Author Topic: kleftika  (Read 6848 times)

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Offline NORM&SANDY

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kleftika
« on: March 02, 2004, 10:07:44 PM »
Dimitri
still awaiting for you to explain the reasons behind the so called greek m
mealkleftika.
look forward to reading more about corfoit food and customs.
                            efharisto
                                         norm&sandy
 ps seen the pictures of you and your wife on holiday was it good skiing
or did you just sit there poseing.

Anonymous

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kleftika
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2004, 12:50:56 AM »
The origin of this dish, goes back to the Cypriot freedom fighters of the 19th.Century that lived in the mountain. They had to prepare their stolen meat, the Kleftiko, neither that some could smell it, nor that it could be seen. Though they baked it closed in special earthenware pottery, that they had buried under the ground.
 I had this beatiful dish in Cyprus, I'll have another when I visit Greece this year for the first time.

Apparently there are two spellings, Kleftiko & Kleftika, the former being food.

"Kleftika", means kleft-songs. "Kleft" means thief, and refers to the brave men that lived in the mountains during the Ottoman occupation, fighting their oppressors.

These songs originate from Parnassos, the south Peloponnese and Pindos and were youthful ones about fighting back, bravity, the klefts lonlieness and the solitude of shepherds.

To this day, just as then, the songs are sung "kathista", sitting around a table and they have certain rules:

• Each musical turn represents a textline and a half
• The beginning of the second textline is thus repeated twice
eg. "The young lad was yearning freedom, and he said
and he said, let's get together"
• Meaningless sounds and consonants are added in the lyrics
eg. lelele, dididamdamdididididam

Offline dimitris

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Kleftioko
« Reply #2 on: March 07, 2004, 01:10:59 AM »
That was an excellent description of Kleftiko this is what I insist telling my
Customers when they ask me why we do not do this meal in our Taverna.
The reason is that we are specialised in our local "Arillas cuisine" which has no records for Kleftico . Actually I had never heard of it.
It is though very often served in the Greek-Cypriot Restaurants in Great Britain.

However it came to Corfu with the demands of the British visitors and now it is established as a must for most of the local taverns that are visited mostly by tourists.
Never the less If you steal a lamb or a goat while you are in Arillas, then bring it to me and my father will cook it for you, according to the right traditional way. But remember' it has to be stolen.
Otherwise you cannot call it kleftiko.

Best Regards

Dimitris Kourkoulos
The Brouklis Taverna
Arillas 49081 Corfu
http://www.brouklis.com
Dimitris Kourkoulos
Brouklis Str 7
Arillas 49081
Corfu Greece
+30 26630 51418
www.arillas.com
Brouklis Taverna
The 10 things you don't know about Arillas


 

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