Region
17 Northern Greek and Macedonian Recipes
The north eats differently: more peppers, more paprika, more pork, more pastry. Thessaloniki alone accounts for a large share of the Greek dishes people know by name.
The north eats differently: more peppers, more paprika, more pork, more pastry. Thessaloniki alone accounts for a large share of the Greek dishes people know by name.
Bougatsa is the breakfast: loose semolina custard in crisp phyllo, cut with scissors and dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. The custard triangles come from a suburb of the same city. The peppers of Florina are stuffed. The cheeses are grilled, fried or baked: manouri with honey, batzos, feta with peppers.
A good part of this cooking arrived with refugees from Asia Minor, the kebab with yogurt and tomato and the pork preserved under its own fat among it. In winter there is tripe soup, cod with leeks, and cabbage leaves stuffed and finished with egg and lemon.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Baked Giant Beans in Tomato
Gigantes plaki · Γίγαντες πλακί · YEE-ghan-des plah-KEE
The beans come mainly from Kastoria and Prespes in northern Greece. They are larger and creamier than a butter bean and drink up sauce without collapsing. This is a ladera dish: the olive oil is the sauce, not a mistake in the recipe. It is vegan as it stands, and on every Greek fasting table.
Yiayia’s tip: Old beans never soften. Dried beans more than a year or so old can refuse to cook properly no matter what you do. If a batch is still hard after an hour of simmering, the beans are the problem, not your method.
Make Baked Giant Beans in Tomato2. Bougatsa
Μπουγάτσα · boo-GHAH-tsah
Thessaloniki's breakfast, eaten standing at a counter, cut into squares with scissors and passed across in paper. Refugees from Asia Minor brought it in the 1920s. People confuse it with galaktoboureko, which is firm and drenched in syrup. This one is softer and never sees syrup, only icing sugar and cinnamon.
Yiayia’s tip: Err on the loose side. The custard thickens as it cools and again in the oven. If it looks right in the pan it will be stodgy on the plate.
Make Bougatsa3. Thessaloniki Custard Triangles
Trigona Panoramatos · Τρίγωνα Πανοράματος · TREE-goh-nah pah-noh-RAH-mah-tos
Named for Panorama, the hillside suburb above Thessaloniki where a few patisseries made their name on it and people still cross the city for it. Phyllo cones are fried crisp, dipped for seconds in light syrup and filled with vanilla custard. Fill them close to serving. The shell goes soft inside an hour or two.
Yiayia’s tip: Chill the custard properly. It needs to be genuinely thick and cold before filling, or it will soak straight through the fried shell rather than sitting inside it.
Make Thessaloniki Custard Triangles4. Thessaloniki Kebab with Yogurt and Tomato
Giaourtlou · Γιαουρτλού · yah-oor-TLOO
Thessaloniki owes this to the refugees who came from Asia Minor after 1922, with a pairing of yogurt and grilled meat the mainland did not have. It is layered, not mixed: torn, toasted pita, then minced meat kebabs, then warm tomato sauce, then garlicky yogurt. The meat takes cumin, where mainland grills use oregano.
Yiayia’s tip: Add the yogurt last, straight from the fridge. The contrast between the cold yogurt and the hot meat and sauce is the entire point. Adding it early loses that completely.
Make Thessaloniki Kebab with Yogurt and Tomato5. Northern Greek Preserved Confit Pork
Kavourmas · Καβουρμάς · kah-voor-MAHS
Pork cooked slowly in its own fat, then stored sealed under that same fat. Refugees from Asia Minor and the Pontus brought the method to northern Greece after 1922, as a way to keep meat through winter before anyone had a fridge. It is the same idea as French confit, reached separately.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skimp on the fat. It is both the cooking medium and the preserving seal. A cut that is too lean will not render enough to do either job.
Make Northern Greek Preserved Confit Pork6. Sesame Bread Ring
Koulouri Thessalonikis · Κουλούρι Θεσσαλονίκης · koo-LOO-ree theh-sah-loh-NEE-kis
Bought, as a rule, not baked. Carts and kiosks sell these sesame rings every morning in Thessaloniki and every large Greek city, and people eat them walking to work or school. The city in the name is where the baking has old roots, back to Ottoman times. Eat them the day they are made.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skip the syrup dip. This is what makes the sesame seeds stick properly to the dough. Sprinkling seeds onto dry dough leaves half of them falling off during baking.
Make Sesame Bread Ring7. Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup
Tarator · Ταράτορ · tah-rah-TOR
Tzatziki turned into a soup. Thick yogurt is thinned with cold water, then cucumber, dill, garlic and crushed walnuts go in, and nothing is cooked. It belongs to Greek Thrace and the wider Balkans, for the hottest days of summer. The walnuts are what stop it tasting like watered-down yogurt.
Yiayia’s tip: Start with cold yogurt. A soup that begins warm never quite recovers the same refreshing chill, even after time in the fridge.
Make Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup8. Macedonian Stuffed Cabbage Leaves
Giaprakia Thessalonikis · Γιαπράκια Θεσσαλονίκης · yah-PRAH-kyah theh-sah-loh-NEE-kis
Vine leaves are only fit for rolling for part of the year. This is Thessaloniki's answer for the rest of it: blanched cabbage leaves around rice and minced meat, simmered gently and finished with avgolemono. A winter dish, and part of the stuffed cabbage tradition found across the Balkans.
Yiayia’s tip: Trim the thick central rib. This is what lets each cabbage leaf fold and roll without tearing.
Make Macedonian Stuffed Cabbage Leaves9. Semolina Syrup Cake
Ravani · Ραβανί · rah-vah-NEE
The syrup cake to start with if the technique makes you nervous. A sponge of semolina and flour with citrus zest, it has a lighter crumb than karydopita or portokalopita, and it is tied most closely to the north. One rule counts: cold syrup onto the hot cake. Then give it an hour before cutting.
Yiayia’s tip: Whisk the eggs and sugar properly. A genuine five minutes to pale, thick and tripled in volume is what gives ravani its lighter, more cake-like crumb compared with denser semolina cakes.
Make Semolina Syrup Cake10. Tripe Soup
Patsas · Πατσάς · pah-TSAHS
The soup of the small hours. It is ordered late, after a long night out, at the few tavernas still open. Tripe simmers for hours until tender and the broth turns rich and gelatinous. It is finished with avgolemono stirred through, or with ladoxido, a sharp sauce of garlic and vinegar, spooned over each bowl.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skip the initial blanch. It removes much of tripe's strong initial smell before the long, main simmer, giving a considerably cleaner finished broth.
Make Tripe Soup11. Grilled Manouri Cheese with Honey
Manouri me meli · Μανούρι με μέλι · mah-NOO-ree meh MEH-lee
The cheese is the reason this works. Manouri, which comes mainly from Thessaly and Macedonia, is soft and mild, closer to a very firm ricotta than to feta or halloumi, and a saltier cheese would fight the honey. It gets a brief, hot sear, then honey and toasted sesame. Meze with drinks, or dessert.
Yiayia’s tip: Handle the cheese gently. Manouri is soft and can break apart if pushed around the pan too roughly. A wide spatula and a light touch keep the slices intact.
Make Grilled Manouri Cheese with Honey12. Thessaloniki Baked Feta with Peppers
Bougiourdi · Μπουγιουρντί · boo-yoor-DEE
Practically every ouzeri in Thessaloniki has this on the menu. Feta is layered with tomato, green pepper and plenty of hot chilli in a small clay dish. The name is Turkish in origin and means branded or burnt, so the top should catch and blister. Without the heat it is only a baked feta.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not add salt. Feta brings all the salt this dish needs and then some. Season with pepper and oregano only, and taste before you consider anything else.
Make Thessaloniki Baked Feta with Peppers13. Stuffed Florina Peppers
Piperies Florinis gemistes · Πιπεριές Φλωρίνης γεμιστές · pee-peh-ree-ES floh-REE-nees yeh-mee-STES
The red pepper of Florina, in Greek Macedonia, is thin-walled, sweeter than a bell pepper and less bitter. Filled with feta and herbs and baked, it makes a meze of two or three bites. Good jarred roasted Florina peppers are a respected shortcut, not a compromise. The feta is salty already, so taste before salting.
Yiayia’s tip: Handle roasted peppers gently. They are delicate and tear easily once skinned. Support each one in your hand while spooning in the filling.
Make Stuffed Florina Peppers14. Northern Greek Cod with Leeks
Bakaliaros me prasa · Μπακαλιάρος με πράσα · bah-kah-lee-AH-ros meh PRAH-sah
Not the fried, battered salt cod that comes with skordalia. This is the northern way, from Macedonia: the same cod braised in a light tomato sauce with so many leeks that they are nearly an equal partner. A winter dish, closer to a stew. The cod needs a day or two of soaking.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the leek soften. A genuine fifteen minutes over low heat turns them sweet enough to carry half the dish. Rushed leeks stay sharp and slightly bitter.
Make Northern Greek Cod with Leeks15. Fried Batzos Cheese from Macedonia
Saganaki me batzo · Σαγανάκι με μπάτζο · sah-gah-NAH-kee meh BAH-dzoh
The cheese is what makes this saganaki Macedonian. Batzos has protected origin status, is made across Macedonia and Thessaly from cow and sheep's milk, and has a tang the milder kefalotyri and graviera lack. Fried, it comes out sharper and more pungent, and stands up well to the lemon.
Yiayia’s tip: Watch the heat closely. The flour coating can burn quickly at the temperature this dish needs. Do not walk away while it fries.
Make Fried Batzos Cheese from Macedonia16. Boiled Goat Soup
Gida vrasti · Γίδα βραστή · YEE-tha vrah-STEE
This northern mountain soup exists for a practical reason: a goat too old to milk roasts badly and boils very well. It gets three hours with little but onions, carrots, celery and potatoes. The clear broth goes into bowls with a lot of lemon, and the meat is served apart, which makes two courses.
Yiayia’s tip: Start in cold water, twice. Cold water draws the flavour out of the bones gradually. Starting in hot water seals the surface and gives a weaker broth, which defeats the point of a three hour simmer.
Make Boiled Goat Soup17. Tsipouro Serving Guide
Tsipouro · Τσίπουρο · TSEE-poo-roh
A strong, clear spirit made from what winemaking leaves behind: the skins, stems and seeds after pressing. It is the mainland's counterpart to Crete's tsikoudia. Unlike ouzo it takes no water, only ice or nothing at all, and tastes fuller and earthier for it. Some, from Tyrnavos especially, carry anise and come closer to ouzo.
Yiayia’s tip: Serve with real food, not alone. Tsipouro is genuinely built to be drunk alongside a spread of small mezedes, particularly in Thessaly and Epirus, where the two are considered inseparable.
Make Tsipouro Serving Guide
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