ROU - Culture - Cuisine

Cuisine

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 but also includes influences from the cuisines of other neighbours, such as the Greeks (musaca), Bulgarians (zacuscă), Turks (pilaf), and Hungarians (langoși). Quite different types of dishes are sometimes included under a generic term; for example, the category ciorbă includes a wide range of soups with a characteristic sour taste. These may be meat and vegetable soups, tripe and calf foot soups, or fish soups, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerkraut juice, vinegar, or traditionally borș (fermented wheat bran). Popular main courses include mititei, frigărui and the șnițel. One of the most common dishes is mămăliga (similar to the Italian polenta), and is served on its own or as a side dish. Pork and chicken are the preferred meats, but beef, lamb and fish are also popular.

Sarmale are prepared from minced meat (pork, beef, mutton, poultry or fish meat, especially in the Danube Delta), mixed with rice and other aliments (pap, couscous etc.) and wrapped in cabbage (fresh or sour) or vine leaves in the form of rolls. Usually, they are served with polenta and smetana, but can be served with a spoonful of fresh butter.

The list of desserts includes names like amandine, clătite, chec, cozonac, gogoși, griș cu lapte, lapte de pasăre etc. In the north-western Romania, are prepared so-called ciureghe, gomboți cu prune, pancove, plăcinte crețe, while in the north-eastern Romania, the traditional desserts are chec cu vișine, tartă cu mere, alivenci moldovenești.

Țuică is a strong plum brandy that is widely regarded as the country's traditional alcoholic beverage, along with wine. Romania is the world's second largest plum producer (after the United States) and as much as 75% of Romania's plum production is processed into the famous țuică, a plum brandy obtained through one or more distillation steps reaching (but not limited to) an 70% alcohol concentration depending on the number of steps of distillation. Alcoholic beverages are also obtained from other fruits (see rachiu, palincă and vișinată). Wine, however, is the preferred drink, and Romanian wines have a tradition of over three millennia. Romania is currently the world's 9th largest wine producer, and recently the export market has started to grow. Romania produces a wide selection of domestic varieties (Fetească, Grasă, Tamâioasă, Băbească), as well as varieties from across the world (Italian Riesling, Merlot, Sauvignon blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Muscat Ottonel). Beer is also highly regarded, generally blonde pilsener beer, the traditional methods of preparation being generally influenced by German wheat beers. There are some Romanian breweries with a long tradition, such as Timișoreana, Ursus and Azuga. Since the 19th century, beer has become increasingly popular, and today Romanians are amongst the heaviest beer drinkers in the world.

Certain recipes are made in direct connection with the season or the holidays. At Christmas, each family usually sacrifice a pig and prepare a large variety of dishes of its meat and organs (cârnați, caltaboși, chiftele, tobă, șnițele). At Easter, is customary to sacrifice a lamb, preparing of its meat drob de miel and roast lamb with thyme, as dessert being served pască cu brânză and cozonac cu nucă.