[Sca-cooks] Moussaka?

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Mar 11, 2006, at 2:20 PM, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> Kiri commented:
> > he did make a wonderful dish of Moussaka before he left...yum.
>
> What is "Moussaka"?

It's any of several variants on a Greek layered casserole-ey dish,  
normally with slices of a main ingredient (eggplant is most commonly  
associated with this technique, either raw or pre-fried, but you can  
use various squashes or even potato) layered with a [Greek-style --  
think of flavor combinations like dill and/or cinnamon with tomato]  
tomato or a tomato-and-meat sauce, grated cheese, and baked under a  
top layer of unsweetened custard, usually with more cheese. This is  
also done with pasta (the end result is a lot like lasagne  
bolognese), in which case your dish is not moussaka, but pastitsio.

For the most part, what distinguishes these as Greek or Turkish  
dishes (I think it's common to both cultures, and not really clear  
who borrowed from whom), and makes it moussaka instead of a more  
Italian-inspired dish, is the distinctive browned, eggy-cheesy topping.

I'm thinking this is quite likely to be a throwback to some period  
Islamic techniques, where you cook your dish, then put eggs on top  
and brown.

Which reminds me, my lovely, tolerant and indulgent lady wife picked  
up a copy of the newish Charles Perry translation of al-Baghdadi at  
Kitchen Arts and Letters, which I have yet to dip into...

Adamantius




"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la  
brioche!" / "If there's no bread to be had, one has to say, let them  
eat cake!"
     -- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques Rousseau,  
"Confessions", 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
     -- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry  
Holt, 07/29/04