Authentic Cycladic Cuisine: Mastering Loutza at Santorini’s Roka Restaurant

Tasty explorations, culinary journeys.
We are on the beautiful island of Santorini and at the Roka restaurant, a restaurant that still adheres to the principles of local cuisine.
Today we will create a local dish, which truly searches through the past for all the creativity of our current diet.
Here we have Loutza or Lotza, a Cycladic product, which on all the Cyclades islands has some different, secret recipe and we here will present our own version, according to our restaurant, as we serve it to our customers.
Loutza or Lotza is a piece of pork, mainly the pork chop, but in many versions, even pork tenderloin, the so-called pork fillet, is used.
Here we have chosen the pork chop, the internal part, the so-called eye, and we have processed it for about 20 to 25 days to mature.
We will say a few things about how this product is made.
For 3 to 4 days it is baked in salt and sugar and then placed in local red wine.
I usually use Mandilaria or Mavrotragano.
Fine products require fine wines.
After being immersed in the wine for several days, it is then taken out and we create a coating with local herbs, such as savory, which is abundant in Santorini, rosemary, sweet paprika from sweet pepper, fresh oregano in various forms and textures, and of course, salt and pepper.
This layer envelops the pork, after first being said it is immersed in wine, and is placed in cheesecloth, where the Cycladic northern wind airs and dries it, until we get the final product.
All the aromas of the spices bind internally the flavor in the pork, and we have a very nice and beautiful result.
After 27 days of dehydration, and the Aegean wind has hit our product, we will cut it vertically to see how it looks inside, how it has turned out, and then we will serve the dish as we serve it in our restaurant in Roka.
Having completed the entire 25 to 28-day process, we are ready to taste this truly wonderful Cycladic dish, which we have served just as it is served in our restaurant.
Thin slices of Loutza are cut, and we accompany them with xinotiri, which we have made into a ball, a little pepper honey, which is also a handmade product.
We make it here from Florina peppers, fresh pepper, and a little green olive oil, which is also flavored with rosemary.
Thank you very much.
Licence ID for music: MB01BWYFXE0SEJQ
Subscribe to my channel 👉bit.ly/2U6SZOE
🗣FIND ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA !
Instagram ► / niorasdimitris
Facebook ► / dimitrisniorasphotography