Greek

We've teamed up with chefs, cookbook authors, and our own Kitchn crew to share a globe-trotting adventure highlighting soups from across the globe.

Welcome to the Great Debates, where we consider the greatest nutritional controversies of our time. Our goal isn’t to tell you what to think or do, but rather to present both sides of hot-button issues, like coffee (is it good for you?) and breakfast (the most important meal of the day?). What’s being said? Who’s saying it? Then it’s up to you to make your own decisions. It’s not a secret that yogurt has been associated with a number of health benefits.

When I was little, I was obsessed with knowing my future. What would I become? How tall would I be? Where would I live? Who would I marry? My parents indulged my curiosity by allowing me to go to fortune tellers, buy crystal balls, and borrow books from the library on how to read palms. My father told me that when I was old enough to drink coffee, I could have a Kafedzou read my future. He explained to me that a Kafedzou is a Greek woman who knows how to read your fortune in a coffee cup.

You’re desperately craving Saturday morning pancakes, but the buttermilk in your fridge expired two weeks ago and you’re all out of milk. You do, however, have a tub of Greek yogurt — and, surprise! It can do the job just as well. Greek yogurt may be primarily a wholesome breakfast staple, but it’s also an incredible tool when it comes to baking. It can be used, just like other dairy products, to make moist and tender cakes, biscuits, breads, and more.

Béchamel might be the most versatile mother sauce — that class of sauces that are the backbone of classic French cooking — of all time. Made with milk, butter, and flour, it can become a gravy or a binder for casseroles, cheese sauces, and soufflés. And while it is arguably the easiest mother sauce to master, it is often the most maligned, being hastily made and suffering lumpiness as a result.

In comparison to a hardworking brine, marinades seems like a hard sell when it comes to flavoring and tenderizing meat and poultry. But there’s one option out there that’s a little different. Greek yogurt does more than simply flavor the surface of chicken. Thanks to its acidity — different from the kind you find in citrus or vinegar — it tenderizes the meat, keeping it juicy and never rubbery.

I believe one of the most valuable tools you can have in the refrigerator is a tub of Greek yogurt. It’s what I lean on most mornings for a quick and satisfying breakfast, but I know that it can also do so much more. I find myself reaching for it when I whip up lunch, dinner, and those in-between snacks, since it can be a swap-in for a number of ingredients. I never tire of the creamy, tangy flavor it brings to recipes.

Does yogurt go on your grocery list on autopilot? You don’t have specific plans for it, but you know it will at least get eaten with berries and granola. I’m guilty of this and find myself eating it with berries day after day until I’m bored to death. So I’m challenging myself to a better, non-boring week of breakfasts using that tub of yogurt. Here are a few ideas I’m going to try out. Take a look and see what inspires you too.

What do you think about when someone mentions Greek food? Gyros and souvlaki? Spanakopita? A Greek salad at your local diner? Just like any cuisine, there are a few ambassadors that pave the way, introducing us to the key flavors and ingredients that make that food special. Maybe gyros introduced you to cool and creamy tzatziki. Did that bite of spanakopita at your town’s Greek Festival start a life-long love affair ? (That’s how it happened for me).