Information about moussaka

Musakka/Moussakas

Moussaka ([musa'ka]; Greek: μουσακάς; Romanian: musaca; Turkish: musakka; Bulgarian: мусака; South Slavic: мусака/musaka; Armenian: Մուսակա; Arabic: مسقعة musaqqaʿa) is a traditional eggplant (aubergine)-based dish in the Balkans and the Middle East, but most closely associated with Greece and Turkey. The word moussaka is from the Arabic musaqqaʿa "chilled"[1], but came into English via the Greek. The Greek version, which is the best-known outside the region, traditionally consists of layers of ground (minced) lamb or red meat, sliced eggplant and tomato, topped with a white sauce and baked. Turkish Musakka, unlike the Greek version, is not layered. Instead, it is prepared with sautéed and fried eggplants, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and minced meat. It is eaten with Cacık and Pilav. There are also variants with zucchini, carrots and potatoes. In the Arab world, moussaka is a cooked salad made up primarily of tomatoes and eggplant, similar to Italian caponata, and is usually served cold as a mezze dish. The Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and Romanian versions are made with potatoes instead of eggplant. Despite its Arabic name, moussaka is usually thought of as a Greek dish in the West.

In the standard (3-layer) Greek recipe, the bottom layer consists of eggplant slices sautéed in olive oil; the middle layer is ground lamb precooked with onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, herbs (bay leaf, oregano, thyme), and spices (cinnamon, allspice and black pepper); and the top layer is a cheese-flavoured béchamel sauce, or egg custard (probably introduced by Tselementes in the 1920s). The three layers are laid in a lightly buttered or oiled pan and baked until the top béchamel layer turns golden brown. No more baking is required as the bottom two layers are already almost cooked beforehand.

The butter in the béchamel can be omitted, used sparingly, or substituted by cream. In the rest of the Balkans, the top layer is often a custard. Grated cheese or bread crumbs are often sprinkled on top.

There are variations on this basic recipe, sometimes with no sauce, sometimes with other vegetables. The most common variant in Greece may include zucchini (courgette), part-fried potatoes or sautéed mushrooms in addition to the eggplant. There is even a fast-day version in the Greek cookbook by Tselementes which includes neither meat nor béchamel sauce, just vegetables (ground eggplant is used instead of ground meat), tomato sauce, and bread crumbs.

Trivia

A moussaka featured in the plot of the 2000 film The Attack of the Giant Moussaka by Greek director Panos Koutras
Moussaka was featured as a plot element in the Saturday Night Live skit 'Love-ahs' featuring Christopher Walken.
The god Hades mentions, as he made choking sounds, "That's like putting ketchup on Moussaka" in the Walt Disney Pictures film Hercules.
Roast Beef from the popular webcomic Achewood mentions making moussaka in the November 17, 2004 and January 17, 2007 strips and was previously accused by girlfriend Molly of sneaking moussaka into movie theaters in ziploc bags in October 13, 2004's strip.
In the 2002 film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, moussaka is featured and mistaken as "moose caca".
According to the episode "Kellerman, P.I.," moussaka is a favorite dish of Detective Ballard on .
UK indie rock band Slowdive featured a song titled "Moussaka Chaos" on their Outside Your Room EP. It follows a similar Greek theme to their full-length LP release in 1993, Souvlaki
A misguided attempt to make moussaka by a drunk Calum Buchanon figures into an espisode of All Creatures Great and Small ("The Salt of The Earth", Series 5)

External links

Turkish Musakka Recipe
Turkish Chard Moussaka Recipe at TurkishCook.com
Bulgarian Recipe – Musaka (Moussaka)

Greek}}}
Writing system: Greek alphabet
Official status
Official language of: Greece
Cyprus
European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
European Union
Italy
Turkey
Regulated by:
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Romanian}}}
Official status
Official language of: Moldova ^[2]
Romania
Vojvodina (Serbia)

European Union
Regulated by: Academia Română
Language codes
ISO 639-1: ro
ISO 639-2: rum (B)
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Turkish (Türkçe, ] (help info )
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Bulgarian}}}
Official status
Official language of: Bulgaria
European Union
Regulated by: Institute of Bulgarian at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Институт за
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South Slavic language is the national language]] South Slavic languages comprise one of the three groups of Slavic languages (besides West and East Slavic). There are around 30 million speakers of these languages, mainly in the Balkans.
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Armenian}}}
Writing system: Armenian alphabet
Official status
Official language of: Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh
Regulated by: National Academy of Sciences of Armenia
Language codes
ISO 639-1: hy
ISO 639-2: arm (B)
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al-‘Arabiyyah in written Arabic (Kufic script):
Pronunciation: /alˌʕa.raˈbij.ja/
Spoken in: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
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S. melongena

Binomial name
Solanum melongena
L.

The eggplant, aubergine or brinjal (Solanum melongena) is a plant of the family Solanaceae
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Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of southeastern Europe. The region has a combined area of 550,000 km² and an approximate population of 55 million people.
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Middle East is a historical and political region of Africa-Eurasia with no clear boundaries. The term "Middle East" was popularized around 1900 in Britain, and has been criticized for its loose definition.
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Motto
Ελευθερία ή θάνατος
Eleftheria i thanatos
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Motto
Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh
Peace at Home, Peace in the World
Anthem
İstiklâl Marşı
The Anthem of Independence
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Greek cuisine is the cuisine of Greece and of the Greeks . It is typical of Mediterranean cuisine^[] accompanied by commonalities with the cuisines of Southern France, Italy, the Balkans, Anatolia, and the Middle East.
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S. lycopersicum

Binomial name
Solanum lycopersicum
L.

Synonyms

Lycopersicon lycopersicum
Lycopersicon esculentum

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum
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Turkish cuisine inherited its Ottoman heritage which could be described as a fusion and refinement of Turkic, Arabic, Greek, Armenian and Persian cuisines.^[1] Turkish cuisine also influenced these cuisines and other neighbouring cuisines, as well as western European
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Pilaf, (Afghan palow, Albanian pilaf, Armenian փիլավ, Azeri plov, Bosnian pilav, Greek πιλάφι, Hindi pulav, Kazakh palaw, Pakistani pulao, Persian
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Salad is a light meal — or, more commonly a part of a larger meal, such as an appetizer — consisting of mixed vegetables (usually including at least one leaf vegetable) or fruit, often with a dressing or sauce, occasionally nuts and sometimes with the addition of meat,
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Anthem
Il Canto degli Italiani
(also known as Fratelli d'Italia)

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Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant relish.

It is made out of chopped fried vegetables (mostly eggplants and peppers), seasoned with celery, olives and capers, in a bittersweet sauce.
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A Meze or Mezze (Persian (transliterated) Maze); Turkish: Meze Albanian: Meze Arabic: Mazza (مزة); Bosnian and Croatian: Μeze, Assyrian Mazza, , Greek Mezés
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Macedonian cuisine may refer to:

Macedonian cuisine (Greek) - for the cuisine of Greek Macedonia
Macedonian cuisine (Slavic) - for the cuisine of the Republic of Macedonia

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Bulgarian cuisine (Bulgarian: българска кухня, bulgarska kuhnya) is a representative of the cuisine of Southeastern Europe.
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Serbian cuisine is influenced by Mediterranean (especially Greek, Bulgarian), Turkish and Hungarian, and Austrian cuisines, which makes it a heterogeneous one.

It has unique mix of various traditions; Serbian confectioneries are places where koljivo, baklava, nut roll and
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Bosnian cuisine use many spices; but usual in very small quantity. Most dishes are light, as they are cooked in lots of water; the sauces are fully natural, consisting of little more than the natural juices of the vegetables in the dish.
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Montenegrin cuisine is a result of Montenegro's geographic position and its long history.

The traditional dishes of Montenegro's heartland and its Adriatic coast have a distinctively Italian flavour which shows in the bread-making style, the way meat is cured and dried,
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Romanian cuisine is diverse, blending the dishes of the several traditions which it has come into contact with, as well as maintaining its own character. It has been greatly influenced by Balkan cuisine but also includes influences from the cuisines of other neighbours,
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S. tuberosum

Binomial name
Solanum tuberosum
L.

The potato is the term which applies either to the starchy tuberous crop from the perennial plant Solanum tuberosum
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Olive oil

Olive oil from Italy.

Fat composition

Saturated fats Palmitic acid: 7.5–20.0 %
Stearic acid: 0.5–5.0 %
Arachidic acid: <0.8%
Behenic acid: <0.3%
Myristic acid: <0.1%
Lignoceric acid:
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Moussaka

Trivia

See also

External links