recipes

recipes

Siglina 

Siglina are cuts of pork conserved in glina, that is the fat from the cooking of the pork. They are eaten in many areas of Greece, as in all the country pork meat is consumed during the Christmas holidays. It is a way of conserving the meat that is not eaten in the holidays for months. There are put in stoneware pots and they are used to relish food and make omelettes.

  Tagliatelle with siglina

Ingredients
 • 400 grams tagliatelle
 • 250 grams siglina
• 4 white mushrooms
 • 1 garlic clove
 • 1 teaspoon ginger
 • 100 ml orange juice
• parsley
• olive oil • salt • pepper

  Cretan smoked, pork sausages with vinegar

Ingredients
 • 5 kilos pork with little fat
• 1,5 l vinegar
 • salt • pepper • cumin
• pork or beef intestines
 ¬Instructions 1st day: Cut the meat in small cubes. Add 2-3 tablespoons of salt and pour half the vinegar. Mix well and cover with a towel. Wash the intestines and put them in the fridge. 2nd day: Add some more vinegar. Wash the intestines to avoid dryness.
 3rd day: Add 3-4 tablespoons of cumin and some vinegar and mix well. Wash the intestines again and put them in the fridge.
 4th day: Mix adding some more vinegar and spices. Start filling the intestines with the mixture using a funnel. Tie the ends with a rope. Boil the sausages for 2-3 minutes. Smoke them for a few days over a fire of clean woods. They can be conserved for many days out of the fridge. Roast them of fry 

Pihti

Slaughtering domestic pigs was a Christmas custom. Because of the lack of means of conservation (fridges), people used to invent methods of preservation and use of the whole animal.

Ingredients
 • 1 pork head
 • 4 pork legs
• 4 carrots
 • 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 bunch of celery
 • 3 laurel leaves
 • 3 onions
• 10 garlic cloves
• juice of 1 lemon
 • 4 tablespoons vinegar • ½ cup caper • ½ cup pickled cucumbers Instructions
Wash the head and the legs well. Boil them for an hour to clean them from the blood. Add new water and boil while skimming off the froth. Add the vinegar, the spices and the vegetables. Simmer for 4 hours until the meat is separated from the bones (the carrots should be removed after half an hour). Remove the meat, add the lemon and boil for another 10 minutes. Remove the meat from the bones and cut it with your hands. Cut the carrots and the pickled cucumbers and put them in a cake pan with the meat and the caper. Drain the broth (throw away the vegetables and spices) and pour it in the pan. Refrigerate for 24 hours. Remove from the pan and slice it.

  Omathies

In the villages, people used to slaughter domestic pigs before Christmas. They used parts of the whole animal to make food, so as not to throw away anything. The pork offal can give us a perfect delicacy for the wine. They are called “omathies” and they look like sausages, but they aren’t…

Ingredients
• 1,5 kilo pork intestines
• pork offal (liver, kidneys, spleen, lungs)
 • 1,5 kilo pork thigh
 • 1 kilo minced pork
• 1 kilo leek
 • 2 onions
• 1 kilo rice
• olive oil • red wine • salt • pepper • cumin • oregano Instructions Wash the intestines well from both ways. Put them in a basin with red wine and leave them all night to be flavoured. In a saucepan, put the meat cut in little pieces and let it boil in its own fluids. When the fluids are absorbed, add the offal, the leek and the onions and brown them with olive oil. Add the rice with the spices and herbs and pour a glass of hot water. When the rice boils, let the mixture become cold and fill in the intestines with it. Put them in a pan and put them in the oven in low temperature until they become brown.

  Apakia (smoked pork)

Ingredients • 3 kilos pork loin • 100 grams fresh oregano • 100 grams fresh thyme • 80 grams lemongrass • 8 leaves of laurel • 80 grams leaves of basil • 200 ml red semi-sweet wine • 500 ml vinegar • salt • 4 tablespoons cumin • 3 tablespoons pepper • 60 ml virgin olive oil (for the smoking) • Except vinegar, we will need coal, fresh braches of olive trees, orange trees, lemon trees and cypress. Herbs, like branches of sage, laurel and rosemary. Finally, a little cinder in order to avoid the flames from the fire. ¬Instructions Slice the meat and then cut it in sticks 20 x 4 cm. Put then in a basin and pour them with the wine and vinegar. Add salt, cumin and pepper. Finally, add olive oil, laurel, thyme and lemongrass. Mix the ingredients well. Cover the basin airtight and leave the meat in the marinade for 24 hours while mixing it regularly. The meat must be soft and flavoured and the marinade must be absorbed. Now, it is the time of smoking. An alternative way of smoking, easy to everyone, is the smoking in a barbecue and it is done as following: Light the fire in the barbecue, put some of the branches and among them some coal. Hang the meat over the barbecue (50 cm). Continue putting all the branches and herbs over the coal, maintaining a temperature of 65-70°C. This procedure lasts 8-12 hours, depending on the size of the meat. The regular way of smoking is done in a closed smoking machine, but this solution is easy for everyone.