Romanian cuisine

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v t e
A plate of srmlue cu mmlig, a popular Romanian dish of stuffed cabbage rolls (sarmale)
, accompanied by sauerkraut and mmlig. The cabbage rolls are usually garnished with
sour cream, not lemon and olive.
Romanian cuisine is a diverse blend of different dishes from several traditions
with which it has come into contact, but it also maintains its own character. It
has been greatly influenced by Ottoman cuisine, while it also includes influenc
es from the cuisines of other neighbours, such as Germans, Serbs, Bulgarians, an
d Hungarians.
Quite a few different types of dishes are sometimes included under a generic ter
m; for example, the category ciorb includes a wide range of soups with a characte
ristic sour taste. These may be meat and vegetable soups, tripe (ciorb de burt) an
d calf foot soups, or fish soups, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerk
raut juice, vinegar, or traditionally bor. The category uic (plum brandy) is a gene
ric name for a strong alcoholic spirit in Romania, while in other countries, eve
ry flavour has a different name.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Ancient history
2.1 Dacian cuisine
2.2 Roman influence
3 Middle ages
3.1 Ottoman influence
4 Description
5 List of dishes
5.1 Soups
5.2 Meat
5.3 Fish
5.4 Vegetables
6 List of salads
7 List of cheese types
8 List of desserts
9 List of drinks
10 See also

11 Notes and references

12 Other sources
13 External links
History[edit]
In history of Romanian culinary literature, Costache Negruzzi and Mihail Koglnice
anu are the compilers of a cookbook 200 reete cercate de bucate, prjituri i alte tre
bi gospodreti (200 tried recipes, pastries and other household things) printed in 1
841.[1] Also, Negruzzi writes in "Alexandru Lpuneanu": "In Moldavia at this time,
fine food wasn't fashioned. Greater feast could have included few courses. After
Polish bor, Greek dishes follow, boiled with herbs floating in butter, after tha
t, Turkish pilaf, and finally cosmopolitan steaks".[2]
Ancient history[edit]
Dacian cuisine[edit]
Cheese was known since Ancient history. Brnz is the generic word for cheese in Rom
anian. This word is from Dacian. In addition to cheese, Dacians ate vegetables (
lentils, peas, spinach, garlic) and fruits (grapes, apples, raspberries) with hi
gh nutritional value.[3]
The Dacians produced wine in massive quantities. Once Burebista, a Dacian king,
angered by the wine abuse of his warriors, cut the vines; his people gave up dri
nking wine.[4] Legend says that the Dacian people created their own beer. As a r
esult, beer was made by Romanians.
Roman influence[edit]
With Romans, came a certain taste, rooted in the centuries for the pastry made w
ith cheese, like alivenci, pasc, or brnzoaice. The Romans introduced porridge, whi
ch inspired variations of millet porridges.
Middle ages[edit]
Maize and potatoes became staples of Romanian cuisine after their introduction t
o Europe. Maize in particular contributed to an increase in nutrition level and
health of the Romanian population in the 16th and 17th centuries, resulting in a
population boom.
Ottoman influence[edit]
For 276 years, Romania was under the rules of the Ottoman Empire. Turkish cuisin
e changed the Romanian table with appetizers made of eggplant, peppers or other
vegetables, as well as various meat preparations like spicy chiftele (deep-fried
meatballs, a variation of kofta) and the famous mici (short sausages without ca
sings, usually barbecued). The various ciorb (sour soups) and meat-and-vegetable
stews, such as iahnie de fasole (beans), ardei umpluti (stuffed peppers), and sa
rmale (stuffed cabbage) are also of Turkish (and Arab) influence. The beloved ri
ch (Romanian) tomato salad is a variation of the Lebanese dish. There is a uniqu
e procession of sweets and pastries combining honey and nuts, such as baklava, s
arailie (serai-gli), halva, and rahat (Turkish delight). These sweets are nowada
ys used in confectionery, such as cakes.
Description[edit]
Romanian recipes bear the same influences as the rest of Romanian culture. The T
urks have brought meatballs (perioare in a meatball soup), from the Greeks there
is musaca, from the Austrians there is the niel, and the list could continue. The
Romanians share many foods with the Balkan area (in which Turkey was the cultura
l vehicle), Central Europe (mostly in the form of German-Austrian dishes introdu
ced through Hungary or by the Saxons in Transylvania), and Eastern Europe (inclu
ding Moldova). Some others are original or can be traced to the Roman or other a
ncient civilizations. The lack of written sources in Eastern Europe makes it imp
ossible to determine today the punctual origin for most of them.
One of the most common meals is the mmlig, a type of polenta, served on its own or

as an accompaniment. Pork is the main meat used in Romanian cuisine, but also be
ef is consumed and a good lamb or fish dish is never to be refused.
Before Christmas, on December 20 (Ignat's Day or Ignatul in Romanian),[5] a pig
is traditionally sacrificed by every rural family.[6] A variety of foods for Chr
istmas prepared from the slaughtered pig consist of the following:
Crna i sausages which may be smoked or dry-cured;
Caltabo an emulsified sausage based on liver with consistency from fine (pt) to coa
rse;
Sngerete (black pudding) an emulsified sausage obtained from a mixture of pig's b
lood with fat and meat, breadcrumbs or other grains, and spices;
Tob (head cheese) based on pig's feet, ears and meat from the head suspended in a
spic and stuffed in pig's stomach;
Tochitur pan-fried cubed pork served with mmlig and wine ("so that the pork can swim
");
Piftie or Rcitur inferior parts of the pig, mainly the tail, feet and ears, spiced
with garlic and served in aspic;
Jumri dried pork remaining from rendering of the fat and tumbled through various
spices;
The Christmas meal is sweetened with the traditional cozonac, a sweet bread with
nuts, poppy seeds or rahat (Turkish delight).
At Easter, lamb is served: the main dishes are bor de miel (lamb sour soup), roas
t lamb and drob de miel a Romanian-style lamb haggis made of minced offal (heart
, liver, lungs) with spices, wrapped in a caul and roasted.[7][8] The traditiona
l Easter cake is pasc, a pie made of yeast dough with a sweet cottage cheese fill
ing at the center.[9][10]
Romanian pancakes, called cltite, are thin (like the French crpe) and can be prepa
red with savory or sweet fillings: ground meat, cheese, or jam. Different recipe
s are prepared depending on the season or the occasion.[11]
Wine is the preferred drink, and Romanian wine has a tradition of over three mil
lennia.[11] Romania is currently the world's ninth largest wine producer, and re
cently the export market has started to grow.[11] Romania produces a wide select
ion of domestic varieties (Feteasc, Gras, Tamioas, and Busuioac), as well as varietie
s from across the world (Italian Riesling, Merlot, Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet Sau
vignon, Chardonnay, and Muscat Ottonel). Beer is also highly regarded, generally
blonde pilsener beer, made with German influences. There are also Romanian brew
eries with a long tradition.
According to the 2009 data of FAOSTAT, Romania is the world's second largest plu
m producer (after the United States),[12] and as much as 75% of Romania's plum p
roduction is processed into the famous uic, a plum brandy obtained through one or
more distillation steps.[13]
List of dishes[edit]
Soups[edit]
Ciorb de cartofi
Ciorb de burt
Sup (de pui) cu tieei
Bor is fermented wheat bran, a souring agent for ciorb. Bor is also used today as a
synonym for ciorb, but in the past a distinction was made between bor and ciorb (a
critur), the souring agent for the latter being the juice of unripe fruits, such
as grapes, mirabelle, or wood sorrel leaves.
Bor de urechiue, wild mushroom sour soup

Ciorb is the traditional Romanian sour soup

Ciorb de burt (tripe soup), soured with sour cream
Ciorb de perioare (meatball soup)
Ciorb de fasole cu afumtur (bean and smoked meat soup)
Ciorb de legume (vegetable soup)
Ciorb de pete "ca-n Delt" (fish soup prepared in the style of the Danube Delta)
Ciorb de praz is a leek soup
Ciorb de pui is a chicken soup
Ciorb de lobod is a red orach soup
Ciorb de salat cu afumtur (green salad and smoked meat soup)
Ciorb de sfecl, also called Bor de sfecl or Bor rusesc
Ciorb rneasc (peasant soup), made with a variety of vegetables and from any kind of m
eat (beef, pork, mutton, fish)
Sup (generic name for sweet (usually clear) soups, made out of vegetables alone o
r combined with poultry and beef). The difference between Sup and Ciorb is that th
e meat and most of the vegetables are removed, the resulted liquid being served
with dumplings or noodles. There are also a number of sour soups, which use lemo
n juice as a souring agent, called Supe a la grec (Greek soups).
Sup (de pui) cu glute (clear dumpling soup with chicken broth)
Sup (de pui) cu tieei (clear noodle soup with chicken broth)
Meat[edit]
Mititei, mustard, and bread rolls
Frigrui, Romanian-style kebabs
Caltabo/chic - a cooked sausage made of minced pork organs and rice, stuffed in a p
ig's casing
Crnai - a garlicky sausage, as in Fasole cu crnai
Chiftele - a type of large meatball covered with breadcrumbs or a flour crust
Ciulama - white roux sauce used in a variety of meat dishes
Ciulama de viel - veal ciulama
Ciulama de pui - chicken ciulama
Drob de miel - a lamb haggis made of minced organs wrapped in a caul and roasted
like a meatloaf; a traditional Easter dish
Frigrui - Romanian-style kebabs
Limb cu msline - cow tongue with olives
Mititei (mici) - grilled minced-meat rolls
Grtar (usually made together with "mici") - grilled pork/beef with condiments
Musaca - an eggplant, potato, and meat pie
Ostropel - method of cooking chicken or duck
Paprica - Goulash
Prjoale - a type of meatball
Piftie - preparation is similar to the French demi-glace. Pork stock reduced by
simmering is placed in containers, spiced with garlic and sweet paprika powder,
the boiled pork meat is added, and then left to cool. The cooled liquid has a ge
latinous consistency.
Plecoi sausages
Rasol
Slnin - pork fat, often smoked
niel - a pork, veal, or beef breaded cutlet (a variety of Viennese schnitzel)
Cordon bleu niel - breaded pork tenderloin stuffed with ham and cheese
Mosaic niel - a specialty of Western Romania, which is two thin layers of differen
t meats with a mushroom filling. Other vegetable fillings may be used instead of
mushrooms.
niel de pui - breaded chicken breast cutlet
Stufat - lamb, onion and garlic stew
Tob - sausage (usually pig's stomach, stuffed with pork jelly, liver, and skin)
Tocan/tocani - meat stew
Tocni vntoreasc - venison stew
Tochitur - a Romanian-style stew

Varz clit - steamed cabbage with pork ribs, duck, or sausages

Virli - a type of sausage made from a mixture of goat or lamb with pork
Sarmale - minced meat with rice, wrapped in either pickled cabbage leaves or vin
e leaves
Fish[edit]
Romanian roe salad decorated with black olives.
Salata de icre - roe salad, traditionally made from carp, pike, or various marin
e fish species, called tarama, with onion
Plachie din pete - ragout of river fish with vegetables
Saramur de crap - carp in brine
Pan de somn rasol - catfish in brine with garlic
Chiftele de pete - fish cake
Paprica de pete - fish paprikash
Crap pane - breaded carp fillet
Ghiveci cu pete - fish stew with vegetables
Macrou afumat - smoked mackerel fillet
Vegetables[edit]

Ardei umplui
Ardei umplui - stuffed bell peppers
Dovlecei umplui - stuffed zucchini
Gulii umplute - stuffed kohlrabi
Vinete umplute - stuffed eggplant
Sarmale - stuffed cabbage rolls, also made with grape or dock leaves
Ghiveci - vegetable stew or cooked vegetable salad, similar to the Bulgarian gju
vec and the Hungarian lecs[14][15]
Ghiveci clugresc - vegetable stew prepared by the nuns in the monasteries
Iahnie - beans that are spiced up and cooked until there's no more water, formin
g a soft sticky sauce binding the beans together
Fasole batut - boiled beans that are mashed up, spiced with salt, pepper and a bi
t of garlic. It is served with diced and fried onions and tomato paste or sauce.
Mmlig - cornmeal mush, also known as Romanian-style polenta. Mmlig can be served as a
side dish or form the basis of further dishes, such as "mmlig cu lapte" (polenta wi
th hot milk), "bulz" (baked polenta with Romanian sheep cheese and sour cream),
"mmligu cu brnz i smntn" (polenta with telemea (Romanian cheese similar to feta) an
cream), etc.
Mncare de mazre - pea stew
Mncare de praz - leek stew
Pilaf - rice, vegetables, and pieces of meat (optional), often wings and organs
of chicken, pork, or lamb. Cooking method is very similar to risotto.
Chiftelue de ciuperci - chiftele made of mushrooms instead of meat
Sniel de ciuperci - mushroom fritter (niel is the Romanian spelling of the German w
ord schnitzel (breaded boneless cutlet), but it may be used to mean any sort of
fritter)
Plcint aromn - pie with spinach and white cheese
Tocan de ciuperci - mushroom stew
Tocni de glbiori - chanterelle stew
Zacusc
List of salads[edit]
Salat de vinete, served on slices of bread
Ardei copi - roasted pepper salad, with vinegar and sunflower or olive oil
Castravei murai - pickled small cucumbers
Gogonele - pickled green tomatoes, which is the simple version of murturi asortat
e
Varz murat - cabbage pickled in brine, flavored with dill stalks
Murturi asortate - pickled mixed vegetables; a combination of any of the followin
g: onions, garlic, green tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, kohlrabi, beets, carrots,
celery, parsley roots, cauliflower, apples, quince, unripe plums, small unripe

watermelons, small zucchini, and red cabbage. It is most often cured in brine (T
urkish version), but also in vinegar (German version).
Mujdei - crushed garlic sauce
Salat de boeuf - minced meat with boiled vegetables, mayonnaise, and a dash of mu
stard
Salat de vinete - roasted and peeled eggplant, chopped onion, and salt mixed with
oil or mayonnaise
Salat oriental - potato salad with eggs, onions, and olives
Salat de sfecl - beet salad
Salat de roii - tomato salad, with sliced onions, bell peppers, and cucumber. Flav
ored with dill or parsley.
List of cheese types[edit]
Cacaval Penteleu cheese
The generic name for cheese in Romania is brnz, and it is considered to be of Daci
an origin. Most of the cheeses are made of cow's or sheep's milk. Goat's milk is
rarely used. Sheep cheese is considered "the real cheese", although in modern t
imes some people refrain from consuming it due to its higher fat content and spe
cific smell.
Brnz de burduf is a kneaded cheese prepared from sheep's milk and traditionally st
uffed into a sheep's stomach; it has a strong taste and semi-soft texture
Brnz topit is a melted cheese and a generic name for processed cheese, industrial p
roduct
Brnz n coule is a sheep's milk, kneaded cheese with a strong taste and semi-soft text
ure, stuffed into bellows of fir tree bark instead of pig bladder, very lightly
smoked, traditional product
Ca is a semi-soft fresh white cheese, unsalted or lightly salted, stored in brine
, which is eaten fresh (cannot be preserved), traditional, seasonal product
Cacaval is a semi-hard cheese made with sheep's or cow's milk, traditional produc
t
Nsal is a type of cheese with a pungent aroma, traditional product
Penteleu, a type of Cacaval, traditional product
vai er, industrial product (Schweizer Kse)
Telemea, cow's or sheep's milk white cheese, vaguely similar to feta. The tradit
ional "Brnz de Brila" (a type of telemea, which has become quite scarce) is spiced
with Nigella Damascena seeds, which give it a unique flavor.
Urd - made by boiling the whey drained from cow's or ewe's milk until the remaini
ng proteins precipitate and can be collected, traditional product
List of desserts[edit]
Amandine, Romanian chocolate sponge cake.
Papanai, Romanian doughnuts.
Covrigi - pretzel[16]
Gogoi - literally "doughnuts", but more akin to fried dough[17]
Halva
Rahat - Turkish delight
Plcint - pie
Coliv - boiled wheat, mixed with sugar and walnuts (often decorated with candy an
d icing sugar; distributed at funerals and memorial ceremonies)
Cozonac - a kind of Stollen made from leavened dough, into which milk, eggs, sug
ar, butter, and other ingredients are mixed
Cozonac
Pandipan
Orez cu lapte
Gri cu lapte
Lapte de pasre - literally "bird's milk", vanilla custard garnished with "floatin
g islands" of whipped egg whites

Crem de zahr ars

Cltite - pancakes
Turt dulce - gingerbread
Chec - coffee cake
Papanai - a kind of doughnut made from a mixture of sweet cheese, eggs, and semol
ina, boiled or fried and served with fruit syrup or jam and sour cream
arlot - a custard made from milk, eggs, sugar, whipped cream, gelatin, fruits, and
ladyfingers; from the French Charlotte
Prjituri - assorted pastries
Savarine - savarina[18]
Amandine - chocolate sponge cake with almond and chocolate filling, glazed in ch
ocolate
Joffre cake - invented at the Casa Capa restaurant in Bucharest
Mucenici - sweet cookies (shaped like "8", made of boiled or baked dough, garnis
hed with walnuts, sugar or honey, eaten on a single day of the year, on 9 March)
[19]
Pelincile Domnului
Salam de biscuii - literally "salami of biscuits", with chocolate, biscuits, Turk
ish delight, and rum essence. Its cyndrical shape resembles a sausage, hence the
name.
Cornule e - pastries filled with Turkish delight, jam, chocolate, cinnamon sugar,
walnuts or raisins, with the shape representing a crescent
List of drinks[edit]
Afinat - blueberry liqueur
Bere
Brag
Cafea
Horinc is a plum brandy, produced near the border with Ukraine
Plinc is a strong, double-distilled plum brandy, produced in Transylvania
Rachiu is a fruit brandy. Whereas "rachiu" can be made from any fruit (except pl
ums), " uic" is reserved exclusively to brandy made of plums.
Secric is a caraway fruit flavored vodka, similar to the German kmmel
libovi is a plum brandy, produced near the border with Serbia
Socat is a non-alcoholic beverage made of fermented elderflower (Sambucus nigra)
Rachiu de tescovin is a pomace brandy produced from grapes that have been used in
wine production, very similar to the Italian grappa
uic is a plum brandy
Tur is a strong, double-distilled plum brandy, named after the village of Tur in n
orthwestern Romania
Viinat is a sour cherry liqueur
Vin
Pelin de mai is a wine specialty, usually produced in the spring, flavored with
Artemisia dried plants
Vodc
Zmeurat is a raspberry liqueur
Ceai - in the form of either various plant tisannes (cammomille, mint, tilly flo
wer, a.s.o.) or common black tea, called ceai rusesc in Romanian, which is Russi
an tea usually served during breakfast.
Sirop - syrup made of fir tree, pine, buckthorn, blueberry, raspberry or strawbe
rry with different types of honey or sugar
Must - it is the grape juice in the fermentation process but it hasn't become wi
ne yet.
See also[edit]
Beer in Romania
Flag of Romania.svgRomania portal Foodlogo2.svgFood portal
Notes and references[edit]
Jump up ^ Bogdan Ulmu: Retete de la Kogalniceanu & Negruzzi | Bucatarescu
Jump up ^ Lumea nr 17,1946,p 1,Art:O carte de bucate, G. Clinescu
Jump up ^ "Alimenta ia la daci", Dracones.ro
Jump up ^ Strabo, Geography, VII:3.11

Jump up ^ Ignatul or Ignat's Day (December 20)

Jump up ^ Christmas customs in Romania: "pig's ritual sacrifice"
Jump up ^ Making lamb drob
Jump up ^ Traditional recipe for drob de miel, with step-by-step photos
Jump up ^ A photo of pasca
Jump up ^ Pasca recipe
^ Jump up to: a b c Educations.com/Study in Romania
Jump up ^ "Final 2009 Data". Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nat
ions.
Jump up ^ uica production consumed 75% of Romanian plums in 2003
Jump up ^ Ghiveci: Romanian vegetable stew
Jump up ^ Recipe for ghiveci
Jump up ^ Covrigi on display
Jump up ^ Varieties of gogoi: photos and recipes (Romanian)
Jump up ^ Recipe for savarina
Jump up ^ Mucenici: background and recipe
Other sources[edit]
Nicolae Klepper, Taste of Romania, Hippocrene, New York, 1999, ISBN 978-0-7818-0
766-1, ISBN 0-7818-0766-2
External links[edit]
Romanian Cuisine
Manger lorientale en Roumanie
[show] v t e
Cuisine of Romania
[show] v t e
Romania topics
[show] v t e
European cuisine
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Cuisines
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Lists of prepared foods
Categories: Romanian cuisine
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