6 Popular Dishes of the Holiday Season
As the most celebrated event in Albania, New Year’s Eve dinner includes some particularly delicious and rich traditional dishes and desserts.
While in many countries of the world, Christmas Eve dinner is the most important end-of-the-year event, in Albania the big feast is reserved for New Year’s Eve. On this night, Albanian tables overflow with countless traditional dishes, so much so that the affair has become something of a national competition of the best-made dishes and desserts. While nowadays more contemporary dishes have been added to the mix, the traditional ones below are never missing from a New Year’s feast!
Here, the tradition resembles that of Thanksgiving in the United States in that, in Albania, New Year’s dinner must include a turkey. Baked in the oven throughout the entire evening, the main secret for the best-tasting turkey lies in its broth. Where people get most creative is with the turkey’s stuffing which, depending on each household’s recipe, can range from including walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and marinated garlic to orange or lemon juice, which gives the finished turkey some added punch!
Photo source: pexels.com.
As most of us know, the turkey’s main companion is the stuffing. We can even go as far as saying that most people actually prefer stuffing to turkey, at times considering the former the real main dish. The turkey broth is necessary in order to nicely bring together the long list of special ingredients of përshesh, including kulaç (traditional Albanian bread), walnuts, butter, salt and a colorful blend of spices like oregano and mint. The secret here is in the right mix!
Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org.
Joining the previous two to compose the three main dishes of the national New Year’s Eve cooking competition, in Albania we have what is locally known as the Russian Salad. Created in 1860, from renowned Belgian chef Lucien Olivier who, at the time, worked in a high-end restaurant in Moscow, the Russian Salad has not lost even one ounce of its popularity since then. While the salad is popular in other Eastern European countries, in Albania, a New Year’s table without the Russian Salad is simply unheard of! Boiled and cubed carrots, potatoes, beans, and peas are joined by cut-up, fresh pickled cucumbers and mixed together with a substantial amount of, preferably home-made, mayonnaise. Quite delicious, this is perhaps the most coveted leftover dish of the entire celebration!
Photo source: happykitchen.rocks.
You cannot walk around Albanian streets without seeing byrek shops everywhere and without trying this famous Albanian delicacy. The New Year’s version includes a good luck charm stuffed inside it in the form of a coin. Of course, the nature of this coin is very symbolic in that it turns a simple dinner into a little entertaining competition. While eating byrek is delicious with or without the coin, the fact that you might find some good luck coin inside it adds some nice adrenaline to the whole affair. You just have to be careful not to get too carried away while eating the irresistible byrek and risk swallowing the coin!
https://www.intoalbania.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/burekkkkk-804x480-750x422.png?img_marker
Photo source: finofinefoods.com.
A dessert that, by now, enjoys indisputable international fame, baklava has been and will always be the iconic New Year’s dessert in Albania. Even during the Communist period, when ingredients were both less affordable and less abundant than today, most people saved up money especially for this dessert. Made with extremely thin and flaky homemade layers of dough, soaked in a thick and spicy sweet syrup, the traditionally Albanian baklava is stuffed with crushed walnuts. While during the rest of the year, one might feel guilty for consuming such a rich and delicious concoction, the consumption of baklava during New Year’s Eve is entirely guilt-free and, thus, 100% enjoyable. One thing is for sure, without it, the year just does not start out right!
Photo source: pixabay.com.
Second only to baklava and, in some people’s opinion, perhaps unfairly so, kadaif is the “light” dessert of the New Year’s feast. However, this equally fluffy and moist dessert, made of thin noodles deliciously rolled up together, is decidedly the most exotic of the two. The best kind of kadaif is slightly spiced with clove, stuffed with a mix of crushed walnuts, and doused with honey-like syrup. The syrup is similar to that of baklava, but the way it is absorbed in the kadaif, lends the latter a more delicate taste and, needless to mention, permission to consume even more!
Photo source: marthastewart.com.
Photo source: pexels.com.
As most of us know, the turkey’s main companion is the stuffing. We can even go as far as saying that most people actually prefer stuffing to turkey, at times considering the former the real main dish. The turkey broth is necessary in order to nicely bring together the long list of special ingredients of përshesh, including kulaç (traditional Albanian bread), walnuts, butter, salt and a colorful blend of spices like oregano and mint. The secret here is in the right mix!
Photo source: commons.wikimedia.org.
Joining the previous two to compose the three main dishes of the national New Year’s Eve cooking competition, in Albania we have what is locally known as the Russian Salad. Created in 1860, from renowned Belgian chef Lucien Olivier who, at the time, worked in a high-end restaurant in Moscow, the Russian Salad has not lost even one ounce of its popularity since then. While the salad is popular in other Eastern European countries, in Albania, a New Year’s table without the Russian Salad is simply unheard of! Boiled and cubed carrots, potatoes, beans, and peas are joined by cut-up, fresh pickled cucumbers and mixed together with a substantial amount of, preferably home-made, mayonnaise. Quite delicious, this is perhaps the most coveted leftover dish of the entire celebration!
Photo source: happykitchen.rocks.
You cannot walk around Albanian streets without seeing byrek shops everywhere and without trying this famous Albanian delicacy. The New Year’s version includes a good luck charm stuffed inside it in the form of a coin. Of course, the nature of this coin is very symbolic in that it turns a simple dinner into a little entertaining competition. While eating byrek is delicious with or without the coin, the fact that you might find some good luck coin inside it adds some nice adrenaline to the whole affair. You just have to be careful not to get too carried away while eating the irresistible byrek and risk swallowing the coin!
https://www.intoalbania.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/burekkkkk-804x480-750x422.png?img_marker
Photo source: finofinefoods.com.
A dessert that, by now, enjoys indisputable international fame, baklava has been and will always be the iconic New Year’s dessert in Albania. Even during the Communist period, when ingredients were both less affordable and less abundant than today, most people saved up money especially for this dessert. Made with extremely thin and flaky homemade layers of dough, soaked in a thick and spicy sweet syrup, the traditionally Albanian baklava is stuffed with crushed walnuts. While during the rest of the year, one might feel guilty for consuming such a rich and delicious concoction, the consumption of baklava during New Year’s Eve is entirely guilt-free and, thus, 100% enjoyable. One thing is for sure, without it, the year just does not start out right!
Photo source: pixabay.com.
Second only to baklava and, in some people’s opinion, perhaps unfairly so, kadaif is the “light” dessert of the New Year’s feast. However, this equally fluffy and moist dessert, made of thin noodles deliciously rolled up together, is decidedly the most exotic of the two. The best kind of kadaif is slightly spiced with clove, stuffed with a mix of crushed walnuts, and doused with honey-like syrup. The syrup is similar to that of baklava, but the way it is absorbed in the kadaif, lends the latter a more delicate taste and, needless to mention, permission to consume even more!
Photo source: marthastewart.com.