Cuisine of Oltenia
Oltenia is a region in the south – western part of Romania. It is bordered by the Banat region to the north – west, by Transylvania to the north and by Muntenia to the east.
Common history and geographical proximity made Oltenia and Muntenia part of the same kingdom of Wallachia (known as Tara Romanesca in Romanian) – foreigners called the inhabitants of these two regions “vlahi” (Romanian word) or “Wallachians” and the truth is those people had and still have many common features. From a gastronomical point of view they both suffered some Turkish, French and Italian influences which have been more and more adapted to local taste and customs in time.
People eat many more soups in Oltenia than in any other part of the country. They enjoy their soups sour and generally speaking food is lighter than in regions like Transylvania, Banat or Moldavia and it preserves a bit of Mediterranean touch. Black pepper and salt are most commonly used to spice the meat. If you go today in some Oltenian villages (especially in the southern ones) you are amazed to see that farmers still cook their food in crockery and use a sort of ancient oven made of clay which they call “?est”. This procedure gives a particular enjoyable taste to their food.
Oltenians use a lot of fresh vegetables, chicken, beef and pork meat and of course they eat a lot of dairy products as all Romanians are great producers of milk, cheese and other dairy by – products. No wonder that Romanian cheese is renowned in the Balkans and central Europe. Romanian cheese, especially a salty type which is called “telemea” in our language, has reached Hungarian, Slovakian and Slovenian borders centuries ago – for example Slovakian people called it “brinza” (from the Romanian general word for cheese – “brânza”) and they know it was brought to their country by Wallachian merchants.
As I said before Oltenian people enjoy eating fresh vegetables but these people like their green stuff so much that in time they have developed a lot of vegetable soups – weeds such as leek, dock, orach, nettles, all kinds of beans, amaranth, green onion and many others – used separately or mixed up – make delicious local broths an soups. Oltenians like their soups to be sour – so lemon juice, borsch, vinegar, yogurt, tomato juice, sauerkraut juice or some green spices are used to get this flavor; among Oltenian spicy herbs parsley and lovage are the most appreciated. Vegetables are used a lot even when soups are cooked with meat. For those who like Romanian tripe soup or borsch (usually served with garlic, sour cream and a hot chili pepper) it is important to say that here tripe soup is cooked with vinegar and horse radish and with no garlic at all!
Oltenian sausages are famous – this dish is a symbol of Oltenia, the motherland of Constantin Brancusi – an internationally famous sculptor. These sausages are made from equal amounts of beef and pork chopped finely and mixed with garlic, pepper and salt; then the paste is stuffed into sheep guts. In the end the sausages have to be smoked – dry for two hours.
Oltenians also enjoy polenta and all kind of pies made of “malai” (a sort of corn flour, used also to cook polenta) which are still backed in the “?est” in the countryside. Traditional Oltenian dishes are "ghiveci calugaresc" (Monk’s hotchpotch), "tochitura olteneasca", mici (they seem to be a kind of sausages with no gut cover which are grilled on a barbecue) and "carnati oltenesti" (Oltenian sausages), "ciulama de pui cu mamaliga" (veloute with chicken and polenta), "saramura de peste" (a kind of fish soup), "mancare de praz" (a leek dish), "gutui cu piept de pui" (chicken breast with quince), "rosii umplute cu carne si orez/doar orez" ( tomatoes filled with minced meat and rice or with rice only) and many others.
Author: Irina Petre
Transylvanian Cuisine
Transylvanian cuisine is full of flavours and fattening and I guess Eskimos would be envious of these meals if they knew them. But there is a logical explanation for these rich meals and we should think this region is a mountain and hill area, with cold winters.
The well known bacon, onion and bread (slanina cu ceapa si paine) is only a scrap of the barrel and the local recipes book has many pages with very diverse recipes, mixing up influences from Austro-Hungarians and various German populations who settled there during centuries. That was how entered the recipes book the Austrian snitzel, the German (actually “sasesc” – "sasii" are a German population who migrated to Transylvania between the 12th and 13th centuries) kaiser ( a sort of fat bacon) or the “secuiesc” (apparently people known as “secui” have Hungarian origins) papricas (a kind of dumplings made of flour, eggs, butter and optionally cheese served with boiled veal meat and paprika).
The widespread “Borsch” from Moldova is not very much used in Transylvania. People around here prefer pork, beef or lamb soups seasoned with vinegar and spiced with all kind of herbs and roots but tarragon is by far the most frequently used herb. It is also traditional in this area to put sour cream in soups – so, if it happens to you to see somewhere “ciorba/ supa ardeleneasca” (which translates “Transylvanian soup” ) on a Romanian restaurant menu then you should expect to find sour cream in it.
An interesting feature of the Transylvanian cuisine is represented by its… fruit soups: next to the well – known tomatoes soup or kohlrabi & fennel (gulii & chimen) you might be surprised to find apple soup, quince soup, raisins soup or morello cherry soup seasoned with sour cream. Transylvanian housewives give them a sour taste by using a large variety of herbs and spices. Pork is very much eaten at the main meals, especially during the cold season. Transylvanians do not usually eat fish, since the region is crossed by quick rivers where fishing is not possible or very difficult.
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| bacon, onion and bread |
Lard and roux (“rantas” in Romanian) are also largely used for preparing main meals. “Rantas” is obtained from stewed onion which is then fried with some flour in a sauce pan. Transylvanians cooks would use traditionally white dressing but sometimes they are not afraid to make use of red ones, with lots of paprika! You should not be surprised if you taste a salad and it is a bit sweet – it is common in this region to add some sugar to salads and dressings.
Cabbage à la Cluj is a dish as famous as the sarmale or the Oltenian sausages. Chopped cabbage (actually it has to be sauerkraut) is mixed up with minced meat and rice in a pan and baked in the oven, when ready it is served with sour cream and it is indeed very tasty. If you go to a local restaurant and want to order a portion of sarmale you should be careful how many of them you order: Transylvanian sarmale are giant and it can easily happen that 2 or 3 of them weigh the same as 8 – 9 Moldavian ones! But Transylvanian meals would always end with a cake or something sweet picked up from an impressive list of desserts.
There are many types of fruit and cheese pies, cozonaci (panettone), langosi and gogosi (different kinds of doughnuts), pancakes and the delicious “gomboti cu prune ” ( a kind of dumplings made of potatoes, eggs and flour, filled with plums and sprinkled with cinnamon, sugar and “pesmet” – a kind of crushed dried bread).
Author: Irina Petre
Banat Cuisine
Banat is a region that lies in the western part of Romania and as you might guess, it suffered most of the Transylvanian culinary influences, Serbian influences but some Italian and French credits are to be felt too.
Banat people like pork meat as much as their neighbours from the north like it: sausages, smoked bacon, the famous “sarmale” and many, many others. Pork dishes are seasoned especially with fried vegetables and dressing based on flour and spices like black pepper, paprika, savory, horse radish or fennel. Fennel is very much used in this area not only for main dishes but also for various snacks such as salty biscuits, crisps, shortbreads and other hors d’oevre which are served all day long – these salty cookies are to be eaten before meals, after meals (as a kind of “dessert”) or between meals and they make a traditional snap in Banat. One can choose between “pogacele” (almost a symbol of Banat) and a huge variety of “saratele” ( an umbrella term for salty pastry). You would also find a lot of chicken dishes apart from pork ones while beef and fish are not that common.
There is also a long list of sweet or sour soups – to obtain the sour taste the most frequently used substance is lemon juice. People often get their soups tastier by adding some sour cream, tarragon and “rantas”. “Rantas” is obtained from stewed onion (ceapa calita) which is afterwards fried with some flour in a sauce pan. For someone travelling to Banat and getting into local restaurants or people’s households it is easy to notice some features of local gastronomy: sweet dishes, lots of noodles and “rantas” almost for everything (Banatians would even use “rantas” for their sarmale)
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| "saratele" salty pastry |
Noodles are to be found in many soups but there are also specific dishes with noodles and many puddings and desserts – “Varga Beles ” is an exquisite example. It is basically a pudding made of homemade noodles, cow sweet cheese and sultanas – everything is covered in a pie sheet and baked in the oven. The traditional sarmale are prepared a bit differently from other regions as people use “rantas” to cook them; they are bigger than the Moldavian ones but not as big as the Transylvanian giants.
If you go to a local restaurant in Banat and ask the waiter for the famous “supa cu zdrente ” – this is a soup and these “zdrente” (which translates “rags” or “shreds”) are a mixture of eggs, flour and milk or water which have been poured down into the boiling soup. Enjoy this dish but watch out not to burn your tongue as Banat people like to eat their soups very hot!
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| "supa cu zdrente" |
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