Albania

A rich, multi-layered filo pastry filled with finely chopped nuts, bound and soaked in a sweetened syrup of honey, sugar, or both, yielding a dense, sticky, fragrant confection served in small diamond or square portions.

A Balkan savory pastry of paper-thin filo sheets layered with oil or butter and filled with spinach-and-white-cheese, minced meat, or leek, then baked or fried until flaky and golden.

A quick bread or unleavened loaf in which stone-ground or coarse cornmeal is the primary—and often sole—flour, baked in a skillet, pan, or wood-fired oven to produce a dense-to-crumbly crumb with pronounced corn flavor and a crisped exterior crust.

A baked Albanian casserole of gjizë (fresh curd cheese) or veal offal slow-cooked with roasted peppers, tomatoes, and olive oil until unified into a thick, bubbling, golden-surfaced mass.

An Albanian braised stew of spring lamb cooked slowly with vegetables and herbs into a tender, savory dish.

An Albanian stew of dried white beans slow-cooked with onion, tomato and generous olive oil until the beans turn soft, creamy and lightly thickened.

An Albanian savoury pie of thin pastry or cornmeal-and-flour layers filled with wild greens, leeks or cheese and traditionally baked under embers or on a hot stone (saç).

A slow-boiled Albanian soup of lamb's or sheep's head and trotters, yielding a rich gelatinous broth finished with garlic and vinegar.

A grain dish — most commonly long-grain rice — in which the raw grains are first toasted in fat to coat each kernel, then cooked to completion by absorption of a precise, measured volume of hot seasoned stock, yielding separate, fluffy, non-sticky grains.

Grilled minced-meat patties of lamb and beef seasoned with onion, mint, and dried spices, eaten across Albania and the wider Balkans.

A clear, high-proof Balkan fruit brandy distilled from grape pomace or other fruit, traditionally home-made and offered as the opening gesture of hospitality.

Sheqerpare are soft semolina-enriched shortbread cookies baked golden and soaked in sugar syrup until tender and moist, each typically topped with a single nut.

Albanian bell peppers hollowed and stuffed with a seasoned mixture of rice, minced meat, and herbs, then baked until tender.

A whole young lamb slowly turned and roasted on an open wood-fire spit until the skin is crisp and the meat tender, a celebratory Albanian and Balkan feast dish.

An Albanian street-food wrap of döner-style grilled meat rolled in thin pita with cabbage, tomato, and a garlicky yogurt sauce.

An Albanian baked casserole of lamb covered with a tangy yogurt-and-egg custard that sets golden in earthenware, originating in Elbasan.

Tavë Kosi is an Albanian baked dish of lamb pieces and rice submerged in a thickened full-fat yogurt-egg custard and cooked in an earthenware vessel until the custard sets and forms a golden, slightly tangy crust.

A thick, tangy Balkan soup made by simmering dried fermented wheat-and-yogurt (or milk) granules into a porridge-like broth.

A light sponge cake soaked in a mixture of three milks and crowned with a caramel cream topping, a Balkan and Turkish take on tres leches.