| Cooking varies wildly in the Aegean (some areas, | | | | misnomer-today, the little cylinders are seldom |
| such as Mytilini, are marked by a distinctly Eastern | | | | preserved in olive oil. When the cylinders age to |
| palate), but Greek island food is generally simple, | | | | the point where their moisture content falls below |
| its flavours clean and pure. Sun-baked capers, | | | | 40 per cent, they are now most often sealed in |
| fresh fish, sea sprayed herbs, a surprisingly large | | | | paraffin. |
| array of goat's-milk cheeses and original cured | | | | Cheese shops and butchers in Mytilini Town do still |
| meats are basic, and typical, ingredients. | | | | sell ladhotyri that has not been sealed, but neither |
| Mytilini is famous for ouzo and good mezedes to | | | | has it been dipped in oil. The cheese is aged until |
| accompany it, and king among them is the sardine | | | | ready for dipping, then sold to those ever-fewer |
| known as papalina. About 100 tons of these fish | | | | cooks who take it home and place it themselves |
| are harvested annually from the Gulf of Kalloni - | | | | in a jar of olive oil. |
| their wide, flat tins are stacked next to a pyramid | | | | Most ladhotyri comes from the mountain village of |
| of ouzo bottles in nearly every shop on the island. | | | | Mantamados, on the north side of the island. |
| Papalina is the consummate Mediterranean fish. | | | | The Aegean islands-in particular the |
| Extremely sweet, and oilier than most, it is salted | | | | Cyclades-produce some unusual cured meats. |
| for only a day to keep it juicy and virtually raw. | | | | Chief among them is louza. Originally from Syros, |
| Served as it is, barely salted, it is an oddity in a | | | | Tinos, Andros and Mykonos, it now dangles |
| place where fish is generally preferred | | | | outside butchers' shops only on Syros and Tinos. |
| well-cooked. | | | | Louza is pork loin or tenderloin that has been |
| Most of the Aegean's many cheeses are made | | | | salted, rolled in peppercorns, allspice, cloves and |
| with goat's milk like they were in Homer's time. | | | | cinnamon, marinated in wine, enveloped in |
| But European Union legislation has not been kind to | | | | intestine, sprinkled with pepper and hung to dry |
| raw-milk farmhouse cheese, and many traditional | | | | for about two months. It is cut into thin slices and |
| recipes will soon go the way of the dinosaur. | | | | sometimes cooked in omelettes. |
| Hopefully, touloumi - skin - aged goat's cheese | | | | Among the more interesting of the many |
| -and ladhotyri, Mytilini's legendary 'oil cheese', will | | | | sausages found in the Cyclades are the pork |
| survive. | | | | sausages spiced with fennel on Syros and Tinos |
| To the uninitiated, the sight of a 50-kilo goat skin | | | | and skordholoukaniko, a pork sausage seasoned |
| spread inside out, belly up and bulging with chunks | | | | with garlic and sweet wine. |
| of soft, white cheese is surprising at best. But | | | | One of the Aegean's oldest recipes is for sissira, a |
| touloumi, for all its eye-popping presentation, is | | | | delicacy made from pork remnants. Leftover |
| one of the oldest cheeses in Greece. According to | | | | meat and bits of rendered fat are stuffed into a |
| some sources, it is the forerunner of feta. Named | | | | pig's stomach (often with sauteed onion), boiled, |
| after the goat skin in which it is aged, the cheese | | | | weighed down and kept for several months. The |
| is rich and pleasantly sour. Ikaria, Samos and | | | | resulting mass is cut into thin slices and eaten in |
| Mytilini all produce touloumi - on each island its | | | | spring, usually around Easter. Like |
| flavour is distinct. | | | | skordholoukaniko, sissira is found exclusively in |
| Ladhotyri, the name of Mytilini's sweet, yellow, | | | | private homes. |
| delicious 'oil cheese', has become a | | | | |