Maltese cuisine

One of the pleasures of travel is the taste of different food served in different restaurants in different countries. In a certain way it is a gastronomic adventure. Photographs of different places visited recall the different dishes enjoyed during the holiday spent abroad.

This brings to the fore the question of the fare served in our restaurants. Very few indeed serve Maltese dishes. Indeed, the majority boast that they serve 'international cuisine'. Acting on the correctness of the initial statement, this is a self-admitted fault of the relevant establishment in not being 'patriotic' or 'nationalist' in its service. As if there is something to be ashamed of in serving food we are used to at home.

On the contrary, self-styled enterprising entrepreneurs boast of serving the best food possible based on international cuisine. As if there is any special credit in breaking with tradition by serving food cooked by foreign cooks!

There are two different schools of thought or, rather, of action - those who wish to pose as being original in advertising food cooked by a foreign chef in an exotic manner and the traditionalists who serve food in a typically Maltese way.

The traditionalist is the one who cooks in the manner he was used to. He takes pride in serving 'home-made food', carrying on the tradition of cooking in the Maltese manner.

It is a fact that the Mediterranean region produces the best ingredients which in turn produce the best cooking method, although it may be argued that most dishes resemble those of other countries since originally a particular dish may have been imported from the dominating country. Malta, for most of its history, was occupied by the nation which dominated the Mediterranean. Still, the main dishes are, in preparation, cooking and the resulting taste, as typically Maltese as they come.

Perhaps the most typical Maltese item of food is the loaf of bread. In the preparation of the dough, in shaping the loaf and in the actual baking it has an unmistakable Maltese character. Its crust is the most typical and sets it on its own as no other type of bread.

The Maltese loaf is unique in shape and taste. It has a very crispy crust and large sized aerated crumb. Bread forms a very important Maltese staple diet. This is because it has a special kind of taste. The way the Maltese loaf is shaped makes it typically different form any other type of bread. It is round with approximately one half slightly higher than the other since it is marked with the cut of the knife just before being put on the floor of the oven which is flagstone slab or limestone cangatura.

Although the ingredients of most dishes are similar to those of other Mediterranean countries it is the method of preparation and garnishing with different herbs that gives the dish that special appearance and taste.

A very typical Maltese dish is the timpana, which is baked macaroni in a pastry case. The method of making the pastry case is to roll out three quarters of the flaky or puff pastry to fit the bottom and sides of the baking dish. After putting in the macaroni mixture, the top is covered with the remaining pastry. The top is then brushed with milk or beaten egg and pierced all over with a fork.

Pastizzi is a typical Maltese snack. It is wrongly translated as cheesecakes because it has absolutely nothing to do with continental cheesecake.