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Zelnik, komachki, plateki and uchkur are delicacies from the Varna region

Zelnik, komacchi, plateki and uchkur are the more special old delicacies characteristic of the Varna region, Svetlozara Koleva, PhD in Ethnology, curator at the Ethnographic Museum in the seaside town, told BTA.

Rural cuisine differs from urban cuisine, there are also differences between everyday meals and ritual meals, added the specialist. According to her, in Varna there are also differences in the culinary traditions of the individual ethnographic groups. There are many migrants in the region who arrive with their meals, Koleva explained.

The cabbage patch is characteristic of the Sirtov region (Provadiy Plateau). It is a type of patty that is filled with fresh milk thickened with a few drops of cheese yeast and eggs. The skins are gathered so that the pie becomes curly like cabbage. Sometimes bulgur is also added to it.

For the region of Valchi dol, the plates and the komachka are characteristic. Both are pasta dishes. Dough is kneaded for the flatbreads, which is rolled out, the skins are folded like an envelope and baked on the stove plate. Dried, they can be stored for a long time. When they are going to be served, dip them in hot water with salt, butter and red pepper. Cheese can be placed between them.

Komachki are balls of dough, arranged tightly next to each other in the pan and covered with a topping like a pie. Typical of the villages around Valchi Dol is the sweet "Uckur", which is a specialty of the Turkish population. It requires serious craftsmanship, because the dough is rolled into extremely thin crusts. It is then baked and syruped.

The cut soup is characteristic of the Gagauz, Koleva also said. Rolled dough is rolled around the rolling pin and cut into pieces with scissors, which are dried in the sun or in the oven. Then they are used by putting them in boiling water or milk with salt, red pepper and fat.

The Magyars - the settlers from Lozengrad and Odrinsko - arrived in Varna with a richer culinary culture. Compared to the locals, they used more products and spices, Koleva explained. From them come the delicacies "grandfather" (made from minced pork with satyr), "grandmother" (from pork lung, bulgur and spices) and "eternik" (liver, meat, bacon, leeks and spices).

In the old recipes in Varna region, bulgur and chickpeas are very common, Koleva added. According to her, the fish was typical for the table of the people in the city, and that of the more affluent. The rest consumed more caviar and salted fish.

Desserts were made with petmez, not sugar. One of the characteristic recipes is from the Sirtov region, where they made slivenza (slivenica) - dried plums and other fruits, dogwoods are put in boiling water, bulgur, chopped leeks and endrishe are added.

Armenians, Jews and Greeks also make their contribution to enriching the cuisine in Varna, Koleva added. Armenians are famous for their lean grape sarmi and sweets. The first ones differ from the local ones because they have green onions, beaten eggs and crumbled cheese in them. The stuffing is seasoned with fennel and chives.

For the Christmas holidays, a characteristic city dish was the roast turkey, and the richer people put a piglet on their table. The bird was stuffed with bulgur, raisins, and as a side dish - chestnuts boiled in fresh milk. The turkey was served on a special two-piece plate. The top is perforated to drain the sauce from the bird.

The Greek population in Varna made a special Vasilopita for St. Basil's Day, which can be compared to a kozunak, except that it does not take so much time to make. In addition, some crushed gum (sakaz) is added to the dough.

Bread is the symbol of Dobruja

Dobrich region is home to many ethnic groups, but what unites all of them is bread, Daniela Gerasimova, curator in the "Ethnography" department of the Regional History Museum in Dobrich, told BTA.

Bread is the symbol of Dobruja, of life, fertility and prosperity. There is no other world culture that attaches such importance to it as the Bulgarian one. In our country, ritual breads are considered to have a magical function - they are an expression of the bloodless sacrifice. This makes them an invariable part of the table of the people of Dobruja.

In this area, a ritual pita called bógovitsa is prepared for Christmas Eve. It is prasnéc - a cow made of unleavened dough that is pierced with a fork and baked in a pan. Sometimes it is decorated with small dough balls, which symbolize the lamb, or with the prosphora seal, making a sign of the cross with a rye at one end.

For Christmas, a cow is baked, called kolaški, koleški or kolák. Most often it is prepared from yeast dough, less often it is prasnéc. The flour is sifted through three sieves and mixed with still water. Kvass, made from corn dough with a decoction of corn, barley and oats, is added. After it is kneaded, the dough is left to "set". The kravai is formed from twisted pieces of dough known as "horns" or "mamuli" - then it is called "vit", "twisted" or "rolled" kravai. It can also be decorated with a dough cross on top - then the ritual bread is "crossed".

Ashure, greasy bread and chicken pacha are prepared in Targovishte

The dessert "ashure" is widespread in the kitchen of the residents of the Targovishte region. It is prepared on a specific day in the days before Bayram, it is related to fasting among Muslims, it is less often prepared in commemoration of a deceased relative - the so-called mevlit.

For BTA Diana Zhekova - curator in the "Ethnography" department at the Regional History Museum in Targovishte, told that this is a special ritual food. It is prepared from specific cereals and fruits: wheat, corn, chickpeas, peanuts, beans, green beans, raisins, quince, apples. All the products are cooked separately and then mixed to make a "patterned meal," a recipe kept at the cultural institution records.

The necessary products are: wheat - 1 kg, fresh milk - 3 liters, 3-4 tsp. sugar, 100 grams of raw corn, 100 grams of beans, 100 grams of nuts each - walnuts, peanuts, chickpeas. fruits, dried grapes - 2 tsp, grated apples and quinces, 10 pcs. vanilla and a pinch of cloves. 

Method of preparation: the wheat is washed and boiled in a deep vessel, together with the corn and beans. After the pulses are cooked, the fresh milk is added to the mixture. A pinch of salt is also added. From this mixture, which is the first stage of preparing the ashure, a part is separated and served cold - it is called "keshkek". 

Nuts, fruits, sugar, as well as flavors - vanilla and cloves - are added to give the mixture the appearance of ashure. Serve chilled and sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

The museum in Targovishte keeps a recipe for greasy bread, prepared in the region in the not-too-distant past in households as an everyday food. The recipe is for Alvanov fat bread, provided by Ganka Ivanova - a resident of the village of Alvanovo, originally from the village of Manastirtsa, who remembers it from her mother. 

Required products: 1 cube of yeast, flour - as much as it takes, lard - 1 tsp, water - 0.7 ml, salt - tablespoon, eggs - 2 pcs., cheese - 300 grams.

Method of preparation: dough is kneaded from the products. The lard is added gradually and kneaded until the entire amount is absorbed. It rises for 20 minutes. Roll out on a rectangular sheet and spread with beaten egg and cheese. It is rolled up, twisted and placed in a greased pan, rolled up like a snail. Leave to rise and bake until done. 

A little-known dish is characteristic of the inhabitants of the trading village of Golyamo Sokolovo. This is pacha with chicken meat, which is prepared mainly on Muslim religious holidays and complements the Bayram table, Alime Ahmedova - community center secretary and resident of the village - told BTA.

The most important thing for the preparation of pacha is that the products used are homemade - both the chicken, the yogurt, and the butter. Then the taste is authentic, as our mothers and grandmothers used to prepare it, adds Akhmedova.

The necessary products are: whole chicken, yogurt, butter, flour, garlic, salt, red pepper and the broth from the cooking. 

Preparation: the chicken is boiled. The broth is strained. Let it boil and add to it a pre-beaten compote jar of cow's yogurt and two handfuls of flour. In a slow stream, the mixture is topped up with constant stirring. Now comes the spices - garlic and salt, to taste. It is removed from the fire when a very thick paste is obtained and poured with melted homemade cow butter.

In a separate bowl, mix ten egg yolks with two tablespoons of water, add some of the broth. This mixture is added to the patch.

The pacha is served (cut with a spoon) and takes the shape of the plate. Only the white meat of the bird is shredded. Top with fried butter with red pepper and serve.

Pork ribs with bulgur are prepared only in Shumensko

Traditional Bulgarian dishes are presented at the culinary festival "Forgotten Traditions - Ritual Tables" in the Shumen village of Vasil Drumev, which is organized with the aim of finding, preserving and popularizing traditional Bulgarian dishes. On it, the hosts from the village of Vasil Drumev present themselves with a dish characteristic only for this region of the country - pork ribs with bulgur, the secretary of the local community center, Maria Velikova, who is among the organizers of the biennial festival, told BTA. According to her, the recipe is passed down from mother to daughter and she has known about it since the time when people did not have refrigerators and after salting the meat, they stored it in a wooden kache (small barrel).

“After the salted ribs are removed, they must be soaked in clean water. Then they should be well fried with onions. Bulgur and water, red and black pepper are added to them, after which the dish is put in an oven or stove," noted Velikova. "In general, local residents prefer to cook with more bulgur and less rice, unlike other regions of the country," Velikova specified.

Smiadovska lukanka is the most famous meat product from the region, not only in the country, but also abroad. The delicacy, beloved by generations of Bulgarians, has not been produced in Smyadovo for a long time, since the factory stopped working about 30 years ago, residents of the city reminded BTA. On the market in Bulgaria there are products that are sold under the label "Smiadovska lukanka" by various meat processing enterprises, but their taste diverges from the original recipe, local residents and the owner of one of the best restaurants in Shumen Valentin told a BTA reporter Varbanov.

For the production of Smyadovska lukanka, meat from "Eastern Balkan breed" pigs, the so-called black pigs that are semi-wild. There are almost no such in Shumensko. About the original recipe, which is still kept secret, I also know that after the pig is slaughtered, the meat is left to ferment, a technology that is also used to produce the world-famous jamon, a type of raw-cured Spanish ham that is prepared from the same breed of pigs, noted Varbanov.

He also said that as a child he heard about another typical dish of the region - "Trienitsa". These are small spaghetti made from dough and used to cook soup.

"We put the flour in a deep bowl. Gradually sprinkle with drops of water and knead at the same time, trying to get small wicks, not dough. We place the pieces of dough in a sieve, where we sift them to better shape the granules. Boil them in about 350-400 milliliters of salted water, pour them into a bowl. Heat the oil in a pan, sprinkle with red pepper. Fry briefly and pour into the bowl with the cooked dough. We add crushed cheese, let it cool and serve," says another recipe for the dish by the famous chef Ivan Zvezdev.

BTA correspondents Mila Edreva, Danail Voikov, Alexandra Antonova, Boryana Dimitrova, Stanimir Savov worked on the material.

Source: https://www.bta.bg/bg/news/bulgaria/374593-koi-sa-nay-emblematichnite-yastiya-za-severoiztochna-balgariya-