Moussaka is a baked, layered casserole of sliced eggplant, seasoned ground meat, and a creamy béchamel topping, closely associated with Greek cooking.
Dishes of layered eggplant and meat appear across the Ottoman and Arab world under names like musaqqa'a, and the modern Greek version, topped with béchamel rather than the plainer toppings used elsewhere, is generally credited to chef Nikolaos Tselementes in the 1920s, who added French technique to the older regional dish.
In the classic Greek preparation, eggplant slices are layered with ground lamb or beef cooked down with onion, garlic, tomato, and spices such as cinnamon and allspice, then topped with béchamel and baked until golden. It is usually served as a main course.
Similar layered casseroles exist elsewhere in the region under other names and with other starches or vegetables in place of eggplant, such as potato, zucchini, or pasta, as in Greek pastitsio; moussaka should not be confused with pastitsio, which is built on baked pasta rather than eggplant.