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Bulgaria's cuisine contains
a unique blend of flavors reflecting the country's position in Southeast
Europe.
Greek,
Turkish and Middle Eastern influences combine with the country's
native Slavic traditions.
Furthermore, many people say that they can detect influences from further afield too:
Hungarian cuisine, a taste of Italy,
and just a hint of the Mediterranean.
The first thing that visitors
will notice is that Bulgaria
has its own distinctive ingredients. These include kiselo mlyako (literally "sour milk") which
is a yoghurt, and sirene (a white brine cheese that can be made from cow's, goat's or sheep's
milk).
Some popular traditional Bulgarian dishes include:
- Shkembe chorba - Some Bulgarians proudly claim this unique tripe soup as a national historic tradition,
whereas see it as uncouth and just a little vulgar. The soup is made from the stomach lining of cows, mixed with milk, and
then seasoned using vinegar, garlic and chili peppers. According to legend, if drank in the morning, the soup can act as a hangover cure.
- Tarator - A cold soup, often eaten in the warm Black Sea regions of the country. Tarator
is made using yoghurt, cucumbers, nuts, vegetable oil and water, and flavored
with garlic and dill. It is often served chilled, sometimes even with ice.
- Shopska salad - A traditional Bulgarian salad made from dice vegetables: raw or roasted peppers,
tomatoes, cucumber and onions. The salad is served covered with grated or diced sirene.
- Lyutika - A type of salad relish made from a mixture of roasted peppers, tomatoes and onions,
finely crushed using a pestle and mortar. Lyutika is flavored using garlic and parlsey, and is sometimes
mixed with yoghurt, sirene, hard-boiled eggs or even pieces of cooked chicken.
- Lukanka - Spicy sausage made from pork or beef (veal). The sausage is prepared in
a dried cow's intestine and hung to dry for up to 3 months. Once dried it is pressed, and a white fungus
is often allowed to grow on it (the fungus is removed before eating). When Lukana is eaten, it is
cut into fine slices and served cold.
- Soujouk - Another type of dry-cured spicy sausage. Soujouk is made from minced beef, and can not
be eaten cold, but must be cooked before eating. Due to its high fat content, it can be cooked in its own
juices without oil.
- Elenski but - Dry-cured ham, traditionally from Elena in northern Bulgaria.
- Banitsa - A light baked savory pastry made with eggs and sirene.
- Sarma - A rolled leaf, filled with a spiced mixture of minced meat, rice and finely chopped onions.
- Popara - A meal made from dry, perhaps slightly stale bread. The bread is cooked with
milk, tea or water, a small amount of butter and sugar, and either kajmak (a type of clotted cream) or
sirene.
- Gyuvetch - A casserole made using diced beef, peppers, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, and okra.
- Tsarska turshiya - Pickled vegetables; cauliflower with carrots, celery and red peppers.
- Selska turshiya - Pickled vegetables; cauliflower with green onions, geen tomatoes, cabbage, carrots and celery.
As well as savory dishes, Bulgaria
is also home to many excellent desserts. These include:
- Garash - A walnut cake, frosted with cream and bitter chocolate, then covered with chocolate icing.
- Halva - A sweet made using sesame-seed or sunflower-seed tahini. There is also a variant made
using semolina, and another variety (known as "white halva") made from sugar which is
traditionally eaten just before Lent.
- Kozunak - Sweet bread with milk, butter, sugar, eggs, raisins and lemon zest.
So why not discover Bulgarian food?
On this page, you'll find a great selection of Bulgarian Cook Books.
By Marina Polvay
Hippocrene Books
Paperback (357 pages)
 | List Price: $14.95
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By Linda J. Forristal
Sunrise Pine Pr
Paperback (152 pages)
 | List Price: $14.95
Lowest New Price: $14.90
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Click Here | Amazon.com:
Bulgaria is a small Balkan country that gets little attention. On a visit in 1990, however, Linda Joyce Forristal fell in love with both the country and its food. In Bulgarian Rhapsody, she painstakingly presents Bulgarian cooking, placing emphasis on many of its full-flavored and colorful vegetarian dishes, though popular meat dishes are included as well. The Bulgarian kitchen is heavily influenced by Mediterranean cooking, not a surprise since the neighboring Turks occupied it for 500 years. Greece is also a neighbor, along with Romania and Yugoslavia. Bulgarians favor the slow cooking of stews and soups. They use fresh vegetables, particularly tomatoes, sweet red peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and potatoes. Stuffed grape leaves, phyllo pies, and mousaka--the Bulgarian spelling--will be familiar. Forristal offers a meatless mousaka made with zucchini and several kinds of plakiya, stews that are vibrant with tomatoes and onions, similar to dishes you find in Greek restaurants. The gyuveches are baked stews that resemble their Romanian counterparts. The typical meatless one made with string beans, tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, red and green bell peppers, and zucchini, resembles a ratatouille. The one made with sausages and red peppers is much simpler. If you enjoy discovering new dishes, tutmanik, a quickbread made with cheese, and Baked Peppers Stuffed with White Beans are alluring. The potato salad seasoned with oregano and paprika is also different from the usual. Do ignore one technique Forristal uses: peeling roasted peppers under running water washes away much of their flavor. Better to leave a few charred specks of skin than to do this. --Dana Jacobi |
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By Atanas Slavov
Hippocrene Books
Hardcover (150 pages)
 | List Price: $22.50
Lowest New Price: $8.98
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By Lesley Chamberlain
Southwater
Paperback (96 pages)
 | List Price: $9.99
Lowest New Price: $5.66
Lowest Used Price: $5.82
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Click Here | Product Description:
The outstanding volume on the classic cooking of the Balkan region presents a definitive collection of recipes from this fascinating area. Seafood, summer fruits and vegetables are transformed with fresh herbs and spices into piquant dishes with subtle inter-regional variations of tastes and textures. |
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By Business Monitor International
Released: 2007-02-01
Digital (77 pages)
| List Price: $495.00
Lowest New Price: $495.00
Available for download now
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