 | |
| Course | Hors d'oeuvre |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Greece |
| Variations | Many |
 Media: Saganaki | |
InGreek cuisine, saganaki (Greek σαγανάκι) is any one of a variety of dishes prepared in a small frying pan, the best-known being an appetizer of fried cheese. It is commonly flambéed in North America.
The dishes are named for the frying pan in which they are prepared, called a σαγανάκι : saganáki, which is a diminutive of σαγάνι : sagáni, a frying pan with two handles, which comes from the Turkish word sahan 'copper dish',[1][2] itself borrowed from Arabic صحن (ṣaḥn).
The cheese used in saganaki is usually graviera, kefalograviera, halloumi, kasseri,[3] kefalotyri,[3]orsheep's milk feta cheese. Regional variations include the use of formaela cheese in Arachova, halloumiinCyprus, and vlahotiri in Metsovo. The cheese is melted in a small frying pan until it is bubbling and generally served with lemon juice and pepper. It is eaten with bread.[citation needed]
Other dishes cooked in a saganaki pan include shrimp saganaki (Greek: γαρίδες σαγανάκι, garídes saganáki), and mussels saganaki (Greek: μύδια σαγανάκι, mýdia saganáki), which are typically feta-based and include a spicy tomato sauce.[citation needed]
In many Greek restaurants in the United States and Canada, after the saganaki cheese is fried, it is flambéed at table (often with a shout of "opa!"[4]), after which the flames usually are extinguished with a squeeze of lemon juice. This is called "flaming saganaki" and apparently originated in 1968 at the Parthenon restaurant in Chicago's Greektown,[5][6][7][8] based on the suggestion of a customer.[9]
