Few things in this world are more pleasurable than sinking your teeth into heavily herbed, charcoal-grilled paidakia, the fabled lamb chops adored and revered by the Greeks.
"The art is in the grilling," says Savvas Mallouri, Cypriot father of a longtime friend and a man who can really wax eloquent when it comes to his favorite meat. "There's a deep and special sweetness unlocked by the combination of salt, hot coals and time."
He's right, too. Somewhere between the soft, sweet fat, earthy oregano and dusty charcoal lies a gustatory intensity perhaps unique to lamb, but characteristic in some way of all the tried-and-true staples of Greek cooking — flaky spanakopita (spinach, ricotta cheese and feta pie), zesty kalamarakia tiganita (fried squid) and aromatic dolmadakia (vine leaves stuffed with rice, dill and mint). And that's without even mentioning the saganaki cheese melt — a veritable umami carnival in your mouth.