Those who decided to visit the culinary festival “Bulgaria meets the tastes of the world” (participants will try traditional Bulgarian and food from other countries, taste wine and attend live concerts), a fish festival (here you can taste fish soups, mussels with rice, gobies with feta cheese) and a festival mussels and fish (in Kavarna, as part of a gastronomic event, dishes are prepared from these products in wooden pavilions) will find the answer to the question "What to try in Bulgaria?"
Food in Bulgaria
In Bulgaria, meat is widespread (it is stewed and fried on a wire rack or spit), fish (sea and freshwater), vegetables (fresh, pickled, baked and stewed vegetables), greens (canned and fresh), dairy products, herbs and spices in the form of pepper, garlic, mint, thyme and bay leaf.
When it comes to desserts, tourists should enjoy chocolate cake (garash) and ice cream, which is mixed with fruits, nuts, syrup and whipped cream (melba).
You can try Bulgarian dishes in a tavern (in addition to main courses, complex lunches are offered here from noon to 3 pm, costing at least 3, 60 euros) or mehane (these Bulgarian restaurants are famous for a rich selection of authentic dishes - their menu consists of 20-30 pages; you can dine at the mehan for 10-15 euros for two).
Top 10 Bulgarian dishes
Shopska salad
Shopska salad
The basis of the Shopska salad is onion, parsley, cucumbers, cheese (siren, feta, feta cheese), bell peppers, cucumbers, vinegar, olives and olive oil. Cut greens and vegetables and sprinkle with grated cheese. Olive oil is used as a dressing. The color scheme of feta cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes symbolizes the Bulgarian flag.
Shopska salad costs about 2.56 euros and is usually served chilled as an addition to brandy.
Gyuvech
Gyuvech is a meat dish stewed in earthenware (special pots) with coarsely chopped vegetables and whole garlic cloves. 10 minutes before the hyuvech is ready, pour the egg mixture into the pot. This tasty and satisfying dish is recommended to be eaten on cold winter evenings.
There is also a vegetarian version of Gyuvech - it contains only vegetables (potatoes, eggplants, zucchini, carrots, beans, etc.), olive and sunflower oil.
Tarator
Tarator
Tarator is a cold soup made from sour milk or liquid yoghurt (an alternative is water acidified with vinegar). The tarator is usually supplemented with garlic, cucumbers (instead of fresh vegetables, the tarator can be supplemented with a green salad), walnuts, herbs, olive oil and special seasonings (a prepackaged set of spices is on sale). Tarator is served before the second course or at the same time.
Chorba
Chorba is a thick hot soup in which kvass is poured and root vegetables are placed (among the mandatory components are tomatoes and bell peppers). Tourists are advised to try the following types of chorba:
- chorba bean (a bean soup with carrots, tomatoes, mint, thyme and onions, and sometimes bacon or sausage; chorba bean is prepared as a traditional Christmas Eve dish);
- shkembe chorba (for making the soup you will need giblets - beef tripe, pork or veal stomach, as well as cayenne or chili peppers, garlic and vinegar).
Kawarma
Kavarma is meat (pork, chicken, lamb, lamb) supplemented with spices and onions. When the meat is cooked, the fat will take on a thick consistency, and the lard will turn orange thanks to the ground red pepper. This mixture is transferred to the sheep's stomach (previously it is subjected to a thorough cleaning and washing process) and placed under a press so that the dish takes shape and hardens. Chilled kavarma is cut into medium-sized slices before use.
Sarmi
Sarmi
Sarmi is a kind of stuffed cabbage: Bulgarians eat them mainly in summer. The filling in the form of meat, rice (it is not cooked in advance until half cooked, but stewed together with minced meat), onion and spices for sarmi is wrapped in grape leaves (in winter sarmi is made from pickled leaves). Often yogurt sauce with paprika is served with sarmis. Carrots, cheese, mushrooms and other ingredients are sometimes put in sarmis as a filling, or even a vegetarian dish is prepared.
Kapama
Kapama is a popular dish in southwestern Bulgaria. The chefs use several types of meat (rabbit, veal, pork), black and red peppers, bay leaves, sauerkraut, rice and sausage "nadenitsa". The kapama is laid in layers and simmered in the oven for at least 4-5 hours (a large clay baking sheet is used as a dish, the lid for which is made of unleavened dough). To give kapama a special taste and aroma, add Bulgarian red wine (1 glass) to the dish.
Banitsa
Celebration of Easter, Christmas and New Year cannot do without banitsa. To prepare banitsa, you will need puff pastry (yogurt, water, wheat flour, salt and butter are added to it): it is rolled into flat cakes, 1 mm thick, and stuffed with cottage cheese, cheese, vegetables, meat, fruits, cabbage, pumpkin, spinach, sorrel, young beet tops and other fillings. Thin sheets of dough are rolled up and laid out in a frying pan with a spiral pigtail or horizontal layers.
Patatnik
Patatnik
Patatnik is popular in the Rhodope Mountains and is made from feta cheese and potatoes. Distinguish between meat and lean patatnik, but the classic recipe contains onions, cheese, eggs, potatoes, peppermint, salt, red pepper, vegetable oil. This dish is baked in the oven or fried in a pan (in this case, the dish is turned over) until a fragile, tasty crust forms. This Bulgarian casserole can be garnished with vegetables, sour cream, yogurt.
Yahnia
Yahnia is a stew with one or different types of vegetables, spices and a thick sauce. The main ingredients are pre-fried, then laid in layers in a cauldron or cauldron (often the dish is cooked over an open fire), and stewed in their own juice or with dry grape wine. The classic type of a peculiar Bulgarian stew is chicken yagna, but this dish can also be prepared on the basis of onions, beans or potatoes.
