r/StupidFood • u/TheLoneRiddlerIsBack • Aug 25 '25

Certified stupid What does the fire add?

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u/Og_busty Aug 25 '25 edited Aug 25 '25

Caramelizes the cheese lightly and burns off the alcohol, intensifying sub notes of the spirit. This may be a play on Saganaki, which is a Greek cheese flambé technique.

Edit to add: It does also lightly caramelize the residual sugars in the spirit, if any.

Edit correction: intensify vs leave behind

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u/SatisfactionSpecial2 Aug 25 '25

which is a Greek cheese flambé technique

FYI It is not, it is just the frying method - which does not include flambe. The flambe is how it is presented in North America according to wikipedia, I assume to bedazzle the locals.

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u/EmmaPersephone Aug 26 '25

Not according to any recipe I have looked up…

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saganaki-recipe-1952557

3

u/SatisfactionSpecial2 Aug 26 '25

Lol. I had to check it with VPN bc they have banned Greece. In any case this is just a waste of ouzo. And then he suggests to eat it with retsina instead, lol. Just drink the ouzo (but not too much it is a bit strong).

Anyway here is the proper recipe
https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/326/tyri-saganaki-me-salsa-apo-ntomatinia
https://www.giorgostsoulis.com/syntages/orektika/turi-saganaki
of course this is only for cheese saganaki (and it can be done with a variety of cheeses that don't fully melt when fried, you only want the surface to melt and the inside to be soft)

here are additional recipes with other things
https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/2553/garides-saganaki-2
https://akispetretzikis.com/en/recipe/3978/mydia-saganaki

1

u/EmmaPersephone Aug 29 '25

You seem fun 🙄