Dakos
Photo: Frente · CC BY-SA 3.0

History

Dakos began as shepherd food. Barley rusk, twice-baked so it kept for months, travelled up to the summer pastures with cheese and oil, and softened with whatever tomato or water was to hand. The name comes from the rusk itself, a paximadi cut from a barley loaf. Cretan households ate it as a working lunch long before it appeared on restaurant menus, and it only became a taverna standard in the second half of the twentieth century, once tomatoes were cheap and plentiful across the Messara plain. Purists in Heraklion still argue about whether the rusk should be dipped in water first, and about whether feta is ever an acceptable substitute for fresh myzithra.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield Serves 2Hands-on 10 minTotal 15 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 2 round Cretan barley rusks, about 100g each
  • 3 ripe tomatoes
  • 150g fresh myzithra or a soft, mild sheep cheese
  • 60ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
  • Sea salt

Method

  1. Hold each rusk briefly under a running tap, no more than two seconds a side, so the surface softens but the centre stays firm.
  2. Set the rusks on plates and pour half the olive oil over them. Leave for five minutes to absorb.
  3. Grate the tomatoes on the coarse side of a box grater, discarding the skins, and season the pulp with salt.
  4. Spoon the tomato over the rusks so it covers the surface without flooding the plate.
  5. Crumble the myzithra over the top, scatter the capers, add the oregano and finish with the remaining olive oil.

Tip from the editors. If you cannot find barley rusk, use a dense sourdough dried in a low oven for an hour. Never use a soft roll, it turns to paste.

Where to eat dakos

Dakos in Heraklion

Merastri ★ 4.7

€€ Greek tavernaOld Town

Merastri keeps a serious Cretan wine list behind its wood oven in Heraklion, and the reds it pours are built to stand up to three-hour roast lamb.

OrderA Liatiko red alongside the wood-oven lamb

PourA Liatiko red with the wood-oven lamb

WineCretan list built around the wood oven

FoodFull Cretan menu

TipThe Cretan list is the reason to linger. Ask what is open by the glass before committing to a bottle.

Directions

Parasties ★ 4.6

€€€ Greek tavernaOld Town

Parasties runs a Cretan-leaning wine list beside its open fire in Heraklion, with floor staff who match bottles to whatever the oven is cooking.

OrderA Cretan red poured to match the smoked steak

PourA Cretan red with the smoked steak

WineMostly Cretan producers

FoodLive-fire Cretan menu

TipThe floor staff will steer the list if you tell them what is coming off the fire.

Directions

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