The rule "we are what we eat" applies also to animals in Crete. The unique climate of the island affects all the products and animals that are grown here. Cretan sheep and goats graze year-round on green pastures, get all the possible vitamins, bask in the sun, breathe the cleanest air, so their meat has a richer taste than anywhere else. Although it is possible that the difference in the taste of meat of animals grown on the island or the mainland, can only be distinguished by locals who are knowledgeable consumers of fresh food.
Any dish of meat is delicious on the island, and all its inhabitants love meat very much. Only in Crete you can try mountain small goat or lamb meat, cooked in various ways, such as cream stew with artichokes or asparagus, greens, myzithra cheese, grape leaves or yogurt. We especially recommend grilled rack of lamb and ribs on charcoal. Amazing tzatziki (cold appetizer of yogurt, fresh cucumber and garlic) will help maintain your appetite.
You can also order kleftiko. Traditionally it was lamb cooked in oven in a large clay pot, made in Crete in Minoan times. Now kleftiko is cooked even in electric ovens. The meat is rubbed with salt and pepper, and placed in a clay pot with potatoes, oregano, rosemary. Sometimes they add bay leaves. While baking, the potatoes are soaked in meat juice and become tender, and aromatic. To get a delicious crust, you need to open the dish half an hour before the end of cooking.
Pork is also widely offered in Crete. For example, traditional Greek sausage loukaniko or souvlaki–pork kebabs on wooden skewers.
It is a matter of taste, but a Cretan lamb is much better. Taste antikristo–this is the name of meat dish prepared in a special way: the oldest known option of baking meat without barbecue and grills, which in ancient times was used by soldiers, shepherds and hunters–in a word, by all kinds of pagans. You may think that it explains this strange name, but according to Mariana Kavroulaki, a food historian, antikristo in this case refers to its original meaning: “opposite”, as in opposite the fire.
Salted pieces on skewers were cooked on hot coals. During baking, the fat melts and gives the meat an unusual flavor. It turns out to be soft and tender. Despite the technological progress, the Cretans continue to cook their antikristo in a traditional way. The dish can be ordered in many taverns.
Came to Crete and taste all it.
About the best Cretan meals read the section “Cuisine” on the website of the newspaper The New Crete: https://thenewgreece.com/category/kitchen/