Bulgarian cuisine (Bulgarian: българска кухня, romanized: bǎlgarska kuhnja) is a representative of the cuisine of Southeast Europe. It shares characteristics with other Balkan cuisines. Bulgarian cooking traditions are diverse because of geographical factors such as climatic conditions suitable for a variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Aside from the vast variety of local Bulgarian dishes, Bulgarian cuisine shares a number of dishes with Persian, Turkish, and Greek cuisine.
Bulgarian food often incorporates salads as appetizers and is also noted for the prominence of dairy products, wines and other alcoholic drinks such as rakia. The cuisine also features a variety of soups, such as the cold soup tarator, and pastries, such as the filo dough-based banitsa, pita, and the various types of burek.
Main courses are very typically water-based stews, either vegetarian or with lamb, goat meat, veal, chicken or pork. Deep-frying is not common, but grilling – especially of different kinds of sausages – is very prominent. Pork is common, often mixed with veal or lamb, although fish and chicken are also widely used. While most cattle are bred for milk production rather than meat, veal is popular for grilling meat appetizers (meze) and in some main courses. As a substantial exporter of lamb, Bulgaria's own consumption is notable, especially in the spring.[1]
Similarly to other Balkan cultures, the per capita consumption of yogurt (Bulgarian: кисело мляко, kiselo mlyako, lit. "sour milk") among Bulgarians is traditionally higher than the rest of Europe. The country is notable as the historical namesake for Lactobacillus bulgaricus, a microorganism chiefly responsible for the local variety of dairy product.[2]
Holidays are often observed in conjunction with certain meals. On Christmas Eve, for instance, tradition requires vegetarian stuffed peppers and cabbage leaf sarmi. New Year's Eve usually involves cabbage dishes, Nikulden (Day of St. Nicholas, December 6) involves fish (usually carp), while Gergyovden (Day of St. George, May 6) is typically celebrated with roast lamb.
Banitsa — baked pastry made of layered stuffing and phyllo. There are great many varieties that even have different names, with arguably the most famous one being with eggs, sirene and yogurt.[8]
Börek — another favorite pastry among Bulgarians, of Turkish origin
Tutmanik — somewhat similar to Börek, but not layered
Milinki (singular: "Milinka") — bread roll type pastry with eggs and sirene
Princess with minced meat — an open-faced baked sandwich with minced meat, and possibly some yellow cheese on top
Princess with yellow cheese — an open-faced baked sandwich with yellow cheese on top
Princess with eggs and cheese — an open-faced baked sandwich with egg/sirene mixture on top
Mekitsi (singular: "Mekitsa") — Deep-fried dough pastry, typically served with jam, honey, sirene or icing sugar
Kazanlak Doughnuts — a specific type of doughnuts, from the town of Kazanlak
Buhti (singular: "Buhta") — Deep-fried dough balls, served with jam, honey, sirene e.g.
Langidi (singular: "Langida") — somewhat similar to American style pancakes, soft and eggy
Palachinki (singular: "Palachinka") — Bulgarian style pancakes that are thinner than the American pancakes and are sometimes eaten rolled around some stuffing
Katmi (singular: "Katma") — another variant of Bulgarian pancakes, which are bigger and thicker and are rolled around stuffing
Popara — might be made from rusks, bread, or kozunak with tea, milk or sour milk(Bulgarian yogurt). Quite different from other Bulgarian breakfasts, this one was very popular during the 20th century, and many Bulgarians remember this dish with a great deal of fondness and childhood nostalgia.
Cold cuts
Banski starets (also banski staretz) — spicy sausage,[9] native to the Bansko region.[10]
Pastarma — spicy beef sausage;[11] a variant of Anatolian dried meat, called pastırma in Turkish, pastourmas in Greek, bastirma in Azerbaijani, and basterma in Arabic.[12]
Sujuk (also soudjouk, sukuk, sukuk, or sucuk) — flat cured, dark red sausage, common in the Balkans, Eastern Mediterranean, and North Africa[13][14]
Soups and stews
Tarator — cold soup of cucumbers, garlic, yogurt and dill[5]
Vegetable soup — with various fresh vegetables and potatoes[15]
Shopska salad — a common salad of chopped cucumbers, onions, peppers, and tomatoes with white cheese[22]
Snezhanka ("Snow White salad") — chopped cucumbers with yogurt, dill, garlic, and often walnuts[23]
Turshiya (also torsi) — pickled vegetables, such as celery, beets, cauliflower, and cabbage, popular in wintertime; variations are selska turshiya (country pickle) and tsarska turshiya (king's pickles).[24]
Sauces, relishes, and appetizers
Lyutenica is a traditional Bulgarian sauce made from tomatoes and peppers
Lyutenitsa (also lyutenitza) — purée of tomatoes, red peppers, and carrots, often served on bread and topped with white cheese[5]
Kyopulu (also kyopolou) — roasted eggplant (aubergine) and bell peppers, mashed with parsley and garlic and other ingredients[25]
Mussels in butter — with onion and fresh herbs, traditionally from Sozopol
Skara (grill)
Shishcheta.
Kyufte (meatballs of minced pork meat, seasoned with traditional spices and shaped in a flattened ball)
Kebapche (similar to meatballs, but seasoned with cumin and shaped in a stick)
Parjola (pork steak, chop or flank)
Shishcheta (marinated pieces of chicken or pork and vegetables)
Karnache (a type of sausage with special spices)
Nadenitsa (a type of sausage with special spices)
Tatarsko kyufte (stuffed meatballs)
Nevrozno kyufte (very piquant meatballs)
Chicken in caul
Cheverme (used in celebrations such as weddings, graduations and birthdays: a whole animal, traditionally a pig, but also chicken or a lamb, is slowly cooked in open fire, rotated manually on a wooden skewer from 4 to 7 hours)
Meshana skara (mixed grill plate): consists of kebapche, kyufte, shishche and karnache or nadenitsa
Grilled vegetables (usually a garnish or a side dish)
Grilled fish (salt water or freshwater)
Main dishes
Traditional Bulgarian grill (Skara)- Tatarsko kufte
Vacuum packed Kashkaval cheese in Bulgarian store.
Bulgaria has a strong tradition of using milk and dairy products.[5] Bulgaria even has a namesake strain of bacteria used to make many of its cheeses and fermented foods which gives it a distinct in its flavor. This strain is called Lactobacillus bulgaricus.
Sirene — soft and salty white brine cheese that appears in many Bulgarian dishes[26]
Kashkaval — hard yellow cheese, often used in appetizers.[9]kashkaval Vitosha is made from cow's milk, while kashkaval Balkan is made from ewe's milk[11]
Katak — a "traditional fermented curd/yogurt-like product"[28]
Sweets
The name Halva (халва) is used for several related varieties of the Middle Eastern dessert. Tahan/Tahini halva (тахан/тахини халва) is the most popular version, available in two different types with sunflower and with sesame seed. Traditionally, the regions of Yablanitsa and Haskovo are famous manufacturers of halva.
^Stefan Detchev, "From Istanbul to Sarajevo via Belgrade—A Bulgarian Cookbook of 1874", doi:10.1163/9789004367548_015 in Earthly Delights: Economies and Cultures of Food in Ottoman and Danubian Europe, c. 1500–1900, 2018, Balkan Studies Library23, ISBN978-90-04-36754-8, p. 396
^Iskra Velinova, "The Pleasures of Being Global: Cultural Consumption of Pizza and Sushi in a Bulgarian City", Approaching Consumer Culture, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00226-8_8, p. 190
^A considerable number of dishes belonging to the “Bulgarian " cuisine are in fact borrowed from the Ottomans. Turkish cuisine forms the core of Balkan cuisine For more see: Evgenia Krăsteva-Blagoeva,Tasting the Balkans: Food and Identity in Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Part 2, Ethnologia Balkanica, Editors Klaus Roth, Ulf Brunnbauer, Lit Verlag, 2009, ISBN 3643101074, p. 33.
^Kay, p. 57; Ross, p. 67; Kelsey Kinser, Vegan Beans from Around the World: 100 Adventurous Recipes for the Most Delicious, Nutritious, and Flavorful Bean Dishes Ever (Ulysses Press, 2014), p. 29.
