Balkan Culinary Battle: 3 Countries and Their Meatball Battles

Are you aware of the fact that the Balkan people use to have around 300-400 types of meatball recipes?! In fact, this food is popular all over the world, but it appears in so many different variations…However, the Balkans is leading the ranking lists when it comes to culinary battles. To be honest, we don’t think there’s any need of classification. Isn’t the true pleasure of food what matters, after all? OK, if we suppose there should be some kind of differentiation, that’s definitely job for the food experts. Let’s see our ‘non-professional’ comments on 3 countries and their meatball battles, shall we? Keep reading!

1. Greece

Keftedes, soutzoukakia or yuvarlakia, however you name it, it’s always meatballs! Greeks are like the Venetians of the Balkans, so to say. Their traditional meatball recipe is known as ‘keftedes’. Just like any other Balkan country, they use pork or veal and mix it with chopped onion, red pepper powder, bread-crumbs, egg and parsley. There’s nothing new under the sun so far! What makes Greek’s recipe so special are the spices. Peppermint, cumin, nutmeg and the secret one…white wine. Soutzoukakia are meatballs with lots of cumin, oregano and onion. These are usually grilled and most people serve them in tomato sauce. Yuvarlakia meatballs, on the other side, include rice. You might be stunned by the sauce here! It contains olive oil, lemon and peppermint. Yummy!

2. Serbia

Of course, what would Serbia be without grilled meatballs and rissole (kebapche)?! It’s actually where this ‘culture’ all started…Ever heard of a restaurant called “Serbian Grill”? There are thousands of these, not only just in Serbia, though! What we need to say here is that Serbian people know how to make high quality grill. They tend to use good meat and, unlike Greeks, they don’t like to cook with lots of spices. They say spices make the meat’s aftertaste fade away.

3. Romania

Romanians have somewhat specific understanding of the food, as a whole. Of course, they also like meatballs with plenty of onion and tasty meat. However, they like to put bean puree inside the meatballs before they cook them. What’s more, do you know what people serve this food with? Feta. Strange, huh? If we give it a thought, it’s Greeks who should like it with feta, not Romanians, right?! Which type of meatballs would you choose to try first? Drop us a comment down below! Expect more interesting stuff on our Blog! White vs. Whole-Wheat Flour: 3 Main Differences 5 Things that Make Mussels a Healthy Food Best Types of Tea for Everyone’s Individual Needs