Romanian Culinary Art

Romanian Cuisine – Expression of Diversity

   

     When visiting a new place I tend to think that each of us is pretty much curious about the local cuisine: in fact, apart from the basic need of feeding yourself one might like to taste something traditional in the area. This can be for cultural reasons or because of simply curiosity. Anyway, eating habits and local cuisine say a lot about a country or a region inhabitants and their culture.

     Like everywhere else in the world Romanian gastronomy is an expression of the geography and history of the country too: the landscape diversity provides Romanian housewives with a large variety of fruits, vegetables and spices while the historical neighborhood of other ethnic groups has left a colourful and tasty mark. So, Romanian cuisine is extremely diverse. In fact it is a mix up of different dishes from several cultures it has come across during its stormy past, but it has managed to maintain its own character and adapt the foreign recipes to local taste. It has been greatly influenced by Balkan cuisine but it has retained some influences from other neighbours’ culinary traditions, such as Germans, Serbians, and Hungarians too.
Traditional Romanian spirits are very… strong and we can include here the famous palinca and tuica. Palinca is a traditional Transylvanian drink and it is a type of brandy, usually made from plums, apples, pears or apricots and its alcohol content is at least 40% but home made drinks can even reach 60% – 70% although their fruit flavour is still strong. Tuica is another type of local brandy in Wallahia.
But Romania is also a great wine producer. In fact arheological findings and historical documents place the beginning of wine culture on these lands some 4000 years ago. High quality wines produced in this region were object of trade ever since ancient times. Some of the most important vineyard centres are Dealu Mare, Pietroasa, Dragasani, Murfatlar, Cotnari, Odobesti and some of the best Romanian wine varieties include Tamaioasa Romaneasca, Feteasca Alba, Feteasca Neagra, Galbena de Odobesti, Babeasca, Busuioaca and many others.

A few characteristics of the Romanian cuisine
Although each region has its own specific specialties, there are a few characteristics of Romanian traditional cuisine.

     A lot of bread – Once I have heard some skinny western ladies complaining about the awful Romanian meals which come always along a big and fattening loaf of bread…well, this has a very simple explanation: since ancient times, Romanians have always been an agrarian society and to worship agrarian and earth gods came natural to them. That is why cereals like wheat have always played an important role in their life…and in their cuisine too. Wheat and bread are symbols of fertility and abundance, according to folk beliefs and this superstition is also connected to the Orthodox religion where bread represents Jesus’ body and that is why one should never waste or throw away the “holy bread”.
In the past baking bread was almost a solemn ritual and bread – under different shapes and compositions – was part of all major ceremonies like a child’s birth, a wedding feast, Christmas and a lot of other both religious and profane festivals over the year.
People used to bake bread in different beautiful shapes – they could be round, twined and criss-crossed according to the baker’s imagination and had various names like colaci, turte, turtite, impletite etc; usually women were the cooks in the family so they were the authors of all these incredible models. Bread could also make good sweets – if the “colaci” or “turte” were cooked with sugar, honey, eggs or other spices and/or taped with walnuts, sugar, honey or syrup.
An old custom – which is still valid in some villages today – was to welcome your guests or visitors with bread and salt, as a symbol of hospitality – home backed bread had a special flavour and it was both tasty and healthy.
A lot of soups – you can find a lot of soup recipes in Romanian cuisine; some of them are clear soups but some of them are thicker brods which are usually prepared with lots of vegetables and these ones are called “ciorbe” in Romanian.
Some of the most widely spread and appreciated clear soups are “supa cu galuste” (this is a clear chicken soup served with a kind of semolina dumplings inside it) and “supa cu taitei” – a chicken soup with noodles which were traditionally home made from flour (most of the times wheat flour), eggs, salt and water. These soups may contain some vegetables like carrots, celery, onions, potatoes and parsley or they can be very simple with only chicken meat, semolina dumplings/noodles and spices – especially parsley and black pepper.

 “Ciorbe” are extremely diverse – one can prepare a “ciorba” almost from everything. Meat used for “ciorbe” can be of any kind – pork, beef, chicken, lamb – and they usually contain a mix up of vegetables. “Ciorbe” are usually served with sour cream (“smantana”) in Transylvania but there are several recipes of brods whichfor almost every restaurant or pub in the country would let the client choose the way he wants to have the “ciorba” served: with or without sour cream.
The famous “ciorba de perisoare” is such an example: this kind of meatball soup cooked traditionally with vegetables like carrots, celery, tomatoes, onion, rice and parsley, dill, black pepper has been brought by Turks centuries ago and it was adapted to local taste.
There is also a large variety of vegetable soups which can be especially for fast days or not – if they are cooked with sour cream and/or eggs. There can be “ciorbe” based on lentil, beans, nettles, potatoes or orach but there are tens of recipes of vegetables soups in Romania.
Another very appreciated soup is “ciorba de fasole cu ciolan afumat” (bean soup with bone smoked meat) which in some parts of Transylvania is served inside a bread pot (a round thick well baked loaf of bread which was carved inside and had the soup poured down inside it) instead of a classical soup plate – this might sound like a wacky thing for some people but I can assure you the dish is extremely tasty and do not worry – the soup will not leak off the table.
In Dobrogea (especially in the Danube Delta area) fish soup is at high esteem.
A lot of fast days – our country main religion is Orthodox Christianity and because countrymen were very religious people they used to keep a lot of fast days over the year. The longest fast period is before Easter – 40 days of meals without any kind of meat, eggs or dairy products, by sympathy with Jesus’ 40 days of so called black fast (no food at all) in desert – but there are a lot of other shorter fast periods plus every Wednesday and Friday during the week.
As you can imagine there are a lot of dishes for fast periods and some of them are really delicious.
Rich, heavy meals – yes, indeed one might think Romanians eat like medieval people but there are reasons for these substantial dishes. Like in most other upland regions people had fat heavy meals in order to provide them with energy for cold weather and hard work. Farmers all over the country needed rich meals after long hours of sweaty labour on the field. Boyars and noblemen threw large feasts and it was always important to have as many and varied dishes on the table as possible.
Christmas and New Year banquets – this is the biggest religious festival over the year and in winter times pigs and their meat are the stars in the Romanian cuisine. Why? Because of something that might seem cruel to a lot of foreigners – it still seems cruel to some native city people – but it is part of our folk traditions.
On the 20th of December – day called “Ignat” – pigs in the farmers households are being sacrificed (they are slaughtered having their throat cut) so their organs and meat can be used for various Christmas dishes. Despite some EU rules calling for any pig slaughtered on the farm to be stunned before its throat is cut it is not clear to me that backyard throat slitting – even without stunning – is less humane than sending the pigs packed in trucks to big slaughterhouses, something one can see on roads across other EU states.

Here are some special Christmas dishes, which can be easily found all over the country:

• Carnati – pork based sausages
• Caltabosi – a special type of sausages made from heart, liver, lungs and meat
• Piftie – pork based jelly (aspic) made of pork and leftover organs (such as ears or snouts), garlic and sometimes vegetables like carrots, string beans
• Toba – various cuttings of pork, liver boiled, diced and "packed" in pork stomach like a salami
• Sarmale – rolls of cabbage pickled in brine and filled with minced meat, rice and various spices and herbs. They can be served with sour cream and/or polenta. These are probably the most well known Romanian dish, although similar things can be found in Bulgarian, Greek, Hungarian, Serbian, Slovenian, Turkish or Syrian cuisine.

• Cozonac – a special type of pannetone filled with a walnut squash and/or cocoa, raisins, Turkish delight or with poppy squash (poppy seeds dried, smashed and boiled with sugar and milk).

 March specialties – Mucenicii – these kind of sweets are baked only once a year – on the 9th of March – when Romanians feast the 40 (or 44) Martyrs from Sevasta who were said to had been Christian soldiers in the army of Roman emperor Licinius, who were imprisoned and convicted to die in a cold lake – Sevasta – but God strengthened their will and their bodies too so they would not die.
All “Mucenici” have the shape of figure “8” – a symbol of human body – and in the southern part of Romania (Oltenia, Dobrogea) they are small pieces of pastry boiled in water with sugar or honey, chopped walnuts and cinnamon. They are served as a sweet cold soup – the liquid stands for Sevasta Lake… ingenious dish! In the northern parts of the country, Moldavians had not been that precise because they only bake 8 shaped pieces of dough – simple or twined – honey them and sprinkle walnuts on top. Absolutely delicious!
Easter feast – there is always going to be lamb on the table for Easter! Lamb means purity and a new life and it is also a symbol of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for humans’ sins. Lamb roast and sometimes lamb soup is eaten on the Easter day.

But for Easter there are also “sarmale” and “cozonac” on the table alongside of other specialties as:

• Drob – a cooked mix of intestines, meat (traditionally lamb), eggs and fresh vegetables, mainly green onion and dill
• Oua rosii (red painted eggs) – for Easter Romanians use to knock symbolically red eggs (hard boiled eggs painted traditionally in red – but today people use different colours) – red as Jesus’ blood – saying “Jesus has resurrected” and the answer is “Yes, indeed He is resurrected”.
• Pasca – a nutty kind of cheesecake made only at Easter time – it is yummy but only once a year!

Coliva – dead people’s cake
Coliva is a special “cake – salad” which is offered at funerals and when people give alms for their passed away relatives. Traditionally Orthodox people celebrate (actually is more like a memorial and a day of mourning) their close relatives’ death by going to the church and giving alms to poor people or to neighbours, relatives or friends. Romanians celebrate 7 days, 3 weeks, 40 days, 6 months, 9 months, 1 year, 2 years and so on since their relatives have left this world.
Alms consist of different dishes which have been previously blessed by a priest and “coliva” is the single dish which is cooked only in such occasion. It is made of boiled wheat, chopped walnuts, sugar/honey and various spices, such as lemon and orange peel, vanilla sugar, rum extract/essence; finally, the cake is beautifully decorated with caster sugar, cocoa, bon-bons and walnuts.
As the wheat grain is a symbol of Jesus, “coliva” is also a holy dish although it is a pagan times heritage. “Coliva” is a symbol of the after-death life and of revival, rebirth: according to folk tradition the dead body will resurrect the same way the wheat grain is first buried and then it germinates a new plant.

Author: Irina Petre 

 Muntenian Cuisine 

    Muntenia lies in the south – central part of Romania, along the Danube and further up to the mountains. Its cuisine is very ingenious and apart from some Greek and generally speaking oriental influences the most significant influence it suffered comes from the French cuisine. To understand this we should bear in mind that French culture and habits were extremely popular and fashionable in Wallachia, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries.

     Muntenian gastronomy is very similar to its sister, the Oltenian fresh cuisine. So, vegetables soups made of nettles, mushrooms and all kind of beans and weeds are very popular in this region too and they are usually enriched with rice, eggs and sour cream. Meat soups are cooked especially with chicken and beef and Muntenians cooks make good use of lovage too.
Soups and thicker broths come along a large choice of meat dishes such as chicken (in fact all kind of poultry), fish, pork, beef or mutton.
Dry and smoked plums (prune) are very appreciated in Muntenia and they make good ingredients for all kind of dishes, from main meals such as prune stew (with or without meat) to prune pies and puddings.
People from Muntenia eat indeed a lot of fresh salads – especially in spring and summer time – but during cold season they would not give up their salads, only that they would use more boiled vegetables, mixed up with cheese, cheddar, eggs and various dressings – which from the French mayonnaise is held in high esteem; in fact mayonnaise is very much used in Muntenia.
In conclusion, if you go to Muntenia you should expect to find on the menu something like: chicken roast with quince or apricots, duck with olives, prune dishes, mayonnaise salads, the famous tripe soup (served with garlic and sour cream), fish dishes and of course a lot of vegetables soups and vegetables main dishes.
If we speak about desserts – prune pie and pumpkin pie (and all sorts of puddings) are very popular here. Sweet specialties of the area are the boiled “papanasi” (a sort of round dumplings served with jam and sour cream) and the “mucenici cu zeama” / “mucenici muntenesti” or simply “mucenici” (“mucenici muntenesti” – a special type of small cookies boiled in water with walnuts, honey (or sugar) and cinnamon which are prepared only once a year – on the 9th of March).

Author: Irina Petre

Cuisine from Dobrogea and the Danube Delta

     

    This is the region that has probably seen the strongest Turkish influence during its history but Greeks, Tartars and Bulgarians left their traces too. The region lies in the south – eastern part of the country and due to a Mediterranean – like climate thanks to the proximity of the Black Sea and the Danube its cuisine is rather light and based on fish.

 

     If we are to sum up the local gastronomic habits then we have to speak about fish, mutton and game dishes as the most common. Breeding sheep has a long tradition in Dobrogea (Dobdrudja) and it was one of the main professions in the area, apart fishing and as one can imagine this is a good explanation for mutton being on the second place on the top of culinary preferences. Transylvanian shepherds who came to Dobrudja and settled there in the past brought with them certain culinary habits, among which the large use of cheese and dairy by – products.
Minced mutton or beef are used to prepare the Dobrogean (Dobrudjan) musaca made of egg fruits, tomatoes, potatoes and various spices and served with cold yogurt. As a matter of fact yogurt and kefir are very popular here. There are a lot of game dishes which are eaten especially in winter and autumn: wild boar meat balls, duck or teal with stuffing and all of them make very refined and appetizing choices.
Tripe soup is also very much enjoyed by the locals. The main ingredient is beef tripe, cleaned out the previous day and left to rest over the night in sodium bicarbonate. The second day it is boiled in salted water for about 2 hours. When the meat becomes tender, carrots and onions, as well as pepper and garlic are added to the boiling soup. The soup is further simmered for another 2 hours and then left to cool down. In the end the tripe is cut into narrow strips, the soup is strained and the liquid left is brought to boil again with the strips of tripe. It is served seasoned with vinegar or sour cream.
Other traditional dishes include: fish soups, “sarmale” made of fish, peste la protap (broiled fish), smoked fish, crap umplut (stuffed carp), saramura de crap (a kind of salted and pickled carp), stiuca umpluta cu orez (pike stuffed with rice), pilaf dobrogean (Dobrudjan rice dish), carnati de oaie (mutton sausages), miel la protap (broiled mutton), pastrama de oaie (mutton jerky), musaca, baklava, sarailii pies (similar to baklava) and a lot of sweets made with sultanas and Turkish delight.
Danube Delta gastronomy is very original and based almost only on fish and shell fish. One would not imagine what a long list of recipes local people could make with vegetables and… fish! If you go to the Danube Delta you should book a room in a small private household or small hostel to be able to better taste local fresh cuisine: fish borsch (a kind of soup), meat balls made of fish and rice, sarmale with fish stuffing, fish “zacusca” (a sort of hotchpotch with lots of vegetables), fish & pickles salads, fried fish, roast fish, stewed fish, fish soaked in brine (“saramura” – a type of salty liquid) and of course various dishes cooked with caviar.

Author: Irina Petre

 

Moldavian and Bucovinian Cuisine 

   This region lies in the north-eastern part of Romania and historically speaking it suffered few foreign influences from people who came to conquer these lands or to trade with natives. They managed to influence more or less the local culture. The Byzantine Empire and later on Greeks left some culinary marks in Moldavia – a large variety of sweets, some spicy dressing with various flavours or the Mediterranean habit of using dry wine to cook some dishes.

 

Turks (when the region came under their influence between the 16th and the very beginning of the 19th century) left one of the most powerful imprints on the local cuisine: the use of mutton on a large scale and dishes like musaca or hotchpotch (ghiveci). We should not forget the Russians: they left us something too – pickled vegetables and a lot of baked dishes and baked cakes. Nowadays the Moldavian cuisine is considered as being one of the most subtle of our country. Because of some Mediterranean influences (from Greeks) it is much lighter than for instance the Transylvanian one and it is also very tasty.
People in this part of the country eat a lot of soups; chicken soup is at high esteem among these (like it is the use of white meat – chicken and fish) and borsch (a homemade fermentation liquid obtained from bran and water) is largely used to get a slightly sour taste to soups. “Ciorba de potroace” (a kind of sour soup) is also particular in this area. It is made of chicken giblets boiled together with carrots, onion, rice, parsley and it is seasoned with borsch – people say this soup makes an excellent medicine for hangovers.
    The traditional “sarmale” are to be found all over the regions but they have something specific every part of the country. They are very small in Moldavia as one can easily obtain 8 to 10 sarmale from one single leaf of cabbage and the meat used to fill the “sarmale” is usually a mixture of pork and beef. Some Moldavians would also use vine leaves apart from sauerkraut to prepare their sarmale. Bean soup, stewed cabbage or “iahnie” (particular dish made of dried beans) are among the favorite meals of these people.
We should mention Moldavian “tochitura” too (chopped pork meat – liver and kidneys – mixed with lard, garlic, pepper and of course a glass of wine; everything is fried and simmered) which is always served with polenta.
Pies are traditional as desserts and they have extremely diverse shapes and tastes. Some of the best known pies are filled with cheese (cheese, especially mutton cheese is very much used in the Moldavian cuisine), sauerkraut, pumpkin, apples or comfiture. Donughts, dumplings, some kind of panettone, mucenici, pasca and pancakes enrich the list of local sweets which is anyway very large. Another local figure are walnuts – these fruits are used for a lot of cookies in Moldavia.

Author: Irina Petre 

 

 Tomorrow more Romanian Culinary Art