Sunday, February 16/2025

Have long enjoyed kleftiko in Cyprus, in both North and South though more frequently in the South. In the North it’s called fırın kebab, literally oven kebab, though suspect any restaurant would recognise it by the Greek name kleftiko. But you can’t just walk into a restaurant in either place and order it. Most restaurants don’t feature it and those that do tend to have it on limited occasions, such as Sundays only, because it takes several hours to cook, traditionally in a beehive shaped outdoor oven. After which it should be almost butter soft.

Didn’t know that the Greek word kleftiko means stolen meat. Apparently dates back to the Ottoman days when Greek guerilla fighters would steal a grazing goat or sheep and bury it underground to hide it. Slow cooked in an underground pit it was delicious. (Have had both sheep and goat and both are excellent). The rebels were called Klephts and have lent their name to both kleftiko and kleptomania.

Seem to remember a similar story about theft and underground roasting in Scotland, although there cattle theft was at least as big an issue and not only in the Highlands, where for centuries some made a living stealing each other’s cattle, undeterred even by the death penalty for perpetrators.