Bulgaria

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Olivier Salad

Салат Оливье

Olivier salad is a Russian potato salad of diced vegetables, meat, eggs, and mayonnaise.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Parlenka

Парленка

Flatbread baked fast in a very hot oven, split while steaming and smeared with butter, crushed garlic, cheese or lyutenitsa.

🇧🇬Rhodopes, Bulgaria

Pastarma

Пастърма

Beef or goat pressed flat, salted and air-dried in the cold months, then sliced paper-thin. The mountain villages hang it in the wind rather than smoke it.

🇧🇬Rhodopes, Bulgaria

Patatnik

Пататник

Rhodope dish of coarsely grated potato bound with onion, savory and sometimes cheese, pressed flat and baked or pan-cooked under a lid until crusted both sides.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Pindjur

Пинджур

Pindjur is a chunky relish of roasted peppers, tomatoes, aubergine and garlic.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Pitka

Питка

Round enriched loaf scored across the top, baked for name days, Christmas Eve and the greeting of guests, who tear a piece and dip it in salt and honey.

🇧🇬Moesia, Bulgaria

Pleven Grape Rakia

Плевенска гроздова

Twice-distilled grape brandy from the Danubian plain around Pleven, often aged in oak until amber and drunk like a brandy.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Princessi

Принцеси

Open-faced baked sandwich with minced meat or sirene.

🇧🇬Varna, Bulgaria

Rapan

Рапани

Rapa whelk — an invasive Black Sea sea snail — prised from the shell, tenderised and pan-fried with butter, garlic and white wine.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Red Misket

Червен мискет

Aromatic white wine pressed from a pink-skinned Bulgarian grape grown around Sungurlare and Karlovo — floral, off-dry, low in acid.

🇦🇱Istanbul, Albania

Revani

Ρεβανί

Semolina cake bathed in lemon syrup, baked golden and cut in squares — an Ottoman dessert that travelled across the Balkans and Greece under many names, served at cafés and home tables alike.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Rose Petal Preserve

Сладко от рози

Whole rose petals cooked in sugar syrup with lemon into a translucent pink preserve, offered to guests on a spoon with a glass of cold water.

🇧🇬Sofia Region, Bulgaria

Shepherd's Salad

Овчарска салата

The shopska built up into a meal: the same tomato-cucumber-pepper base plus ham, mushrooms, boiled egg and yellow kashkaval alongside the white cheese.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Shiroka Melnishka Loza

Широка мелнишка лоза

Red wine from the broad-leaved Melnik vine grown on the sand pyramids around Melnik in the far southwest — full-bodied, with dried fruit and tobacco.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Shkembe Chorba

Шкембе чорба

Tripe simmered in milk until white and thick, finished at the table with garlic crushed in vinegar and dried hot pepper. Bulgaria's hangover cure, sold around the clock.

🇷🇸Serbia

Shopska Salad

Шопска салата

Diced tomato, cucumber, raw or roasted pepper and onion under a thick blanket of grated white brine cheese, dressed with sunflower oil and vinegar. Named for the Shope region around Sofia.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Simit

Геврек

A ring-shaped bread coated in toasted sesame seeds, baked until golden-brown and slightly crunchy on the outside while soft inside. Sold from red municipal carts and street vendors across Turkey, it is the most ubiquitous street food in the country, often eaten with tea for breakfast or as a snack.

🇧🇬Rhodopes, Bulgaria

Smilyan Beans

Смилянски фасул

Large speckled beans grown only around the Rhodope village of Smilyan, protected by origin, prized for cooking creamy without collapsing.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Snow White Salad

Снежанка

Strained yogurt beaten with grated cucumber, crushed garlic, dill, walnuts and a little sunflower oil — tarator thickened to a spoonable salad.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Stuffed Peppers with Cheese

Чушки бюрек

Long red peppers roasted, peeled, stuffed with white brine cheese and egg, floured and fried until the cheese oozes at the ends.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Stuffed Peppers with Rice and Mince

Пълнени чушки

Dried or fresh peppers packed with rice and minced pork, stood upright in a pot and baked in tomato sauce.

🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tahini Halva

Тахан халва

Crumbly sesame-paste confection sold in slabs, plain or marbled with cocoa, cut from a block by weight.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Taramosalata

Ταραμοσαλάτα

Greek fish roe dip of tarama (cured roe), bread, olive oil, and lemon, blended until silky and pale pink. A Clean Monday and meze staple, creamy and savory, served with bread.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Tarator

Таратор

A cold Bulgarian soup of diluted yogurt, minced cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts, served chilled in summer.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Teleshko Vareno

Телешко варено

A traditional Bulgarian boiled veal dish with potatoes, carrots, onions and root vegetables in a clear consommé, served with a sharp mustard or horseradish.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Tikvenik

Тиквеник

The sweet banitsa: filo rolled around grated pumpkin, walnuts, sugar and cinnamon, baked and dusted with icing sugar. Made from late October onwards.

🇧🇬Varna, Bulgaria

Tsatsa

Цаца

Tiny Black Sea sprats floured and deep-fried whole, eaten head and all by the handful with lemon and cold beer.

🇷🇸Serbia

Tulumba

Ridged fingers of choux-style dough deep-fried then drowned in cold sugar syrup, crisp-shelled and juicy within — the baklava-shop counter classic of Turkey and the former Ottoman world.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Turshiya

Туршия

Mixed winter pickles — cauliflower, carrot, green tomato, pepper and celery — brined together in vinegar so each vegetable stains the next.

🇧🇬Sofia, Bulgaria

Tutmanik

Тутманик

Enriched bread dough layered with white cheese, butter and egg, baked in a pan and torn apart rather than sliced.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Vine Leaf Sarmi

Лозови сарми

Young vine leaves rolled around rice, onion and mint, simmered in a shallow pan and served cold with yogurt — the meatless Lenten form.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Vinen Kebap

Винен кебап

Vinen kebap is pork braised with onion, peppers and red wine until the sauce turns dark and glossy.

🇧🇬Sofia, Bulgaria

Zagorka

Загорка

Stara Zagora lager, the country's most widely sold beer, poured everywhere from seaside shacks to Sofia restaurants.

🇧🇬Bulgaria

Zelnik

Зелник

A Bulgarian filo pie filled with cabbage, leeks or sorrel with eggs and sirene cheese, baked into a golden, flaky pastry.