Sultan’s Moussaka

Moussaka tends to be associated with Greece, yet it is as much part of Turkish cuisine as it is of Greek. In Turkish the word musakka simply denotes a dish of fried vegetables with minced meat. Although the cuisines of the two countries share a history of imaginative dishes using aubergines and minced lamb, the white sauce was probably invented by the chefs of the Palace kitchens in Istanbul, who would have devised milk-based sauces to lend an air of sophistication to certain dishes.