Bulgarian culinary traditions are old and various. The cuisine at EC Chiflika Chukurovo has rich menu which would satisfy the taste of every culinary art connoisseur.
Not all recipes included here are in the menu of Chukurovo Tavern but meals preparation using the described technologies would turn each table into a fest.
Autumn salad ˆ
Products: 1/4 kg of red cabbage, 1/4 kg of white cabbage, 2 stalks of leek, 4 carrots, a bunch of parsley, 2 spoonfuls of cooking oil, one spoonful of vinegar, salt
Cut the cabbage into slices and the leek into wheels. Grate the carrots on fine grater. Mix everything, salt according to your taste and squash it with hands. Sprinkle with the cut into small pieces parsley and spill with the mixture of vinegar and cooking oil mixed with fork till white.
Beans with groats •
Products: 500g of beans, 100g of groats (rice), 1 packet of butter, soup roots, onion, tomatoes, mint, parsley, salt
Leave the beans in water from the previous night. Boil it the next day at low temperature together with the soup roots and the onion. In 30 minutes add the tomatoes. The groats and the rice are fried separately in butter and poured into large baking dish. Add the beans with some of the water where boiled. Bake in strong pre-heated oven for 25 minutes. Before serving sprinkle with parsley and red pepper.
Pork with gumbo •
(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of St Atanas's Day)
Products: 1kg of pork, 100g of animal fat (cooking oil), 600g of dried gumbo, 2 spoonfuls of tomato paste, 2 onions, flour, salt.
Leave the gumbo in cold water for the night. Cut the meat into pieces and stew it in the fat (oil) together with the onion cut into small pieces till the latter gets pink. Clean the stalks of the gumbo and arrange them over the meat, salt and sprinkle it with hot water. Boil at low temperature. At the end add the tomato paste and the flour diluted in water. Leave the dish with the oil it was cooked in. Serve it with pepper at your desire.
Chicken mess •
"(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of Virgin Mary’s Day)
Products: 1 chicken, 100 g of butter, 200g of flour, 2 eggs, lemon.
Boil the chicken in salted water than fillet it and put it into thin flour mess prepared of the fried in butter flour and the soup from the meat. Boil the mess for 10 more minutes than add the stirred eggs. At the end add the lemon juice and sprinkle with pepper.
(It is obligatory on Virgin Mary's Day to eat water-melon and grapes for the first time)
Boiled mutton •
(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of St Dimitar's Day)
Products: 250g of mutton, 300g of knuckle, 100g of onion, 100g of tomatoes, 50g of carrots, celery, parsley, 2l of water, garlic, salt.
Soak the meat and the knuckle in cold water and boil them at low temperature as you regularly remove the foam. When the meat is almost done add the vegetables.
Fish dish •
(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of St Nicola's Day)
Products: 1kg of carp (sheat-fish, bluefish or some other fish), 1 kg of onions, 2 peppers, parsley, savory, 3 tomatoes, pepper, salt. For the dough: 1 glassful of yoghurt, a pinch of baking soda, 1 egg, 1 spoonful of cooking fat, flour
The washed and well-cleaned fish is slightly salted, add the products. Roll the dough out to a sheet bigger than the dish it will be baked in. Place it in greased large baking dish. Pour some oil on it and put half of the filling, the fish and the rest of the vegetable mixture. Roll the dough with the filling into a package, prick it all over with a fork and bake in strong oven.
Stuffed carp •
(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of St Nicola's Day)
Products: 1kg of carp, 1kg of onions, crushed small nuts, raisins, 2-3 tomatoes, savory, parsley, red pepper and pepper, a glassful of rice, salt
Slightly salt the washed and well-cleaned fish. Cut the onion into small pieces and stew it with the tomatoes, the rice, the spices, the nuts and the raisins. Fill the carp with the mixture and sew it. Place it in a greased large baking dish and bake in moderate oven. Pour it from time to time with oil.
Petrovsko chicken •
(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of St Peter’s Day)
Products: 1 chicken, 1 butter, red pepper and pepper, salt
Clean the chicken, wash it, sprinkle it with red pepper and pepper, and salt it from the inside and out. Put the butter in its tummy. Bake till red as you pour it with some water or beer.
Dappled round bread •
(the dish is suitable for the celebration table of the Annunciation Day)
Products: 1k of flour, 300g of milk, 10g of yeast, 1 spoonful of sugar, a pat of butter, a pinch of salt.
Dilute the yeast in some water, flour, sugar, leave it to rise well and then put it in the grated flour. Put the salt in the flour, as well. Put the slightly warmed milk till you get dough which should be kneaded well and shaped into a round bread. Place it into a greased large baking dish. Leave it to rise well and then “dapple” the bread with nuts and dried fruit and bake in moderate oven. Just before it’s ready spray some sweet water over it and finish baking.
ˆ the recipe is from the book by Dimitar Mantov – “Monastery Cuisine”
• the recipes are from the Illustrated Encyclopedia “Bulgarian Traditional calendar” issued by Bulgarian Academy of Science