Rhodopi Cuisine
If you come to the Rhodopi mountain, you will never forget Rhodopi people-their hospitality and the delicious meals, which they will cook especially for you. Nothing compares to the taste of Rhodopi barbecue, of the roasted potatoes cooked with cheese, yellow cheese, onion and garlic, of Smilian beans, of Rhodopi cheese pastry, of hominy and of rice-stuffed well-cooked cabbage leaves. Their cooking is a real ritual and you may also take part in it, if you wish. For example, Rhodopi barbecue is an attraction, which you must never miss. The pleasure of being near the embers on the forest meadow and to watch how the meat is grilled on skewers is an unforgettable experience.
Rhodopi is the place, where people grow mostly potatoes and here potatoes are cooked in different way. The roasted potatoes cooked with cheese, yellow cheese, onion and garlic is a typical Rhodopi potato meal. Its recipe was handed down from generation to generation till nowadays. If you want to cook this meal, you must peel the potatoes and grate them, using a potato grater. After that, you must add cheese, butter, eggs, pennyroyal as a cooking herb and finally you must mix them well. According to the classical recipe, you must roast this mixture in a large baking dish on a coal-burning stove. After baking the lower crust, you must turn the inside out, so that now the upper crust can be baked at the bottom of the large baking dish.
You may taste bean soup everywhere in Bulgaria, but only in the Rhodopi mountain, you can see the unique Smilian dried beans and Smilian French beans. Smilian dried beans are motley-colored and not white and the length of Smilian green beans is worthy of being recorded in Guinness book.
The Rhodopi cheese pastry is usually prepared by Rhodopi women, as they use unusual ingredients for this purpose. Have you ever tasted a cheese pastry made with rice, milk, cheese, butter and springtime with spinach or with dock plant leaves? If you have not-here local people will offer you to taste exactly such cheese pastry. We advise you to taste the delicious meals of Rhodopi cuisine.
Good appetite!
