CUISINE

Georgian national cuisine is notable for an abundance of all possible kinds of meat, fish and vegetable hors d'oeuvres, various sorts of cheese, pickles and pungent seasonings, the only ones of their kind.

A guest invited to the Georgian table is first of all offered to eat the golden-brown Khachapuri which is a thin pie filled with mildly salted cheese; then he is asked to try Lobio (kidney bean) (ripened of fresh green beans) which nearly in every family is cooked according to its own recipes; stewed chicken in a garlic sauce; small river fish Tsotskhali cooked when it is still alive; sheet-fish in vinegar with finely chopped fennel; Lori, a sort of ham; Muzhuzhi, boiled and soaked in vinegar pig's legs; cheese Sulguni roasted in butter, pickled aubergines and green tomatoes which are filled with the walnut paste seasoned with vinegar, pomegranate grains and aromatic herbs; the vegetable dish Pkhali made of finely chopped beet leaves or of spinach mixed with the walnut paste, pomegranate grains and various spices. In East Georgia you will be offered wheaten bread baked on the walls of Tone, which is a large cylinder-like clay oven, resembling a jar, while in West Georgia you will be treated to hot maize scones (Mchadi) baked on clay frying-pans Ketsi.

 Lovers of soups will be delighted with the fiery rice and mutton soup Kharcho, the tender chicken soup Chikhirtma with eggs whipped in vinegar and the transparent light meat broth flavored with garlic, parsley and fennel. 

Even the most experienced gourmand will not be able to resist the savoury Chizhi-pizhi, pieces of liver and spleen roasted in butter and whipped eggs; crisp chicken Tabaka served with the pungent sourish sauce Satsivi. The famous dishes include the melting-in-the-mouth sturgeon on a spit and sauce; the chicken sauce Chakhokhbili in a hot tomato and dressing; the Kakhetian dish Chakapuli made of young lamb in a slightly sourish juice of damson, herds and onion; roasted small sausages Kupati stuffed with finely chopped pork, beef and mutton mixed with red pepper and barberries.

Everyone in Georgia is fond of Khashi, a broth cooked from beef entrails: legs, stomach, udder, pieces of head, bones and lavishly seasoned with garlic.

Admirers of Khinkali - a sort of strongly peppered mutton dumplings, a favourite dish with the mountain dwellers of Georgia-keep growing in number. Like everywhere in the Caucasus, Mtsvadi (shashlik) is very popular in Georgia. Depending on a season, it is made of pork, mutton or spits aubergines stuffed with fat of tail and tomatoes.

 Refer to these website for recipes:www.georgiantaste.blogspot.com  

For more information please refer to:  info@tour-hunting-georgia.ge

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