Kandaulos (, also , ) was an ancient Greek luxury dish of Lydian origin. The Ionian rich savoury confection was a new delicacy in Athens in the early 4th century BC.Andrew Dalby: Siren Feasts: A history of food and gastronomy in Greece Routledge 1996, p. 111 According to the Greek rhetorician and grammarian Athenaeus (late 2nd century AD), kandaulos came in three forms. One of them was sweet, and is described by one Hellenistic source as a , flat cake. A second was savoury, consisting of meat and broth with breadcrumbs. However, what these two kinds of kandaulos had in common with one another or with the third kind is not clear.Andrew Dalby: The Ancient Food from A to Z Routledge 2003, p. 188
The term kandaulos appears to be related to the Lydian word Kandaules (), recorded by Hipponax and Herodotus. This was a title of Hermes and Heracles and name or title of a Lydian king. But Tzetzes, a Byzantine poet and grammarian from the 12th century, says that kandaules was also Lydian for dog-throttler.Dalby 1996, p. 245
Athenaeus (Deipnosophists XII 516c-d) quotes a brief recipe for the meaty version of kandaulos from Hegesippus of Tarentum, an author of Greek works on cookery and on cake-making of the 4th century BC:Dalby 2003, p.174Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists, Volume V, transl. by Charles Burton Gulick, Loeb Classical Library 1933, pp. 323, 325
The Lydians used also to speak of a dish called kandaulos, of which there were three varieties, not one merely; so exquisitely equipped were they for luxurious indulgence. Hegesippus of Tarentum says that it was made of boiled meat, bread crumbs, Phrygian cheese, anise,The Greek word for anise, , also covers dill. If dill seeds are used then a recognizable, interesting and tasty dish results. If anise is used then a stronger, less familiar, flavour similar to liquorice is produced. Phrygian cheese was made with mare's milk. (John M. Wilkins and Shaun Hill: Food in the Ancient World Blackwell Publishing 2006, p.278) and fatty broth.
In the original Greek:Gulick 1933, pp. 322, 324
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See also Ancient Greek cuisine
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