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Comment by prawn | Hacker News Reader

I remember biftek in Turkey also? Bistek appears to be "beef steak" in the Philippines?

“Bistec a la X” for many types of X is part of the Spanish-speaking world, including the Philippines. The spelling with a “k” is a loan word into Tagalog.

And what does the X stand for in that?

Anything. Bistec a la Mexicana is “Mexican-style steak.” Replace with any nationality or style or whatever.

“Bistecca” in Italian.

Bistec a la X” for many types of X is part of the Spanish-speaking world

Right, even for X = pork. But lately, it's fading in favour of "filete" (slice) of X, at least in Spain.

It's also similar in Russian and Ukrainian: "beefshteks"

This was definitely a tradecraft code word when two dudes passed a briefcase between each other in a cold park one day in Moscow.

Heavy, heavy pronunciation going on to near comical effect.

Psst! Tovarisch! Next meeting at 11:00 p.m. Tuesday under the bridge just after Gorky Prospekt! Wear a grey checked coat, with a copy of Pravda under your arm. Da?

Oops, too many spy novels plus a bad sense of humour ... ;)

Or maybe, too many bad spy novels :)

Yep - Bistek is beef steak in PH. and Bifstek in India is likely due to colonialism. Its amazing that Chicken Makhani was actually invented in the UK.

Yes. Not been to Turkey, but I read about cuisines, for fun, including on Wikipedia and food blogs. And IIRC, steak is called biftek in Turkey.

I think there used to be a kebab place in Glasgow called bifteki.

It generally signalled the end of a night when you headed there.

English beefsteak -> French bifte(c)k -> Turkish biftek -> Greek bifteki

Thanks, that makes a good deal of sense.

I guess there’s probably been a few places called bifteki around the uk and other countries then.

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