Albanian cooking sits between the Mediterranean and the Balkans, with Italian and Ottoman layers on top. It is simple, dairy-heavy and cheap, and because the country is small the regional differences are sharp — the coast eats fish and olives, the mountains eat lamb, cheese and cornmeal.
The Albania travel guide: where to go and what to see →
Lamb baked with rice under a blanket of yoghurt and egg custard. The national dish, and richer than it sounds.
The yoghurt must be stabilised with egg or it splits in the oven, which is the whole technique. It is baked in a shallow clay dish and served in wedges, and the top should be browned and slightly set like a custard.
Layered filo pastry with cheese, spinach or meat, sold by the slice from bakeries all day. The cheapest meal in the country.
Albanian byrek is made with a dough rolled thin and brushed with oil, then coiled in a round tin rather than baked as a flat tray. The cheese version is gjizë or kaçkavall, and the spinach version adds egg.
A baked dish of peppers, tomato and cheese, sometimes with liver, cooked down until thick and served with bread.
The name means 'stewed down', and that is the method — the peppers and tomato are cooked until almost dry before the cheese goes on top. The Tirana version adds liver and is the one to order if you see it.
Grilled or fried minced-meat patties with herbs and onion, eaten with bread and salad.
They are shaped by hand into small flattened ovals and grilled over charcoal, or fried in the pan at home. The Albanian version is heavy on parsley and oregano, and they are often served with a yoghurt and garlic sauce.
Fried dough, eaten with honey or with cheese and jam. A breakfast and a fairground food.
The dough is a simple flour and water batter, fried in hot oil until it puffs. Savoury with cheese or sweet with honey are both standard, and they are eaten hot because they go leathery quickly.
A sponge cake soaked in milk and topped with caramel. Ubiquitous as a dessert, and Turkish in origin.
The cake is baked, then repeatedly soaked with a milk and cream mixture until it is heavy and wet. It arrived through Kosovo and Turkey and is now on every dessert menu in the country.
In the north, lamb roasted slowly and served with byrek and a hard sheep cheese. The best food in the country is inland.
The northern highlands cook lamb under a lid of coals — the same technique as jagnjetina ispod sača across the Balkans. The cheese alongside is usually a brined sheep cheese, and it is sharper than the coastal versions.
Grape or plum brandy, served cold in small glasses before a meal with cheese, olives and pickles.
Raki is the household drink and much of it is home-distilled, which makes the strength unpredictable. It is drunk before eating rather than with the food, and refusing the first glass is not really an option.
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