Moussaka is the dish Greek cooking has to be measured against: aubergines that turn golden brown in the pan and stay juicy all the same, a minced meat sauce simmered long enough that it no longer tastes of raw tomato, and a béchamel on top that takes on a colour in the oven you would otherwise caramelise sugar for.
The most common disappointment is not the flavour but the consistency: a bake that leaks liquid when you cut into it. This almost always happens in two places — a sauce that goes into the dish too wet, and aubergines that have not seen enough oil and heat. Both can be controlled, and that is exactly what this recipe is about.
Serves 6, in a dish of about 24 × 30 cm. 60 minutes of work, 90 minutes in the oven, 30 minutes of rest in between — the most important half hour of the whole dish.
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 4 large | Aubergines (about 1.4 kg in total) |
| 180 ml | Extra virgin olive oil (for frying the aubergines) |
| 2 tbsp | Breadcrumbs (for the base of the dish) |
| For the meat sauce | |
| 600 g | Minced beef (or minced lamb, more classic) |
| 2 | Onions, finely diced |
| 3 | Garlic cloves, finely chopped |
| 2 tbsp | Tomato purée |
| 400 g | Chopped tomatoes (tinned) |
| 150 ml | Dry red wine (or water) |
| 1 tsp | Cinnamon, ground |
| 1 pinch | Clove, ground |
| 1 tsp | Allspice, ground |
| 1 | Bay leaf |
| 1 tsp | Sugar |
| 2 tbsp | Extra virgin olive oil |
| For the béchamel | |
| 80 ml | Extra virgin olive oil |
| 80 g | Flour (plain, type 405) |
| 800 ml | Whole milk (3.5 %) |
| 2 | Egg yolks |
| 100 g | Kefalotyri or Parmesan, finely grated |
| — | Nutmeg, salt, white pepper |
Cut the aubergines lengthways into slices about 1 cm thick. Salt the slices (1 tsp of salt is enough for all of them) and leave them in a colander for 30 minutes so that water comes out and the bitterness recedes. Then pat them dry firmly with kitchen paper — wet aubergines do not absorb oil, they simply leave it in the pan.
Heat a large frying pan, add 2–3 tbsp of olive oil and fry the slices in batches until golden brown on both sides, 6–8 minutes per batch in total. Top up the oil between batches: one aubergine easily takes 40–50 ml. Drain the finished slices on kitchen paper. Important: the pan must not smoke — if the oil smokes it is too hot; take the pan off the heat briefly and carry on.
Oven version: Lay the slices on a baking tray, brush both sides with olive oil and bake at 220 °C top and bottom heat for 25–30 minutes until soft and browned. Less oil, but slightly less aromatic — for a dish that carries on cooking in the oven anyway, a perfectly workable compromise.
Sweat the onions and garlic in 2 tbsp of olive oil until translucent. Add the mince and fry it until crumbly, until the liquid has evaporated and the meat takes on colour — do not just let it turn grey, that is the difference between a sauce with a roasted note and one that merely tastes of meat. Stir in the tomato purée, fry it for 1 minute, deglaze with the red wine and reduce it almost completely. Then add the tomatoes, cinnamon, clove, allspice, bay and sugar and simmer uncovered for 25–30 minutes until the sauce is thick. Season with salt and pepper, remove the bay leaf.
The sauce has to be stiff, not soupy: if it goes into the dish still liquid, it will run out of the bake later.
Heat 80 ml of olive oil in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook it for 2 minutes without letting it brown. Pour in the milk in three stages, whisking smooth each time, or lumps will remain. Simmer gently for 6–8 minutes until the sauce thickens. Take the pan off the heat, let it cool briefly, then stir in the egg yolks, followed by 70 g of the cheese, nutmeg, salt and white pepper. The béchamel should be thick and easy to spoon, not pourable.
Scatter the 2 tbsp of breadcrumbs over the dish — they bind the liquid that comes out and stop the bottom layer of aubergine sticking. Then in this order: half the aubergines (slightly overlapping), the whole meat sauce, the remaining aubergines, and finally the béchamel spread smooth over the top. Scatter the rest of the cheese (30 g) over it.
Bake at 180 °C top and bottom heat for 45–50 minutes. The surface should be golden brown and blister slightly. If it is still pale after 40 minutes, switch to top heat or the grill for the last 10 minutes and stay by the oven — béchamel goes from golden brown to dark brown in a few minutes.
Take the dish out of the oven and leave it for at least 30 minutes, better 45. During that time the béchamel sets and the layers settle. Cut into it straight away and you do not get moussaka, you get a ragout with aubergine slices. Served warm rather than hot it tastes better anyway.
Moussaka is the most oil-hungry recipe in this collection. An aubergine is like a sponge: it is more than 90 percent water and absorbs so much fat while frying that the oil does not disappear flavour-wise but takes the leading role in the vegetable layer. A neutral oil turns that into a greasy base; an olive oil with origin and bitterness turns it into the part of the dish that tastes of Greece.
Second, the oil is heated twice here: while frying and then again for 45 minutes in the oven. A freshly pressed oil with plenty of polyphenols withstands that better than an older bottling — oxidised fatty acids taste rancid, and in a bake with béchamel that shows more clearly than in a salad dressing.
We use the 1-litre bottle of Koroneiki. For 180 ml to fry with plus 80 ml in the béchamel that is the right size: half a bottle for a Sunday lunch, without the rest standing open for months.
Covered in the fridge for 3 days. Leave it in the dish, do not transfer it — moving the layers breaks the bake. Reheat in the oven, not in the microwave: the béchamel needs dry heat, otherwise it turns rubbery.
Almost always a meat sauce that is too liquid. Before layering it has to be thick enough that a spoon leaves a trail. Second suspect: aubergines that were only briefly fried and release water in the oven.
Yes, if the aubergines come from the supermarket — 30 minutes of salt draws out water and takes away the bitterness. With very fresh, small aubergines from a market you can skip it.
Because Greek cooking uses sweet spices in meat dishes. Cinnamon, clove and allspice are part of the basic recipe, not a variation — without them moussaka tastes like an Italian lasagne with aubergines.
Up to the layering, yes: cook everything the day before, cover the dish, keep it in the fridge. The next day bake it 10 minutes longer, because the dish goes into the oven cold.
Technically yes, but then it is no longer Greek béchamel. Olive oil makes it a little less sweet and gives it an astringent note that holds its own against the meat.
