachamak—a sort of Balkan lasagne.

What Italians call polenta (see
listing
), the Balkans know as
mamaliga
, a sunny cornmeal porridge that can be served soft and creamy or allowed to set until firm. Best when made from stone-ground cornmeal so it takes on a tantalizing grittiness, mamaliga dates back to Roman times in these parts—and it’s still a dietary staple, whether it is served as breakfast porridge doused with melted butter or as a supportive base for meat and poultry at other meals. When it is turned out of the pot onto a wooden board and allowed to set, the result is cut with a taut string into portions that may be glazed under the grill or lightly fried in butter.