On the eve of the Holy Apostles in Lindos, all the households made it lacana (Basin) and they ate it as a family day. The brothers introduced it to us Mavrikoi, Dimitris and Michalis, in their beautiful house in Lindos, as part of the tour made by the hotelier Maria Kambouraki in a group of journalists, in order to get to know Gastronomy and its sights Rhodes.

Lakani of Rhodes was the culmination of the homemade meal, which was preceded by small delicious appetizers, such as Rhodesian cheese, linden shrimp, shrimp pate, imam aubergines etc. Lakani stole our hearts both from its presentation, in the relevant utensil - the lakani (an impressively large ceramic bag) - and from its take-off taste, where it was beef with fat cooked 24 hours in the oven. One of the most beautiful flavors of traditional food I have ever tasted.

Looking back on the excellent book "Far Smell, the culinary heritage of Rhodes", of George Troumouchis and Costas Kapsanakis, where the gastronomic wealth of the island has been recorded in detail, we discover the following information in the entry Lakani.

“Lakani or Lekani: A food that we find in several villages of Rhodes with small variations, usually at Easter. In Lindos without chickpeas, in Siana only with porridge or thick, etc. The way of baking was the same everywhere, they put it in the wood oven from the previous night and sealed the oven door with mud to be baked until the next day. "

And here is the recipe for Rhodes lacana:

2 kilos of goat meat cut into pieces

2 cups tomato sauce

400 grams of chickpeas

300 grams thick

2 chopped onions

2 cups olive oil

2 cinnamon sticks

long smell (cumin)

Salt Pepper

The Mauritanian brothers obviously they cooked Lacan in the Linden version of meat with fat but they also added their touch, when in the oven together with the fat and the other ingredients (meat, onions, garlic, tomato, which had been fried for a while in the pan) they had thrown in place of cumin - really how much cumin do the Rhodians put in their food? - crumb from bergamot which gave the dish a very light, discreet and pleasant taste.

In fact, they cooked the cabbage without a lid in the bag so that a crust was created on the surface of the dish, which of course had the greatest taste interest. About her story famous tavern of the Mavrikos brothers, an emblematic tavern that completes nearly a century of operation and honors Rhodesian cuisine, we will have material interest in our next article.