Lukanka Meze Platter with Sirene and Rakia

Lukanka Meze Platter with Sirene and Rakia

Recipes with Lukanka

The canonical Bulgarian meze. A wooden board of thin-sliced lukanka next to white sirene cubes, ripe tomato wedges salted with summer savory, sliced cucumber, green olives, and torn bread, with a small glass of cold rakia to sip between bites. No cooking — the whole recipe is about cutting cleanly, plating loosely, and pacing the meal slowly. The way every Bulgarian dinner starts on a summer evening.

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

0 min

Servings

4

Difficulty

Easy

Ingredients

  • 250g Lukanka, at room temperature
  • 200g Bulgarian sirene cheese, in cubes
  • 3 ripe tomatoes, in thick wedges
  • 1 cucumber, sliced 1 cm
  • Handful green Bulgarian olives
  • 1 small red onion, in thin rings
  • Half a loaf of crusty bread, torn
  • Extra-virgin sunflower oil
  • 1 tsp dried summer savory (chubritsa)
  • Cold rakia, 4 small glasses

Steps

1

Take the lukanka out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving. Cold-from-the-fridge slices are rubbery; room-temperature ones bend.

2

Peel the casing from one half of the lukanka. Hold the knife at a 45-degree angle and slice thin, about 3 mm. The bias cut gives a longer oval slice with more surface.

3

Lay the slices in a fan across the centre of a wooden board, slightly overlapping.

4

Cube the sirene with a wet knife (it crumbles less). Arrange around the lukanka along with tomato wedges, cucumber slices, onion rings, and olives. Tear bread into rough pieces.

5

Drizzle the tomatoes and sirene with sunflower oil. Sprinkle the tomatoes with chubritsa. Pour the rakia into chilled small glasses.

6

Eat slowly. The pattern is: bite of lukanka, sip of rakia, bite of sirene with tomato, slow conversation, repeat. The meze is not a starter; it is the dinner. Mains can wait an hour.

Tips

If sirene is hard to find, use a fresh French feta — closer to Bulgarian sirene than aged Greek versions. Chubritsa (Satureja hortensis) is the indispensable Bulgarian seasoning; thyme is the rough substitute but loses the citrus note. Pace the rakia at one shot per twenty minutes — it's 40 percent alcohol.