What to Eat Around the World | Page 58 of 70
Bulgarian Beer: Kamenitza, Shumensko and the Craft Breweries
Bulgaria's oldest brewery was founded by two Swiss railway men, and one of the country's best-known beers was first brewed by a Czech brewmaster. Bulgarian beer is mostly pale lager from three big brands in the hands of foreign corporations, but a small-brewery scene has been growing alongside them for the past ten years. I tasted six of them in Varna, all on one board, and picked a winner.
Pliska: The Bulgarian Brandy Named After the First Capital
Pliska is a Bulgarian wine brandy aged five years in oak barrels, and in Bulgaria everyone calls it cognac - even though that word can't go on the label. It's named after the first capital of the Bulgarian empire, it made its name in the Soviet Union, and it shouldn't be confused with rakija. I drank it in Balchik with a view of the Black Sea.
The Key Beer Bar: A Little Key to Bulgarian Beer in Varna
The Key Beer Bar - Ключето in Bulgarian, literally "the little key" - pours 26 beers by the Blue Market in Varna, from Bulgarian microbreweries to Guinness and Starobrno. If the list leaves you lost, there's a tasting set of six small beers, with the bartender writing the names down beside each glass. Add house-made spicy chips, a terrace on the sidewalk and the cats: Varna is home to more than 23,000 of them.
Svinski Ushi: Grilled Pork Ear with Bulgarian Beer
Svinski ushi are pork ears that Bulgarians first boil until soft, then coat in spices and grill until crisp. They come to the table as hot meze with beer or wine, with garlic sauce, onion and lemon. The dish is Bulgarian through and through, but its capital is Stara Zagora, where it has its own festival and its own nickname, Stara Zagora calamari.
Bulgarian Wine: The Native Grapes Mavrud, Melnik and Gamza
Bulgaria used to be a major wine exporter; back home in Czechia all that was left of it was Bear's Blood. Bulgarian wine today is built on the native grapes: the tannic Mavrud from around Plovdiv, the aromatic Melnik from the Struma valley and the light Gamza from the Danube. What is genuinely Bulgarian about them, why Bulgarians themselves reach for rakija instead, and how three bottles from Todoroff, Minkov Brothers and Katarzyna tasted.
Sirene: Bulgarian White Cheese in Brine
Sirene is the white Bulgarian cheese that ripens in salt brine and without which there would be no Shopska salad, no banica and no katak. You can't buy it as "cheese" in a Bulgarian shop - that word doesn't exist there - and it has less in common with Greek feta than the guidebooks claim. Cow's, goat's, sheep's and buffalo: what to look for on the label, what the words imitation product mean and why I lugged two kilos home.
Soldiers' Cookies: Bulgarian Homemade Cookies from Army Care Packages
Soldiers' cookies are plain Bulgarian homemade cookies of eggs, sugar, soured milk and flour, firm and crunchy. They got their name not from the army but from the mothers who mailed them to their sons in the barracks, because they survived days in the mail. They're baked all over Bulgaria and sit next to the buttery kurabiiki in every bakery case.
Kurabiiki: Bulgarian Butter Cookies
Kurabiiki are small butter cookies sold by the piece in every bakery in Bulgaria. They're eaten with coffee. They belong to the qurabiya family of cookies found all over the former Ottoman world; the Bulgarian version is recognizable by its egg-yolk glaze and the coarse sugar that cracks as it bakes. They've been in Petko Slavejkov's cookbook since 1870.
Mursalski Tea: The Mountain Herbal Tea from the Rhodopes
Mursalski tea is an herbal infusion made from the dried stalks of the mountain tea herb, a protected plant of the high Bulgarian Rhodopes and Pirin. It's sold as whole stalks with the flowers still on, it has no caffeine, and it tastes sweet, much like linden-flower tea. The same herb grows in Greece, North Macedonia and Albania too, where they simply call it mountain tea.
What to Bring Back from Bulgaria?
From Bulgaria I mainly bring back sirene, the white cheese that is my favorite local ingredient, and cured meats to go with it: sujuk sausage with its coat of noble mold and spicy pastarma. The cheap spice blends, led by colorful salt (sharena sol), really do get used at home, and a cream made with Damask roses from the famous Rose Valley has been a hit as a gift.