#3: Soutzoukakia: Greek Cumin Meatballs

23 September 2024

In south Louisiana, over the generations we’ve grown accustomed to and well versed in pronouncing hard-to-spell and even harder-to-say words and last names. We’ve seen all them French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Native American words for so long that they’re all part of the everyday patois down there. As for Greek? We’ll, I don’t remember seeing too many Greek last names or dishes or words growing up in south Louisiana. But after having been to Greece, I kinda wish that I had: it’s a beautiful place, full of beautiful people with a beautiful language and amazing food.

So, for this dish I’m not asking you try to pronounce it (Lord knows I can’t), or even try to spell it. But if you wanna try a new, easy, and delicious take on meatballs then give this dish a try. The final product is about as comforting as comfort food can get, and is a different and exciting spin on something as ubiquitous and universal as the meatball.

While this is a Greek dish, the origins of the first soutzoukakia come from Turkey, where its name is derived from a spicy, fermented Turkish sausage called sucuk. Around the time of World War One, when Greeks living in Turkey fled the Ottoman Empire and returned to Greece, they brought this dish with them. Traditionally it’s made by soaking old, stale bread in water, milk, or wine, then straining the liquid and adding the moist bread to a mixture of ground meat, garlic, cumin, or other local herbs and spices, and forming into oblong meatballs. The meatballs are then browned, then added to a tomato sauce cooked down with wine, garlic, and bay leaf.

Now I know your mawmaw used to make that meatball stew with the brown roux gravy served over rice, but this one is quite different from any Cajun dish we cook back home. For starters, the star of the show, the cumin, isn’t really found in any traditional Cajun cooking. But no matter: it’s a cheap, easy-to-find ingredient that complements a tomato-sauced meat-based dish like this perfectly. And like all Greek cooking, the recipes aren’t based on complicated techniques or expensive hard-to-find ingredients. What makes Greek food so exciting and approachable is that it’s fundamentally simple, humble, and based on the seasonal availability of local ingredients.

While this one didn’t really remind me of any particular Cajun dish, the small-town restaurant on the busy street corner with all the streetside tables full of people definitely reminded me of home. So many small towns in south Louisiana used to (or still do) have that local mom and pop restaurant where people not only go for good homecooked Cajun food, but go to see and be seen in the local community. Well, I found these meatballs at a place exactly like that. Specifically, at the restaurant Tavern the Aptera on the western side of the Greek island of Crete. Located on the intersection of a couple of local roads, there were people out and about for hours, all the tables out by the street were full, music was playing, and people were selling vegetables out of their trucks in the middle of the road. The whole community was out and enjoying the beautiful evening.

Now, I’m not saying this place was exactly like those small, local south Louisiana old-school restaurants. For starters, this place was nestled pretty high up in some semi-arid mountains, overlooking a beautiful valley full of olive trees and other small towns backed by another mountain range. And as the sun went down, and the evening turned to night not a single mosquito or drop of sweat was anywhere in sight.

If there is one place that I’ve been to so far that I would recommend Cajun people to travel to, it would be Crete. As a swamp creature myself, I’ll admit the dry, rocky, mountainous, constantly cloudless summer sky was a bit weird at first and completely different from home. But what wasn’t different at all were the good, down-to-earth people I met throughout the island. Without a doubt some of the nicest, most humble, most generous people I have ever met anywhere. And trust me, that is saying something. It always amazes me that no matter where you go you can find the most incredibly kind and welcoming people. Crete was a perfect example of that.

Back to them meatballs. I gotta tell you I wasn’t expecting much when I ordered them. It’s just a ball of ground meat. How could that be different, or better, than anything I’ve had before? Well, once again, I was wrong. Not only were they perfectly flavored with the garlic, cumin, and wine balanced out with the tomato sauce, but the meatballs themselves were so unrelievedly light and soft from the soaked bread, that I was completely and quite ecstatically caught off guard. They were absolutely delicious.

How ya make it?

This recipe is based on one from a local cook book I picked up while I was there. It’s very simple to make and, maybe aside from the cumin and the herbs, you probably got all the ingredients already.

To start with the meatballs, go grab that old, crusty piece of French bread that you forgot on the counter and were gonna throw away (or the leftover ends from that po-boy you made), and soak it in some water or red wine (or a mixture of both). After about 10ish minutes the bread should be soaked through, so drain out the liquid and tear up the bread into little pieces. Add the bread to about 2lbs of ground beef (or a mixture of beef and pork), a couple of cloves of chopped garlic, salt and pepper, about a teaspoon of ground cumin, two eggs, a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, a splash of red wine, and a bit of chopped parsley and mint (if you have them; dried would work too). Don’t tell nobody I said this, but I think a half teaspoon of Steen’s cane syrup in the mix might be a good fit too, for a little added sweetness. Mix it all together and leave in the fridge for about an hour so everything can set better. After an hour, take out, roll into oblong meatballs, dust in flour and pan fry for a couple of minutes on each side till browned. Set aside.

For the tomato sauce, sauté a chopped onion in some olive oil for a few minutes, then add about half a cup of red wine, a couple of ripe, finely grated tomatoes (with the liquid), 2 cloves of minced garlic, 2 bay leaves, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 15 minutes, then add the meatballs, cover, and simmer for another 20ish minutes until they are cooked all the way through. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the meatballs when basted, but you can adjust to your liking.

I was served this dish with a side of thick-cut, homemade fries, but you could try with mashed potatoes, a salad, or like mawmaw would do: with rice.

Allons manger!