035Skordalia, garlic dip

Method

Potato and red wine vinegar home style. Classic partner to crispy fried cod (bakaliaros) or boiled beetroot and wild greens (horta).

You will need

• saucepan
• colander
• potato ricer
• mortar and pestle or mixing bowl

1. Place the potato chunks in a saucepan, cover with cold salted water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes until completely tender when pierced with a knife. 25 min Ready when: easily pierced with no resistance
2. Drain the potatoes thoroughly and let them steam dry in the colander for 3 to 4 minutes to remove surface moisture. 4 min Ready when: dry and steaming
3. Pound the garlic cloves and 1 teaspoon of sea salt in a large mortar with a pestle until completely reduced to a creamy paste. 3 min Ready when: completely smooth garlic puree
4. Pass the warm potatoes through a potato ricer directly into the mortar or a wide mixing bowl. 3 min Ready when: fluffy, lump-free potato shreds
5. Beat the potatoes into the garlic paste with a wooden spoon or pestle, gradually working in the olive oil in a steady stream alternating with the red wine vinegar. 4 min Ready when: silky, smooth, cohesive paste
6. Taste for salt and acidity, adjust with a few more drops of vinegar if desired, and serve warm or at room temperature. 1 min Ready when: glossy and pungently aromatic

Tap a step to tick it off.

Make ahead and storing

Can be made several hours ahead and served at room temperature.

Fridge 3 days in an airtight container

Substitutions

• lemon-juice for red wine vinegar. Lemon juice produces a lighter, slightly brighter acidity preferred in some households.
• bread for floury potatoes (such as Maris Piper or Russet). Substitute soaked and squeezed stale white bread for a northern Greek bread-based skordalia.

Common mistakes

• Puréeing the potatoes in a food processor or blender. The mechanical shearing releases starch and turns the potatoes into an unpleasantly gummy, glue-like paste.
• Adding liquids to cold, wet potatoes. Cold or wet potatoes refuse to absorb the olive oil smoothly, causing the dip to weep.

Regional variants

• Skordalia me psomi using stale sourdough bread instead of potatoes
• Kefalonian aliada incorporating ground walnuts and fish broth

About the dish

Skordalia is an ancient garlic emulsion eaten throughout Greece, most famously paired with battered salt cod (bakaliaros skordalia) on 25 March (Annunciation) and Palm Sunday. Regional variants hinge on the starch base: Macedonia and parts of the mainland often favour soaked stale crustless bread, while the Ionian islands—where it is also called aliada—and much of southern Greece lean towards boiled floury potatoes. In the Heptanese, walnuts or almonds are sometimes pounded into the garlic paste.

Found in all of Greece, Ionian Islands. Cooked for everyday, lent, annunciation.

Cousins elsewhere

• Agliata (Italian). An ancient Genoese and Venetian pounded garlic and bread sauce sharing etymological and practical roots.
• Toum (Levantine). An intense whipped garlic emulsion, though made without starch bulk such as potato or soaked bread.
• Mujdei (Balkan). A crushed garlic sauce blended with oil and vinegar or broth served with fried fish.

Nutrition per serving (estimate)

247 kcal · protein 2.3 g · fat 18.5 g (saturated 2.5 g) · carbohydrate 18.9 g (sugars 0.8 g) · fibre 2.3 g · sodium 331 mg

An estimate (summed from ingredient estimates) that varies with the exact ingredients. It is not dietary advice.

Written fresh by Epikouria editors from general culinary tradition. Recipe by the Epikouria editors. Traditional mainland and island fasting style, hand-beaten with potato ricer and wooden spoon..