How to Make Greek Moussaka, Part 1

Hi, I'm Tanya Steel, Editor-in-Chief of epicurious.com,

and you're watching Around the World in 80 Dishes.

Today, we're doing the cuisines of Greece.

We're making moussaka with my friend

from The Culinary Institute of America,

Chef Mike Skibitcky,

also known to me, and to many, as Chef Ski.

Hello.

Hello.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

Well, you know, moussaka's something

that I grew up loving because one of our family friends,

Leah Phlakos, was from Greece,

and she used to make me moussaka as a little girl.

So, this to me, is something that is very

kind of warm and comforting.

It's a delicious creamy dish,

and it's something very traditional from Greece,

is that correct?

Absolutely.

They say that originally it came from Asia Minor,

but the Greeks would call it theirs forever.

You would have to do some serious history studying.

That's right. I would suspect the ancient Greece,

you know, has some moussaka.

So, what do we do first? We do the eggplant?

We salted the eggplants first.

And we salted them to get the bitterness out.

Slice them about a quarter inch,

little salt on both sides,

and we have softened them 20 minutes,

the water came out.

We've dried them.

And now we're just gonna fry them

until it lightly brown both sides,

it'll be about half cooked, in a little olive oil.

Okay, so I'm gonna put these in the oil.

So, what we're looking for is just

until they're lightly browned?

A little color on both sides, yeah.

And then we're gonna drain them.

Let me get the tongs for you.

Okay.

Wanna try and turn those over?

Thank you. Yes.

Oh, perfect, look at that.

Yeah, beautiful.

Just a little hint of color.

Oops.

And that speed is good. It's gonna go fast.

I would say a hint more color on both sides, yeah.

Okay. I'm gonna turn this guy over.

Yeah. And that got a little brown flavor.

That caramelization is actually the sugars in the veg.

Yeah.

How about we take that guy out?

Yep.

Perfect.

Okay.

Try the other guy. Flip him over a second.

Couple seconds on the other side.

All right.

Beautiful. You can shut him off.

Yep.

Count to five.

Uno, dos, tres, I wonder how you say, in Greek, five?

I have no idea.

I can't either.

The dishes are very hard to pronounce,

let alone counting.

That's right.

Okay, so we let that sit

while we make our meat sauce?

Yes.

Okay.