The common denominator for all moussaka is aubergine and tomato sauce. Sure, some local versions substitute potato or some other vegetable for the aubergine, but mostly it’s all about the aubergine and tomato. Most versions contain meat, but not all. The Arab version, for example, is with chickpeas, and is served both hot and cold.
In Turkey, moussaka is a stew made of roughly equal parts minced meat, aubergine and tomato – a holy triunity which never fails to succeed.
BLOG SOURCE Vidar Bergum | A Kitchen in Istanbul
Welcome! I’m Vidar, a Norwegian food writer based in Istanbul. I am the author of the critically acclaimed book Hummus & granateple (“Hummus & pomegranate”), which came out in Norway in 2018, and the award-winning Norwegian language blog Et kjøkken i Istanbul, sharing recipes and stories from Istanbul and Turkish/Middle Eastern food cultures. A kitchen in Istanbul is my home for my English food writing. It started as a translation of my best Norwegian-language blog posts, but will relaunch in January 2019 with exclusive content from inside the food culture of Turkey and its immediate neighbours. If that sounds like a journey you’d like to follow, please sign up for my newsletter.
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Agreeing that the neighbours can use your name may be one thing but Macedonia’s claim to moussaka has stuck in Greeks’ throats.
The accusation has sprung from a food and wine fair in Germany, where Greeks were shocked to see the dish served under the state seal of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
“They were advertising it as Macedonian,” said a Corfu restaurateur, Anastasis Paipetis. “And it wasn’t just that,” he complained. “They were serving up Greek yogurt and coffee as their own, as well.”
Greeks have long complained about the neighbouring Balkan state appropriating their history, co-opting the name of the Greek province of Macedonia and claiming Alexander the Great, whose statues adorn the tiny nation, as their own.
Turkish eggplant and beef stew (musakka)
Eggplant is one of these ingredients many people dislike, either due to its nomenclature, or its taste. So a little enlightenment is in order about this shady plant to give it due recognition in terms of its health benefits and its place among the gourmet recipes in renowned kitchens of the world.
Recognized by many names in various international cuisines, eggplant is botanically classified as a berry that has lots of edible soft seeds containing nicotinoid alkaloids, which is a close relative of tobacco. That is what gives the plant its bitterness. It is possible nowadays to find eggplants without seeds: The Japanese variety, which is light purple, long and thin, is a good example of this. Also, when you buy eggplants, don't go for the very hard ones; that's indicative of seeds within.
There are, of course, male and female eggplants, which can be identified by their indentation and protrusion, opposite the stem ends of the plant. I avoid the indented ones as those are the unwanted females full of seeds.
In Turkish cuisine, eggplant is used in so many recipes from pickles to jams and everything in between. Some recipes, such as Imam Bayildi, "Priest Fainted," or Hünkâr Begendi, "Sultan's Delight," have interesting names with entertaining stories behind them. Others are simple and modest everyday dishes. One of my favorites is Patlican Musakkasi, an unpretentious, peasant type of dish that's ready with minimal effort and preparation. It is the kind of meal around which family or friends can gather, chat, listen to songs of hope and lost loves, as they soak up the tasty juices on their plates with thickly sliced bread, and sometimes even lick their fingers -- it's that good!
In my house, musakka is accompanied by a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and finely sliced onions, dressed with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Often there's a side dish of rice pilâv cooked with browned orzo, which makes the meal complete.
Turkish Musakka
Ingredients
4-5 Japanese eggplants, peeled in stripes
2 Cubanelle peppers
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium tomatoes
½ pound lean ground veal or beef
6-8 sprigs fresh parsley
½ cup olive oil (for frying)
2 tablespoons olive oil for cooking
salt, pepper -- to taste
Directions
Cut eggplants in quarters lengthwise. Cut each quarter into 3-inch pieces. Seed and cut peppers into same-size pieces, and set aside. Chop onion, parsley and tomatoes, set aside.
In very hot oil, fry the eggplants quickly until they turn slightly golden but are not cooked. Remove and place on paper towels to soak up the extra oil. Set aside.
In 2 tablespoons of oil, sauté onions until transparent, add green peppers and continue cooking for a minute. Add tomatoes, parsley and salt. Cook for a couple of minutes. Add minced meat, breaking into pieces to avoid large chunks, and season with salt and pepper. Transfer prepared eggplants on top, cover, bring up to a boil, and turn down to a simmer. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes.
Stir and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Allow to rest for a few minutes before serving, stir gently and spoon into dishes.
FUSUN ATALAY
https://www.salon.com/2010/07/07/turkish_musakka/
WHAT DOES TRADITIONAL MEAN?
July 2, 2008Mariana Kavroulaki
https://1historyofgreekfood.wordpress.com/tag/musakka/
During last years the Greek traditional cuisine and local culinary practices are in the focus of interest not only for tourism but also for food editors and writers. An intense interest for traditional food emerges also from the blogs of second-generation Greek immigrants. Since local and traditional food is linked to the heritage, culture and identity of a country, food helps to express who we are and which our roots are. However the question is, what does ‘traditional’ really mean?
Traditional food according to the European Parliament means that a food’s ingredients or composition or production or processing method show its transmission between generations. A food is called traditional if has been used “since before the Second World War”. (16-03-2006)
Despite this, traditional food can mean many different things for different people: it is a link to the local history and culture; it can be associated with respect for the environment, health benefits, better taste; it implies authenticity, purity or the desire for authenticity and purity, etc.
But, anyway, what does authentic cuisine mean? The local, seasonal food most people eat most days at home? Is seasonal food traditional and vice versa? Yes, it almost was, before the popularization of refrigerator. Is traditional food local and vice versa? Yes, it is when the cultural contacts, the trade and wealth do not exist. In past the cooking of remote villages was almost totally local and in some cases ultimate poor. But, at the present time how many of us eat only seasonal local foods? Actually we are addicted to non-seasonal because we are addicted to convenience. It is very convenient to eat anything at anytime of the year.
Is traditional local food authentic and pure? During Greek history there were plenty of people demanding authenticity and purity in cuisine, focusing their interest on the “ethical disruption of traditional food” that was caused by cultural contacts. In fact, authenticity and purity is an illusion. Even worse, the demand for authentic or inauthentic food can become a fence to keep people in their places.
The truth is that adaptation and change affect even the local cuisine. Local cuisine may be not as dynamic as its urban sister is, may be even conservative and without distant horizons but is not unaffected by changes. Tomato is a New World crop. It is one of the hallmarks of summer Cretan cuisine, though has been viewed as poisonous by previous generations. Well, the Cretan cuisine before the tomato was much different in taste and color than today’s Cretan summer cooking.
Does Greek traditional food is healthy? Yes if the consumption of greens, vegetables and fruits, the extensive use of olive oil and the moderate use of meat characterize it. But… now we are talking about the cuisine of Crete and islands, aren’t we? I mean that Greek cuisine is divided into geographic regions with people having different kinds of sources, different cultural and dietary traditions and even distinctive food tastes. If a man will follow the diet of a small Greek pastoral community from 50ies, he will eat lots of dairy products, butter, fat and meat. If he will not walk a lot and does not follow the dietary restrictions of Lenten as his 50ties fellow did, he will probably trigger off a heart attack.
Does tradition mean that a woman born in 1970 cooks just like her mother and grandmother and grand -grandmother? What do they represent, an unbroken line of foods and methods? Obviously, she has the availability to choose, to adapt, to interpret and combine, in ways that her mother could not even dream of them.
Is Greek urban cuisine traditional? Let’s see the case of moussaka, one of the best known specimens of Greek urban cooking. Moussaka is an eggplant and ground meat dish covered with a thick layer of bechamel sauce. It can be made with other vegetables besides eggplant, such as zucchini or potatoes or artichokes or a combination of them. A Lenten version is dated already in 1920; a dish also called moussaka, is made with snails instead of ground meat and originated in Eastern Crete. A version which is not made with bechamel sauce and its last layer is of hardtack or beaten eggs was named in the Greek cooking books of 1929-1960 as “moussaka imitation”. Food scholars believe that the word moussaka is of Arabic origin; the root saqq in Arabic means chop. Some scholars also believe that Arabs introduced moussaka in Greece, when they brought the eggplant. They propose that Maghmuma or al Muqatta’a, a dish from the Baghdad cookery book, that is a 13th century Arabic cookbook, could be the ancestor of moussaka.
Eggplant was introduced into Greece in 12th century but there is no mention of moussaka until the late 19th century. Moussaka is also found in Turkey. In 1862, Turabi Efendi published the first recipe of mussaka (Turkish Cookery Book). The Turkish dish is made with eggplants, or other vegetables, cut into small cubes and ground meat either lamb or beef. It seems likely that turkish musakka is quite related to the Arabic recipe.
But what about Greek moussaka? In 1920, when the Ottoman occupation was still fresh, Nikos Tselementes, a Greek chef of Siphnian origin who grew up in Constantinople and trained in France, had already devoted himself to “clear” Greek cuisine of Turkish flavors. Thus, he added a French sauce, bechamel, to moussaka, in order to “free” the dish from its Turkish “past”. Moussaka, a Europeanised dish of Arabic origin which introduced in Greece via Turkey, became one of the characteristic dishes of Greek urban cuisine; it was needed many ingredients and plenty of time that a woman from an agro-pastoral community could not waste on a food.
The history of mussaka implies that urban cuisine is more responding to new ingredients, cultural and religious influences, trade and fashion. It is flexible. Urban cuisine can create tradition however this tradition is receptive to changes, influences and interpretations.
Ultimately I believe that “traditional” Greek cuisine is an evolving hybrid. It has the hallmarks of travels, trade, agricultural development, immigrations, inventions, cultural contacts, religion, politics, memories, history; past and present have always coexisted, the future is out there. What a solemn feeling if we would see the few stones where our daily cooking could stood without them! After all, culinary heritage combines conservation and innovation. And even if lifestyle changes, it can be an important source for re-creation of gastronomic knowledge and practices.
And here is the likely source of moussaka!
MAGHMUMA
“Cut fat meat small. Slice the tail thin and chop up small. Take onions and eggplant, peel, half-boil, and also cut up small: these may, however, be peeled and cut up into the meat- pot, and not be boiled separately. Make a layer of the tail at the bottom of the pan, then put on top of it a layer of meat: drop in fine-ground seasonings, dry coriander, cumin, caraway, pepper, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. On top of the meat put a layer of eggplant and onion: repeat, until only about four or five fingers’ space remain in the pot. Sprinkle over each layer the ground seasonings as required. Mix best vinegar with a little water and a trifle of saffron, and add to the pan so as to lie to a depth of two or three fingers on top of the meat and other ingredients. Leave to settle over the fire: then remove.”
[1] Moussaka (/muːˈsɑːkə/, /ˌmuːsəˈkɑː/ or /ˌmuːsɑːˈkɑː/) is an eggplant- (aubergine) or potato-based dish, often including ground meat, in the Levant, Middle East, and Balkans, with many local and regional variations.
The most famous version of the dish today appeared in the 1920s with the publishing of Nikolaos Tselementes' culinary book in Greece. Many versions have a top layer made of milk-based sauce thickened with egg (custard) or flour (béchamel sauce). In Greece, the dish is layered and typically served hot. In Turkey, thinly sliced eggplant is fried and served in a tomato-based meat sauce. Turkish mussaka may be consumed warm or at room temperature. In the Arab countries it is usually eaten cold or hot depending on the country.
In the Levant, moussaka is a cooked dish made up primarily of tomatoes and eggplant, similar to Sicilian caponata, and may also include chickpeas. It may be served cold as a mezze dish, or hot.
The Egyptian version of moussaka is made from layers of fried eggplant immersed in tomato sauce and then baked. A layer of seasoned cooked ground beef is usually added between the eggplant before baking. The dish can be served hot but is usually chilled for a day or so to improve the taste.
Turkish musakka is not layered.[5] Instead, thinly sliced eggplant is fried and served in tomato-based meat sauce seasoned with green peppers, garlic and onions.[6] It is generally eaten with pilav and cacık. There are also variants with zucchini (kabak musakka), carrots (havuç musakka) and potatoes (patates musakka).
In the rest of the Balkans, the top layer is often a custard: this is the version introduced in the UK by Elizabeth David's Mediterranean Cookery and where it remains the usual presentation. Grated cheese or bread crumbs are often sprinkled on top.
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