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Tzatziki
Tzatziki ( el, τζατζίκι), also known as tarator or cacık (), is a dip, soup, or sauce found in the cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It is made of salted strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, sometimes with vinegar or lemon juice, and herbs such as dill, mint, parsley and thyme. It is served as a cold appetizer (''mezze''), a side dish, and as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros sandwiches and other foods. History ''Tarator'' was the name of a dish made of ground walnuts and vinegar in the Ottoman Empire. Dishes of various preparations in the region, including dips, salads, and sauces, acquired the name. In the Levant, ''taratur'' is a sauce based on tahini, while in Turkey and the Balkans it came to mean a combination of yogurt and cucumbers, sometimes with walnuts. It has become a traditional part of meze. Etymology The word ''tzatziki'' appeared in English around the mid-20th century as a loanword from Mode ...
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Meze
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Mezze are often served with alcoholic beverages such as arak. Etymology The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and originated from the Turkish word meaning a snack or appetiser. This, in turn, originated from the Persian word "mazzeh" or "mazzah" () 'taste' or 'relish'. Common dishes In Turkey, meze often consist of '' beyaz peynir'' (literally "white cheese"), ''kavun'' (sliced ripe melon), ''acılı ezme'' (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), '' haydari'' (thick strained yogurt with herbs), ''patlıcan salatası'' (cold eggplant salad), ''beyin salatası'' (brain salad), ''kalamar tava'' (fried calamari or squid), midye dolma and ''midye tava'' (stuffed or fried m ...
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Dip (food)
A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, falafel, and sometimes even whole sandwiches in the case of jus. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically placed or dipped into the sauce. Dips are commonly used for finger foods, appetizers, and other food types. Thick dips based on sour cream, crème fraîche, milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, soft cheese, or beans are a staple of American hors d'oeuvres and are thicker than spreads, which can be thinned to make dips. Celebrity chef Alton Brown suggests that a dip is defined based on its ability to "maintain contact with its transport mechanism over of white carpet". Dips in various forms are eaten all over the world and people have been using sauces for dipping for ...
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Mezze
Meze or mezza (, ) is a selection of small dishes served as appetizers in the Levant, Turkey, Greece, the Balkans, the Caucasus and Iran. It is similar to Spanish tapas and Italian antipasti. A mezze may be served as a part of a multi-course meal or form a meal in itself. Mezze are often served with alcoholic beverages such as arak. Etymology The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, and originated from the Turkish word meaning a snack or appetiser. This, in turn, originated from the Persian word "mazzeh" or "mazzah" () 'taste' or 'relish'. Common dishes In Turkey, meze often consist of '' beyaz peynir'' (literally "white cheese"), ''kavun'' (sliced ripe melon), ''acılı ezme'' (hot pepper paste often with walnuts), '' haydari'' (thick strained yogurt with herbs), ''patlıcan salatası'' (cold eggplant salad), ''beyin salatası'' (brain salad), ''kalamar tava'' (fried calamari or squid), midye dolma and ''midye tava'' (stuffed or fried musse ...
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Sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word taken from the Latin ''salsa'', meaning ''salted''. Possibly the oldest recorded European sauce is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Romans, while doubanjiang, the Chinese soy bean paste is mentioned in '' Rites of Zhou'' in the 3rd century BC. Sauces need a liquid component. Sauces are an essential element in cuisines all over the world. Sauces may be used for sweet or savory dishes. They may be prepared and served cold, like mayonnaise, prepared cold but served lukewarm like pesto, cooked and served warm like bechamel or cooked and served cold like apple sauce. They may be freshly prepared by the cook, especially in restaurants, but today many sauces are sold premade and packaged like Worcestershire sauce, HP Sauce, ...
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Strained Yogurt
Strained yogurt, Greek yogurt, yogurt cheese, sack yogurt, or kerned yogurt is yogurt that has been strained to remove most of its whey, resulting in a thicker consistency than normal unstrained yogurt, while still preserving the distinctive sour taste of yogurt. Like many types, strained yogurt is often made from milk enriched by boiling off some water content, or by adding extra butterfat and powdered milk. In Europe and North America, it is often made from low-fat or fat-free cow's milk. In Iceland, a similar product named skyr is made. Strained yogurt is generally marketed in North America as "Greek yogurt" and in the UK as "Greek-style yogurt", though strained yogurt is also widely eaten in Levantine, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and South Asian cuisines, where it is often used in cooking, as it curdles less readily when cooked. It is used in a variety of dishes, cooked or raw, savory or sweet. Straining makes even nonfat varieties thicker ...
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Strained Yogurt
Strained yogurt, Greek yogurt, yogurt cheese, sack yogurt, or kerned yogurt is yogurt that has been strained to remove most of its whey, resulting in a thicker consistency than normal unstrained yogurt, while still preserving the distinctive sour taste of yogurt. Like many types, strained yogurt is often made from milk enriched by boiling off some water content, or by adding extra butterfat and powdered milk. In Europe and North America, it is often made from low-fat or fat-free cow's milk. In Iceland, a similar product named skyr is made. Strained yogurt is generally marketed in North America as "Greek yogurt" and in the UK as "Greek-style yogurt", though strained yogurt is also widely eaten in Levantine, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and South Asian cuisines, where it is often used in cooking, as it curdles less readily when cooked. It is used in a variety of dishes, cooked or raw, savory or sweet. Straining makes even nonfat varieties thicker ...
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Garlic
Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeastern Iran and has long been used as a seasoning worldwide, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use. It was known to ancient Egyptians and has been used as both a food flavoring and a traditional medicine. China produces 76% of the world's supply of garlic. Etymology The word ''garlic'' derives from Old English, ''garlēac'', meaning ''gar'' (spear) and leek, as a 'spear-shaped leek'. Description ''Allium sativum'' is a perennial flowering plant growing from a bulb. It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to . The leaf blade is flat, linear, solid, and approximately wide, with an acute apex. The plant may produce pink to purple flowers from July to September in the Northern Hemisphere. The bulb ...
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Souvlaki
Souvlaki ( el, σουβλάκι, , ; plural: , ), is a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer. It is usually eaten straight off the skewer while still hot. It can be served with or inside of a rolled pita, typically with lemon, sauces, vegetables such as sliced tomato and onion, and fried potatoes as a side. The meat usually used in Greece and Cyprus is pork, although chicken, beef, and lamb may also be used in some regions as well as worldwide. Etymology The word ''souvlaki'' is a diminutive of the Medieval Greek ( meaning "skewer") itself borrowed from Latin . "Souvlaki" is the common term in Macedonia (Greece) and other regions of northern Greece, while in southern Greece and around Athens it is commonly known as ''kalamaki'' ( meaning "small reed"). History In Greek culture, the practice of cooking food on spits or skewers dates to the Bronze Age.. Excavations in Santorini, Greece, unearthed ...
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Vinegar
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to ethanol using yeast, and ethanol to acetic acid by acetic acid bacteria. Many types of vinegar are available, depending on source materials. It is now mainly used in the culinary arts as a flavorful, acidic cooking ingredient, or in pickling. Various types are used as condiments or garnishes, including balsamic vinegar and malt vinegar. As the most easily manufactured mild acid, it has a wide variety of industrial and #Household uses, domestic uses, including use as a Cleaning agent, household cleaner. Etymology The word "vinegar" arrived in Middle English from Old French (''vyn egre''; sour wine), which in turn derives from Latin: ''vinum'' (wine) + ''acer'' (sour). Chemistry The conversion of ethanol (CH3CH2OH) and oxygen (O2) to acet ...
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Appetizer
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or they may be served before seating, such as at a reception or cocktail party. Formerly, hors d'oeuvres were also served between courses.''Oxford English Dictionary'', First Edition, 189''s.v.''/ref> There are two types of hors d'oeuvre from service point of view: # General hors d'oeuvre # Classical hors d'oeuvre General hors d'oeuvres include cold preparations such as salad, cold meat, and fish. Classical hors d'oeuvres include fruit juice and soft drinks, grapefruit, shellfish cocktail, and so on. Typically smaller than a main dish, an hors d'oeuvre is often designed to be eaten by hand. Etymology in French literally means "outside the work"; that is, "not part of the ordinary set of courses in a meal". In practice, it is ...
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Appetizer
An hors d'oeuvre ( ; french: hors-d'œuvre ), appetiser or starter is a small dish served before a meal in European cuisine. Some hors d'oeuvres are served cold, others hot. Hors d'oeuvres may be served at the dinner table as a part of the meal, or they may be served before seating, such as at a reception or cocktail party. Formerly, hors d'oeuvres were also served between courses.''Oxford English Dictionary'', First Edition, 189''s.v.''/ref> There are two types of hors d'oeuvre from service point of view: # General hors d'oeuvre # Classical hors d'oeuvre General hors d'oeuvres include cold preparations such as salad, cold meat, and fish. Classical hors d'oeuvres include fruit juice and soft drinks, grapefruit, shellfish cocktail, and so on. Typically smaller than a main dish, an hors d'oeuvre is often designed to be eaten by hand. Etymology in French literally means "outside the work"; that is, "not part of the ordinary set of courses in a meal". In practice, it is ...
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Gyros
Gyros—in some regions, chiefly North America, anglicized as a gyro (; el, γύρος, yíros/gyros, turn, )—is meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced and served wrapped or stuffed in pita bread, along with ingredients such as tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and tzatziki. In Greece, it is normally made with pork or sometimes with chicken, whilst beef and lamb are also used in other countries. History Grilling a vertical spit of stacked meat and slicing it off as it cooks was developed in BursaKenneth F. Kiple, Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, eds., ''Cambridge World History of Food'', Cambridge, 2000. . Vol. 2, p. 1147 in the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire, and called doner kebab ( tr, döner kebap). Following World War II, doner kebab made with lamb was present in Athens, introduced by immigrants from Anatolia and the Middle East, possibly with the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. The Greek version is normally made with pork and served with tzat ...
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