Moussaka

Moussaka is layers of fried aubergine, potato and spiced minced lamb baked under a golden bechamel crust. It is Greece's great baked casserole, built in a deep tray and cut into squares rather than served spoon by spoon. The name itself is Arabic in origin — from musaqqa'a, meaning roughly "chilled" — and layered aubergine dishes under related names turn up across the whole former Ottoman world; the bechamel crust that defines this Greek version specifically is a documented addition from the 1920s, when the chef Nikolaos Tselementes folded French technique into the older regional dish.

What it really is

Aubergine and potato are sliced and fried until soft before they ever go near the oven — that step is not optional, since raw vegetable layers would leave the finished dish watery. Minced lamb is browned with onion, cinnamon and tomato and spread over the fried slices, and the whole tray is finished with a thick bechamel poured on top and baked until the surface sets pale gold.

It rests before it's cut. A tray sliced straight from the oven collapses into sauce; given twenty minutes, the layers hold and each square keeps its shape on the plate.

How it is served

• Cut into squares from the baking tray, warm rather than straight from the oven.
• As a main course, usually with nothing more than bread and a simple salad alongside.
• Often the next day, reheated — many Greek kitchens rate a rested moussaka above a fresh one.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag gluten, dairy and egg; the bechamel carries all three, and the meat layer carries none of them on its own.
• Say if a vegetable-only version is on offer — courgette and aubergine layered without the lamb is a common substitution.
• Mention that it is baked to order or held and reheated; both are traditional, but guests read them differently.