Ten Cretan dishes are glorified by the American travel editor Alexis Averbuck on the site BBCGoodFood.com, which belongs to the wider BBC group, highlighting them as the best of Cretan cuisine.

As the editor states: “With a philosophy and culture worthy of that of Greece’s largest island, Cretan cuisine is particularly prominent, multifaceted and with strong traditional elements. Cretan cuisine stands out in Greece and internationally for its unique ingredients and aromas. Based on simple techniques, it also stands out for the wide variety of ingredients used in the dishes: mountain greens, bulbs, unique cheeses, fresh fish and the internationally recognized olive oil”.

Cretan cheeses

Made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, each local cheese has its own unique stamp. Gruyere is famous, a hard cheese with a sweeter taste at first, which becomes more spicy and aromatic when it “ages”. Soft, creamy cheeses abound in Crete, such as Chania curd, a product with a designation of origin, or myzithra, a “young” curd cheese with a wonderful mild taste.

Ntakos

The ever popular dakos is known throughout Crete. Some call him an owl, while in the east they call him a shortbread. This is a fantastic meze reminiscent of bruschetta but based on the nut which is lightly soaked in water or oil to soften it and then the taste is complete… when the grated fresh tomato is spread on it and the mizithra, the creamy lamb or goat cheese. It is sprinkled with Cretan virgin olive oil and sprinkled with salt, oregano, pepper.

Snail budgers

It’s not just the French who treat snails as a delicacy. In the Cretan dialect snails are called hochlioi and in this dish they are fried with flour in hot olive oil, “bathed” in wine (or vinegar). In the Cretan dialect snails are called hochlioi and in this dish they are fried in flour in hot olive oil, “bathed” » with wine (or vinegar). Some add a little wild rosemary. In Crete, snails are collected one by one by hand and cooked alive

Kalitsounia

These small pies may look like the cheese pies you will find all over Greece, but these ones are unique! The dough is necessarily handmade, cut into small pieces that are filled with soft cheeses (mainly mizithra or malaka, but not feta). The finishing touch is the Cretan honey on top, making the pies an intoxicating combination of sweet and savory.

Lamb with rump

As with most Greek foods, Cretans treat lamb in their own way. Their version incorporates stamnagathi, a wild grass that has become trendy on the menus of many top restaurants. The Cretan lamb is sauteed in hot olive oil and oregano, accompanied by stamnagathi and the well-known egg lemon or, more simply, a few drops of fresh lemon.

Gamopilafo

This rice dish is offered at traditional Cretan weddings. Now you will find it not only when the whole village celebrates a wedding in the central square of the village, but also in many Cretan taverns. Reminiscent of a luxurious risotto, it is cooked in a rich meat broth (goat, lamb or rooster). Next, lemon juice and copious amounts of castor butter are added – butter created from the creamy foam that forms on top of fresh goat’s milk. It is in other words… the cream of the crop!

Ascordulaki (bulbs)

Part of the magic of the Cretan diet is the ingredients gathered from the mountains and villages. Mountain bulbs, or ascordulakoi, are wild bulbs that Cretans gather and eat as a fresh salad, with oil and vinegar or lemon. They are also pickled or cooked in various other ways, always with local olive oil.

Smoked pork (Apaki)

It is not easy to copy in the rest of Greece, this dish with juicy smoked pork, which takes several days to prepare. Strips of pork are marinated in vinegar and then smoked over a fire with sage, bay leaf or rosemary. The smoke is constantly fed back to keep the meat fragrant with the herbs. The final product, smoked with the flavor of fresh herbs, is later served cold, thinly sliced.

Sfakian pies

These delicious pies “come” from a mountainous region called Sfakia. They look like pancakes, but in addition to flour, the dough contains local olive oil and the famous Cretan drink, raki. Then, various Cretan soft cheeses (white goat’s or sheep’s milk, such as mizithra or Chania curd) are incorporated into the center of the pie. Fried in minimal olive oil, eaten with a few drops of thyme honey.

Tsikoudia

In autumn, after the grape harvest, you will find villagers all over Crete bending carefully over fires and copper cauldrons. They make raki, the drink obtained from the distillation of grapes and served in every Cretan tavern and cafe. The local version of tsipouros (which you can find throughout the rest of Greece), is also called tsikoudia and is drunk in small quantities, without adding water. Not to be confused with ouzo, tsikoudia has no anise or any other herb. Drink it with appetizers, olives or barley nuts, or plain!