Princess (food)

Lore & Background

Princess sandwiches are a Bulgarian classic, though similar open-faced baked meat sandwiches can be found in neighboring cuisines. They are a typical socialist dish, most probably invented sometime in the mid-1960s as a clever way to make a satisfying meal without using too much of the expensive at the time meat. Even though they may not be particularly esthetically pleasing, being delicious and easy to make is probably what made these sandwiches popular across the country.

There are different opinions regarding the origin of the name 'princess' or 'Strandzhanka', and there is even a somewhat humorous legend involving tsar Ivan Asen II and a local girl that demanded to be made a princess if she manages to feed the king's starving army, which she did by making those sandwiches. The actual origin of the name is different, though. In communist era Bulgaria, it was very common to brand a recipe or a food product after a place or after an event or achievement. In this particular case, the meat sandwiches were branded with the somewhat pompous name 'Thracian princess', which was a reference to the excavation of the Mogilan burial mound in the center of Vratsa in 1965–66. However, that name wasn't popular with the people and eventually it became shortened to 'a princess', which stuck.

When prepared at home, princesses are usually bread-slice-sized and baked in an oven or an electric grill, but the fast-food version is longer, made from a whole bread that has been sliced through its longitude resulting in a loaf-sized sandwich that may or may not be baked on a charcoal barbecue grill. There may or may not be kashkaval (yellow cheese) on top of the sandwich and people often garnish a princess with mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard or ljutenica, depending on their taste.

Reader's Guide

Princesses hold a unique place in Bulgarian culinary history as a purely domestic invention with no parallels in neighboring countries. They emerged in the mid-1960s as a pragmatic socialist-era dish, designed to stretch expensive meat while still providing a satisfying meal. Their popularity endures because they are both delicious and easy to make, and they are commonly eaten for breakfast or sold as fast food. The name itself reflects a typical communist branding practice of linking food to archaeological or cultural achievements—in this case, the 'Thracian princess' reference to the Mogilan burial mound excavation. Over time, the public shortened the name to simply 'a princess', and the term also came to encompass other open-faced baked sandwiches, such as those with eggs and sirene, or with kashkaval and ham. The long, barbecued meat versions are sometimes called strandjanki. Preparation involves mixing ground beef with eggs, finely chopped onion, and spices like black pepper, savory, thyme, cumin, coriander, and ginger, then spreading the mixture over bread slices and baking until the meat browns. Garnishes such as sharena sol, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, or ljutenica are common. The sandwich remains a staple of Bulgarian fast food and home cooking, a testament to its enduring appeal and cultural significance.

Did You Know?

• The name originally came from 'Thracian princess', referencing the excavation of the Mogilan burial mound in Vratsa in 1965–66.
• Long barbecued meat versions of princesses are sometimes called Strandzhanka, named after the Strandzha mountain region.
• The sandwich was most probably invented in the mid-1960s as a way to use less expensive meat.

The Open-Faced Sandwich Called Princesi

Princesi, which translates to "princesses" in English, is a distinctive open-faced baked sandwich that occupies a place in the traditional Bulgarian breakfast spread. The dish is constructed with a combination of minced meat, yellow cheese, eggs, and sirene cheese—a white brine cheese that resembles feta and is a staple ingredient across Bulgarian cooking. As a baked preparation, it stands apart from the deep-fried pastries and dough-based items that also populate the morning table, reflecting a cooking method that aligns with the broader Bulgarian culinary tendency toward baking and grilling rather than frying. The inclusion of multiple dairy elements alongside protein gives the sandwich a rich, layered character that mirrors the way Bulgarian cuisine generally weaves together meat, cheese, and eggs into a single dish. Within the wider context of Eastern European and Balkan food traditions, Princesi represents the kind of hearty, multi-ingredient morning meal that draws on the same local ingredients—eggs, cheese, and ground meat—that appear throughout the country's diverse regional cooking.

A Place Among the Morning Table

The Bulgarian breakfast table is remarkably varied, and Princesi sits among a long roster of morning preparations that showcase the country's pastry and bread-making skills. Alongside the layered phyllo-based banitsa—arguably the most celebrated of all, often filled with eggs, sirene, and yogurt—there are börek pastries, tutmanik made with yeast dough and milk, milinki bread-roll pastries, and deep-fried items like mekitsi and buhti. French toast, known locally as purjena filia, appears in the form of bread soaked in eggs and milk or yogurt before being fried in oil. Thinner palachinki and thicker katmi pancakes, both typically rolled around a filling, add further variety, while popara offers a simpler option of rusks or bread paired with tea, milk, or sour milk. Princesi's open-faced format distinguishes it from the enclosed, layered, or rolled shapes of its neighbors, yet it shares their reliance on eggs, cheese, and dairy. This breadth of morning options reflects the geographical and climatic conditions of Bulgaria, which support a wide range of vegetables, herbs, and fruits, and a culinary tradition that has absorbed influences from neighboring Turkish, Greek, and Ottoman kitchens over centuries.

Roots in a Shared Culinary Heritage

Bulgarian cuisine, of which Princesi is a small but characteristic part, belongs to the broader family of Eastern European cooking and shares defining traits with other Balkan food traditions. A significant layer of this culinary identity comes from the Ottoman period, which left behind a legacy of shared dishes with both Turkish and Middle Eastern kitchens—moussaka, gyuvetch, kyufte, baklava, ayran, and shish kebab all appear across these overlapping food cultures. The cuisine also borrows from and parallels Greek cooking, creating a regional tapestry in which borders matter less than the common availability of ingredients and the transmission of techniques across generations. Within this shared heritage, the prominence of dairy products, the use of salads as appetizers, and the presence of alcoholic beverages such as wine and rakia are hallmarks that set the table for dishes like Princesi. The country's diverse climate, suitable for growing a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruit, further enriches the pantry from which such breakfast items draw their components.

Dairy at the Heart of the Dish

The ingredients that define Princesi—eggs, yellow cheese, and sirene—sit at the center of a broader Bulgarian devotion to dairy. The per-capita consumption of yogurt, called kiselo mlyako or "sour milk," among Bulgarians is traditionally higher than anywhere else in Europe, and the country carries the historical namesake of Lactobacillus bulgaricus, the microorganism chiefly responsible for the local variety of fermented dairy products. Sirene, a white brine cheese comparable to feta, is a popular ingredient used in salads and a variety of pastries, and it features prominently in the most famous banitsa filling alongside eggs and yogurt. Eggs, too, recur throughout the breakfast spread: in milinki, in the French toast preparation, in the topcheta soup thickened with egg yolks, and in the nettle and spinach soups. This deep integration of dairy and eggs into both savory and sweet preparations means that a simple open-faced sandwich like Princesi is, in a sense, a concentrated expression of the country's most enduring culinary identity.

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