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Pan-Fried White Brined Cheese (Saganaki)

Saganaki is a Greek or Greek-American dish consisting of a hard, white, brined cheese cooked simply with olive oil in a hot pan (traditionally a two-handed vessel whence the name of the dish), usually served with lemon. In American restaurants, it is sometimes flambeed with various liqueurs at the table. In Greece, it is a traditional dish to have both with liquor (as a meze) or at the beginning of the meal to whet the appetite.

Source and licence

"Pan-Fried White Brined Cheese (Saganaki)" from the Wikibooks Cookbook (https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Pan-Fried_White_Brined_Cheese_(Saganaki), revision 4613881), by its contributors (https://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=Cookbook:Pan-Fried_White_Brined_Cheese_(Saganaki)&action=history), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Read the original CC-BY-SA-4.0 Revision 4613881

What was changed: Reformatted by FoodByNation from the wiki page: ingredients and steps extracted, links and templates removed, diet notes detected from the ingredients. This adaptation is also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Ingredients

Method

  1. Heat a small frying pan over medium-high heat.
  2. While the pan heats, cut the cheese into slices of the desired size and thickness. Thicker slices will take longer to melt through and may result in burning, while thinner ones will have less chance to brown.
  3. Optionally, dredge the slices in flour—this will create a darker and slightly crispier crust, but is an optional step as the cheese will acquire a very slight crust on its own by virtue of the oil and high heat. It will also reduce the spitting somewhat.
  4. Add the oil to the hot pan and swirl it around. When the oil shimmers and seems to become more fluid, it is ready. Add the cheese and step back—it will spit due to the brine-water on the cheese.
  5. Flip the cheese after a minute or two. A slice of ¾ centimeter should get about 1–2 minutes per side.
  6. Serve immediately, with lemon and (optionally) bread.