As every city in the world has its specialities concerning food, Baalbeck has its own dishes that tourists and visitors are keen on tasting or eating. Of course, there are dishes that are common in all the Lebanese cities and towns that the Lebanese cuisine is famous for such as: Tabouli, Kebbeh, Fattoush, Hommos, staffed vine leaves and others, but, Baalbeck has its own flavour.
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| Fattoush |
Sfiha
It is number one dish that is ordered in Baalbeck. It is made at bakeries where also "Manaqeesh", which is a kind of Lebanese fast food. Sfiha is made of dough and meat which is usually prepared at a butchery. Meat, onions and tomatoes are minced and mixed after slat, pepper and pine seeds are added to the mixture, and then it will be taken to the bakery where small pieces of dough will be flattened, staffed by the meat, and will be baked. It is usually served hot with lemon squeezed on each piece or with yogurt.
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SFIHA
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| Kebbeh |
"Tannour" Bread
Women in Baalbeck used to make this kind of home-made bread. In past, almost every house had a "tannour" to make bread because people were not able to buy ready-made bread (which has been baked by special bakeries for what is called the Lebanese bread). Making this kind of bread is not easy since it needs so much time to be ready.Women used to knead the dough in the evening after adding salt and yeast to it ,and it is left to the next early morning to be cut into a loaf -size .The cut dough will be left for about an hour ,and then it will be taken into the Tannour -it is a small room with a hole in the middle of it that is tiled with stones called "fire stones"where bread will be stuck at the sides of it after heating it by wood.Two women help each other to make the bread :one of them flatten the dough by her hands ,and she passes it to the other woman who makes it bigger by throwing it from an arm to another ,then she puts it on a big dom -like straw-made dish which is staffed by pieces of cloth and then she sticks on the tannour wall.The bread will be piled at the side of hole to be packed later.
"Saj" or Dom bread
It is another kind of bread that is made in Baalbeck as well as in other Lebanese towns. It does not take the same effort that Tannour bread does, but it is thinner and a woman can make it alone if she wants.
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Saj
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