Mouthwatering Characteristics of Romanian Cuisine

Romanian food is a beautiful blend of many cultures the country came in contact with plus its own very special character. Among other cultures, Romanian cuisine is mainly influenced by the Ottoman cuisine. And it is also influenced by Serbian, German, Hungarian and Bulgarian cuisines. Recipes in Romanian are called Retetar. Here are a few mouthwatering characteristics of Romanian cuisine.

Ciorba

Ciorba in Romanian means soup. A variety of soups come under this category with a typical sour taste. These are made from various ingredients, like vegetable, meat, tripe and calf foot, fish and more, all of which are added with lemon juice, vingar, sauerkraut juice or bors (made from bran) for sourness.

Influence of Other Cultures

As said earlier, Romanian cuisine is influenced by a number of cultures, e.g. meatballs have been adopted from Turks, while musaca has been taken from Greeks. Snitel has been taken from Austrians and many other recipes were originated in the Balkan area. Many other dishes are original to Romania and can be traced to the Roman and other cultures.

Christmas Specialties

On the occasion of Christmas, a pig is sacrificed in rural area in every family and various dishes are prepared from it like:

• Camati: Smoked or dry-cured pork sausages added with garlic
• Sangerete (Black Pudding): An emulsified sausage made from the pig’s meat, blood and fat, and breadcrumbs, other grains and spices
• Tochitura: Cubical pieces of pork fried and served with wine and mamaliga
• Caltabos: Liver-based sausages
• Jumari: Dried pork left out from removal of fat and added with a variety of spices

Cozonac is a type of sweet bread specially made for Christmas from poppy seeds, nuts or rahat (Turkish sweet).

As pig is the animal for Christmas, lamb is for Easter. Main dishes made from lamb are de miel (sour soup), bors, drob de miel (made from minced liver, heart and lungs) and roast lamb. The dessert on this occasion is the traditional Easter cake named pasca, which is actually a pie, made from sweet cottage cheese filling in the center of yeast dough.

All in all, Romanian cuisine is a real treat for a real foodie who is open to everything. Try it if you haven’t yet, and a new world of flavors will open before you!