Albanian cuisine is a Mediterranean blend influenced by Italian and Turkish flavors, featuring a variety of meats, seafood, and fresh vegetables primarily sourced from local farmers' markets. Key dishes include gjellë (stews), tavë kosi (baked lamb and rice), and diverse appetizers like meze platters and stuffed vegetables such as dolma. The cuisine also encompasses a wide range of desserts, drinks like rakia, and traditional breads, highlighting the rich cultural and agricultural heritage of Albania.

1. Albanian Cuisine
BY
Rodz Alair

2. What Is Albanian Cuisine
• The cuisine of Albania is Mediterranean, influenced by many including Italian
and Turkish cooking. Albanian cuisine is characterized by the use of spices such
as black pepper and Mediterranean herbs such as oregano, mint, basil, rosemary
and more in cooking meat and fish, but also chilli pepper and garlic. Olive oil and
butter are a main ingredient in dishes.
• Meat (lamb, beef, chicken, pork and rabbit) is used heavily in dishes in most of
the country. Seafood specialties are also common in the coastal cities such as
Durrës, Vlorë, Shkoder, Lezhe and Sarandë.
• Vegetables are used in almost every dish. Usually, Albanian farmers grow every
vegetable present in the Mediterranean region and sell them at the local farmers'
market. Vegetables are bought fresh at the farmers' market early in the morning,
which is open every day.
• The main meal of the Albanians is lunch, which usually consists of gjellë (stew),
the main dish of slowly cooked meat with various vegetables, and a salad of fresh
vegetables, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, and olives. The salad is
dressed with salt, olive oil, vinegar and/or lemon juice.

3. Appetizers
• Wheat Bread (Bukë gruri) or corn bread (Bukë misri) are
ever-present on the Albanian table. Hence the expression
for "going to eat a meal" (Albanian: për të ngrënë bukë)
can be literally translated as "going to eat bread.“
• Stuffed Peppers(green peppers stuffed with rice, meat,
other vegetables and herbs)

4. Appetizers
• Albanian-style meze platters that include prosciutto ham,
salami and brined cheese, accompanied with roasted bell
peppers (capsicum) and/or green olives marinated in
olive oil with garlic or onions.
• Papare: bread leftovers cooked with water, egg, and Gjize
(a special type of Cottage cheese)

5. Salads
• Potato salad is a dish made from boiled potatoes that comes in many
versions in different regions of the world. Though called a salad, it is
generally a side dish, as it usually accompanies the main course.
• Potato salad is often served with barbecue, roasts, hot dogs, fried chicken,
hamburgers and cold sandwiches. It is generally considered casual fare, and
as such is typically served at picnics, outdoor barbecues, potlucks and other
casual meals and events.
• It is a popular menu choice of cooks preparing food for a large number of
people, because it is easily made in large quantities, it can be prepared in
advance and refrigerated until needed, and requires inexpensive ingredients.

6. Salads
• Salad is a popular ready-to-eat dish often containing a mixture of leafy vegetables,
usually served chilled or at a moderate temperature and often served with a sauce or
dressing. Salads may also contain ingredients such as fruit, grain, meat, seafood and
sweets. Though many salads use raw ingredients, some use cooked ingredients.
• Most salads are served cold, although some, such as south German potato salad, are
served warm. Some consider the warmth of a dish a factor that excludes it from the
salad category calling the warm mixture a casserole, a sandwich topping or more
specifically, name it for the ingredients which comprise it.
• Leafy vegetable salads are generally served with a dressing, as well as various
garnishes such as nuts or croutons, and sometimes with meat, fish, pasta, cheese, eggs,
or whole grains.

7. Salads
Other Salads in Albanian CuisineOther Salads in Albanian Cuisine
•Bean salad
•Cabbage salad
•Tomato and pepper salad

8. Soups
• Tarator, Tarathor or Taratur (Bulgarian: таратор, Turkish: tarator,
Macedonian: таратур, Serbian: таратор), is a traditional Balkan
dish. It is a cold soup (or a liquid salad), popular in the summertime
in Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Albania, southeastern
Serbia, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and in Cyprus (where it is
known as Ttalattouri). It is made of yogurt, cucumber, garlic, walnut,
dill, vegetable oil, and water, and is served chilled or even with ice.
Local variations may replace yogurt with water and vinegar, omit
nuts or dill, or add bread. The cucumbers may on rare occasions be
replaced with lettuce or carrots. Turkish tarator is completely
different from the Balkan tarator as is the Turkish tarator which is
based on tahini not yoghurt. How such different dishes came to share
a name has as yet no explanation.

9. Soups
• Tarhana (Turkish), 'Kishk' in Arabic, Tarkhana (Armenian ),թարխանա trahanas (Greek
τραχανάς) or (xyno)hondros ((ξυνό)χονδρος), tarkhineh, tarkhāneh, tarkhwāneh
(Persian ‫ترخوانه‬ ،‫ترخانه‬ ،‫,)ترخینه‬Tarxane (Kurdish), trahana (Albanian), трахана/тархана
(Bulgarian), tarana/тарана (Bosnian, Serbian), kishk (Egypt), or kushuk (Iraq) are
names for a dried food based on a fermented mixture of grain and yoghurt or
fermented milk, usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk (Persian ash-
e tarkhineh dugh ‫دوغ‬ ‫ترخینه‬ ‫.)آش‬ As it is both acid and low in moisture the milk proteins
keep for long periods. Tarhana is very similar to some kinds of kishk.
• The Turkish tarhana consists of cracked wheat (or flour), yoghurt, and vegetables
fermented then dried. The Greek trahana contains only cracked wheat or a cous cous-
like paste and fermented milk. In Cyprus, it is considered a national specialty, and is
often served with pieces of haloumi cheese in it.
• Like many other foodstuffs which originated from the need to preserve food—cured
ham, smoked fish,and the like—tarhana soup is often eaten as a matter of taste and
choice where fresh food is abundant and refrigeration available.

10. Soups
Other Soups That is Available in Albanian Cuisine
•Bean Jahni soup
•Potato and cabbage soup
•Soup with lemon

11. Fish
• Oven-baked trout (or Ohrid trout) with onions and
tomatoes
• Baked fish with olive oil and garlic
• Baked carp or eel

12. Meat
• Tavë kosi is a national dish in Albania. It is a simple dish
of baked lamb and rice, served with a yogurt sauce.
• Paçe - This dish is common throughout the country and it
is traditionally popular in Albania. Paçe is made with a
sheep's, pig's or any cattle's head, boiled until meat comes
off easily. It is then stewed with garlic, onion, black
pepper, and vinegar. Sometimes a little flour is added to
thicken the stew. It makes a hot and hearty winter stew.

13. Meat
• veal or chicken with walnuts
• Fërgesë of Tirana with veal
• Fried meatballs or Qofte të fërguara.
• Kolloface Korçe
• Veal with very large lima beans

14. Meat
• Harapash, which is polenta with the intestines of lamb,
butter, cheese and corn flour

15. Vegetables
• Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Middle
East and surrounding regions including Balkans, the Caucasus,
Russia, Central Asia . Common vegetables to stuff include tomato,
pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant, and garlic. Grape or cabbage
leaves wrapped around a filling are called 'sarma', but are also often
called 'dolma' or 'yaprak dolma' (Долма:Russian Translation) The
stuffing may or may not include meat. Meat dolmas are generally
served warm, often with egg-lemon or garlic yogurt sauce; meatless
ones are generally served cold. Stuffed vegetables are also common
in the Italian cuisine, where they are named ripieni ("stuffed").

16. Vegetables
• The leek is a vegetable that belongs, along with onion
and garlic, to the genus Allium, currently placed in
family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae.[1]
Historically many scientific names were used for leeks,
which are now treated as cultivars of Allium
ampeloprasum.[2] Two related vegetables, elephant
garlic and Kurrat, are also cultivars of A. ampeloprasum,
although different in their uses as food.

17. Vegetables
• Fërgesë of Tirana with peppers
• Peppers stuffed with rice, meat and vegetables
• Stuffed aubergines with cheese

18. Pies
• Börek (also burek and other variants) is a family of baked filled pastries
made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo (or yufka). It can be filled with
cheese, often feta, sirene or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables. It was most
probably invented in what is now modern Turkey, in the Anatolian
Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in its early era, to become a popular
element of Ottoman cuisine. A börek may be prepared in a large pan and cut
into portions after baking, or as individual pastries. The top of the börek is
often sprinkled with sesame seeds.
• Börek is also very popular in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire,
especially in North Africa and throughout the Balkans. The Southern Slavic
cuisines, historically developed by people living in close contact with the
Turkic peoples of Asia and Europe, also feature derivatives of the börek.
Börek is also part of Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish traditions. They have
been enthusiastically adopted by the Ottoman Jewish communities, and have
been described, along with boyos de pan and bulemas, as forming "the trio
of preeminent Ottoman Jewish pastries".

19. Pies
• Flia, also known as Fli or Flija, is a traditional meal that
is usually prepared in Kosovo and Albania.
• March 18 is recognized as "Flia Day" in which families
invite their relatives for preparing and eating Flia.

20. Pies
• Kungullur — Pastry layers filled with mashed pumpkin,
butter, salt and sugar
• Bakllasarëm — A traditional food prepared in Kosovo
and Albania: it's layered pie also known as "pite" or
"pita" (Byrek) without anything inside, which is covered
with yogurt and garlic, and then heated again. It is eaten
for lunch.

21. Desserts
• Halva refers to many types of dense, sweet confections, served across the Middle East,
South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Balkans,
Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Malta and the Jewish world.
• Flour-based – This type of halva is slightly gelatinous and made from grain flour,
typically semolina. The primary ingredients are clarified butter, flour, and sugar.
• Nut-butter-based – This type of halva is crumbly and usually made from tahini (sesame
paste) or other nut butters, such as sunflower seed butter. The primary ingredients are
nut butter and sugar.
• Halva may also be based on numerous other ingredients, including sunflower seeds,
various nuts, beans, lentils, and vegetables such as carrots, pumpkins, yams and
squashes
• Halva can be kept at room temperature with little risk of spoilage. However, during hot
summer months, it is better kept refrigerated, as it can turn runny after several days.

22. Desserts
• Basbousa is a sweet cake made of cooked semolina or farina soaked in
simple syrup. Coconut is a popular addition. The syrup may also optionally
contain orange flower water or rose water.
• It is found in the cuisines of the Eastern Mediterranean under a variety of
names. It appears to be a variant of the Egyptian dish ma'mounia.[citation
needed] In southern Greece, it is called ravani, while in the north, it is called
revani. It is a traditional dessert in Veria. Basbousa is often called "hareesa"
in the Maghreb, Alexandria, and Jordan.[citation needed] Basbousa is a
particularly popular dessert among Coptic Christians for fasts such as Great
Lent and the Nativity Fast as it is vegetarian.

23. Desserts
• Rice pudding is a dish made from rice mixed with water
or milk and sometimes other ingredients such as
cinnamon and raisins. Different variants are used for
either desserts or dinners. When used as a dessert, it is
commonly combined with a sweetener such as sugar.
Such desserts are found on many continents, especially
Asia where rice is a staple.

24. Desserts
• Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on a cooked mixture of
milk or cream and egg yolk. Depending on how much egg or thickener is
used, custard may vary in consistency from a thin pouring sauce (crème
anglaise) to a thick pastry cream (crème pâtissière) used to fill éclairs. Most
common custards are used as desserts or dessert sauces and typically include
sugar and vanilla. Custard bases may also be used for quiches and other
savory foods. Sometimes flour, corn starch, or gelatin is added as in pastry
cream or crème pâtissière.
• Custard is usually cooked in a double boiler (bain-marie), or heated very
gently in a saucepan on a stove, though custard can also be steamed, baked
in the oven with or without a water bath, or even cooked in a pressure
cooker. Custard preparation is a delicate operation, because a temperature
increase of 3-6 °C (5–10 °F) leads to overcooking and curdling. Generally, a
fully cooked custard should not exceed 80 °C (176 °F); it begins setting at
70 °C (158 °F).[1] A water bath slows heat transfer and makes it easier to
remove the custard from the oven before it curdles.

25. Desserts
• Kabuni is a traditional Albanian dessert[1][2] Kabuni is
made of rice fried in butter, mutton broth (ram's neck
only), raisins (rinsed first in warm water), a little bit of
salt and then boiled. Then, the sugar, cinnamon and
ground cloves are added. Kabuni is served cold.

26. Desserts
• Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo
filled with chopped nuts and sweetened and held together
with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of
the former Ottoman Empire, but is also found in Central
and Southwest Asia.

27. Drinks
• Mineral water is one of the most preferred non-alcoholic drinks in
Albania, along with carbonated beverages. Some of these are
produced locally and some are imported.
• Boza, also bosa (from Turkish: boza, is a popular fermented
beverage in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Albania, Bulgaria,
Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, parts of Romania,
Serbia, and Ukraine. It is a malt drink made from maize (corn) and
wheat in Albania, fermented wheat in Turkey and wheat or millet in
Bulgaria and Romania. It has a thick consistency and a low alcohol
content (usually around 1%), and a slightly acidic sweet flavor.

28. Drinks
• Rakia is a popular alcoholic beverage in Southeast
Europe produced by distillation of fermented fruits. The
alcohol content of rakia is normally 40% ABV, but
home-produced rakia can be stronger (typically 50% to
80%). Rakia is widely considered to be а national drink
of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia,
Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.

29. Drinks
• Cognac - named after the town of Cognac in France, is a variety of brandy. It
is produced in the wine-growing region surrounding the town from which it
takes its name, in the French Departements of Charente and Charente-
Maritime.
• For a distilled brandy to bear the name Cognac, an Appellation d'origine
contrôlée, its production methods must meet certain legal requirements. In
particular, it must be made from specified grapes (see below), of which Ugni
blanc, known locally as Saint-Emilion, is the one most widely used. The
brandy must be twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged at least two years
in French oak barrels from Limousin or Tronçais. Cognac matures in the
same way as whiskies and wine when aged in barrels, and most cognacs are
aged considerably longer than the minimum legal requirement.

30. Drinks
• Carbonated and mineral waters
• Milk
• Yogurt (Kos)
• Mountain Tea (Çaj Mali)
• Various fruit juices and soft drinks
• Albanian buttermilk (Dhallë)
• Beer (local Birra Tirana, and Birra Korça)
• Albanian wine