Cheese news
TradeUpper Midwest Dairy Production Rises as Global Expansion Pressures Commodity PricesIndiaHC seeks replies on plea against non-dairy products sold as paneerMakersThis New Jersey Creamery Is Absolutely GoatedHeritageThe Murray’s Cheese Advent Calendar Is A Two Week Charcuterie PartyIndiaDelhi High Court seeks FSSAI stand on PIL against non-dairy, analogous 'paneer'AwardsSimply Better: six generations of cheesemaking at Gubbeen Farmhouse Cheese 13 October 2026 FreeAwardsSwiss Cheese Awards: Zwei Kategoriensiege für Käse aus der RegionIndiaThe great ‘paneer’ fraud: PIL in Delhi HC seeks clear disclosure by hotels on non-dairy substitutesTradeCOUNTRY LIFE: Benchmark falls 60 cents from August, $1.55 less than September 2025MakersThey know cheese better than anyone else. Meet the Master Cheesemakers at SartoriTradeUpper Midwest Dairy Production Rises as Global Expansion Pressures Commodity PricesIndiaHC seeks replies on plea against non-dairy products sold as paneerMakersThis New Jersey Creamery Is Absolutely GoatedHeritageThe Murray’s Cheese Advent Calendar Is A Two Week Charcuterie PartyIndiaDelhi High Court seeks FSSAI stand on PIL against non-dairy, analogous 'paneer'AwardsSimply Better: six generations of cheesemaking at Gubbeen Farmhouse Cheese 13 October 2026 FreeAwardsSwiss Cheese Awards: Zwei Kategoriensiege für Käse aus der RegionIndiaThe great ‘paneer’ fraud: PIL in Delhi HC seeks clear disclosure by hotels on non-dairy substitutesTradeCOUNTRY LIFE: Benchmark falls 60 cents from August, $1.55 less than September 2025MakersThey know cheese better than anyone else. Meet the Master Cheesemakers at Sartori
EveryCheese

Fried and grilled

Saganaki

A thick slice of hard Greek cheese fried in a small pan until crusted and soft, finished with lemon.

Saganaki is a slab of firm cheese, such as kefalograviera, kefalotyri or graviera, dusted with flour and fried in a small pan until golden outside and soft within. It is squeezed with lemon and eaten hot with bread as a meze. The name comes from sagani, the small two-handled frying pan it is cooked and served in.

What goes in

Kefalograviera: 43%43%Flour: 7%Olive oil or butter: 14%14%Lemon: 7%Bread: 29%29%5parts
  • Kefalograviera643%, A thick slice.
  • Flour17%, A light dusting.
  • Olive oil or butter214%, For frying.
  • Lemon17%, Squeezed over.
  • Bread429%, To mop up.

Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.

Made step by step

Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.

  1. Step 1: Grate Cut the cheese into a slab about a finger thick.
  2. Step 2: Layer Wet it briefly and dust with flour.
  3. Step 3: Fry Fry in hot oil in a small pan until a golden crust forms on each side.
  4. Step 4: Serve Squeeze lemon over and serve at once with bread.
  5. Kefalograviera: 43%43%Flour: 7%Olive oil or butter: 14%14%Lemon: 7%Bread: 29%29%
    Finished Saganaki, by share.

The pan, not the cheese

In Greece, saganaki refers to anything cooked in a sagani, including prawns or mussels with tomato and feta. The cheese version is the best known. The cheese must be a hard, high-melting type that browns before it runs. Kefalograviera is a favourite, and halloumi, kasseri and graviera from Crete or Naxos are also used.

Opa

In the United States, saganaki is often flambéed at the table with brandy while the waiter shouts opa. This show is generally credited to a Greek restaurant in Chicago's Greektown in the late 1960s, and it spread to Greek restaurants across North America. It is not usual in Greece, where the cheese is simply fried and served with lemon.

Where it is used

MezeOuzo table

The cheeses in it

KefalotyriA sharper, harder option.GravieraCretan and Naxian versions are used.KasseriSofter, stretchier choice.

Also part of it, and being written: Kefalograviera (The most common saganaki cheese.).

More on EveryCheese

No cheeses here yet. New pages are added every day.

Sources and further reading

About this page

Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven cheeses you may not know, the cheese days of the week ahead, and one dish explained step by step.