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Before I came on my journey, a lot of my chef friends asked me why I was going to Albania. I said, "Well, I know the food of Spain and Italy, France, Thailand, and even India. But who can name just one dish from Albania? Go on. Well, that's why I'm here. I spent 2 hours at the border. There was something wrong. And after that, it was dark. It was so dark. It was just a few pale lights in the distance and so quiet. So, I woke up this morning to this. And there's just this sort of sense of innocence in the landscape here. And for 50 years, Albania was closed to the rest of the world, a bit like North Korea. It's almost as if it's a place that's just begun.
Mrizi i Zanave is a restaurant in northern Albania. In fact, it's a place I've heard of back at home because the restaurateur and chef, Altin Prenga, has a big reputation for being self-sufficient. All of his produce comes from around here. Hello. Hi, Nick. I've heard a lot about you. How are you? All right. Nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you. Sorry, I don't speak English too much. It's fine. His place is really popular. The idea of going out on fam e to eat in Albania is fairly new. 50 years of strict communism up until the early '90s changed the habit of the nation, and they're just getting back into the swing of eating for pleasure.
I've missed breakfast, and I could smell beans and pork cooking and said to Altin, "I've just got to try some of this. A small dish, just to keep me going." This is the I've just been looking at it. God. I'm in Kalmet beans. They is local variety from this area. And smoke it pork meat. Oh. Simple, honest, flavorful. In every area of Albania, poor people, normal people use this traditional soup. In the mountain uh smoke it goat or smoke it sheep, okay? And in this area was the pork, smoke it not ham.
Perfect. Ham, salt, beans, water. Life. Part of Altin's restaurant empire was an old concentration camp used for keeping the intelligentsia away from the towns and cities. Now Altin wants to plant a vineyard here and make a creamery and a place to make local cheeses, but keeping tradition alive. I asked him to cook one of his most popular dishes and he told me it was a Sunday afternoon favorite around here called yufka.
It's chicken with pasta, but not as we know it. Those chickens look very free range, lovely yellow color. I was just asking what the little yellow ball is in the middle. I thought it might be a kumquat. It's actually an egg yolk, which would have come out of the cavity of the chicken. It's in real slow food. How long's that going to go in for then, Altin? 10 50 minutes. And no liquid for the pasta? Just cooks without No, I did the cook the first cook is toasted, okay?
Okay? Yeah. And I think outside and I put the warm stove. Stove, yes. Stove. Love the idea of that. All around the restaurant there's lots of culinary activity. I think Altin may be overcompensating for the television crew because his wife is dressed up in ancient Albanian costume. Not the thing she does every day. And she's making a pancake traditionally cooked by the shepherds in the mountains. It's called flee. It's made up with about 30 layers of thin batter and lashings of melted butter. And it's cooked with a hot lid laden with red hot coals. You like to taste? I'd love to taste that. Thanks. Attention, it's too hot. I know.
Yum. Very good butter. That's really nice. It's the butter that makes it. Yeah. After the pasta is toasted a bit, Altin adds some chicken stock and puts it back in the oven until the pasta or yufka has absorbed it. Then it's ready to serve. Oh. This is delicious. Um just food like this What happened uh during the communist era? The people eat in South Albania, in North Albania, in the sea or in the mountain, you take same food. Everybody ate the same. No local dishes, just all the same. Stop in the communist, start the democracy, the Italian friends and every different style from the world and don't remember old tradition from Albania.
Well, what you're doing is great cuz this food is full of character and I really admire what you're doing. Gëzuar.
