Home life in Hellas, Greece and the Greeks - eBooks4Greeks.gr

180 HOME LIFE IN HELLASskinny and flaccid,bearing only a remote resemblanceto the viand known to us under that name.But it is usually eaten with vegetables in the formof a ragout. No matter what vegetable is used,they all taste alike. This is owing to the salsa, asauce composed of oil and tomatoes. It has anindescribable flavour, not in the leastlike that oftomatoes, for the fresh fruit is not used, but a preservemade of pounded tomatoes and looking likeanchovy paste. This compound and oil are thebesetting sins of the Greek cook. He drencheseverything in oil, and in this he differs from theTurk. Moreover, he cannot cook rice. The Turkcooks rice as it is cooked in India, every grain isseparate, and the result is a light and wholesomedish. The Greek pilaf is a heavy, pasty mess.Charcoal is the fuel used for cooking purposes,and it is the best adapted to the grill. Get aGreek to grill some lamb cutlets—about half adozen equal the bulk of a mutton chop—and hewill turn out something palatable, as there is nopossibility of using oil or salsa. And he willstrew the cutlets with dried and pounded savouryherbs—a practice which might be imitated at home,as a variation from the inevitable tomato sauce.is wise in Greece to study simplicity in the matterof food. Olives are nutritious ; curdled milkyaoort—is delicious and wholesome. A good pointin the Greek dietary is the cooked salad of wildherbs—radikia—an excellent tonic,Itbut be carefulto have control of the oil-flask or you will find