 | |
| Course | Hors d'oeuvre |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Greece |
| Variations | Many |
InGreek cuisine,saganaki (Greek:σαγανάκι) is any one of a variety of dishes prepared in a smallfrying pan, the best-known being an appetizer offried cheese. It is commonlyflambéed in North America.
The dishes are named for the frying pan in which they are prepared, called aσαγανάκι (saganáki), which is adiminutive ofσαγάνι (sagáni), a frying pan with two handles, which comes from theTurkish wordsahan'copper dish',[1][2] itself borrowed from Arabicصحن (ṣaḥn).
The cheese used insaganaki is usuallygraviera,kefalograviera,halloumi,kasseri,[3]kefalotyri,[3] orsheep's milkfeta cheese. Regional variations include the use offormaela cheese inArachova,halloumi inCyprus, and vlahotiri inMetsovo. The cheese is melted in a small frying pan until it is bubbling and generally served withlemon juice and pepper. It is eaten withbread.[citation needed]
Other dishes cooked in asaganaki pan includeshrimp saganaki (Greek:γαρίδες σαγανάκι,garídes saganáki), andmussels saganaki (Greek:μύδια σαγανάκι,mýdia saganáki), which are typicallyfeta-based and include a spicytomato sauce.[citation needed]
In many Greek restaurants in the United States and Canada, after the saganaki cheese is fried, it isflambéed at table (often with a shout of "opa!"[4]), after which the flames usually are extinguished with a squeeze oflemon juice. This is called "flaming saganaki" and apparently originated in 1968 at the Parthenon restaurant inChicago'sGreektown,[5][6][7][8] based on the suggestion of a customer.[9]
