Radio România Internațional

Tag: cuisine

  • Spending New Year’s Eve in Romania

    Spending New Year’s Eve in Romania

    As a tragic event has occurred in Romania this year, which took the lives of over 60 people, in several cities, Bucharest included, authorities have decided not to organize the traditional New Year fireworks.



    Those who want to party on the New Year’s night have several options at hand. Bucharesters can attend the party at the Parliament Palace, one of the largest buildings in the world. There is a theme party held there every year. This year’s theme is “King or queen for one night.” The event’s organizer, Alin Caraman, has the details.



    Alin Caraman: “This New Year’s Eve party is very special because it is held in an emblematic building, the Parliament Palace, which every foreign tourist wants to visit once in Romania. Everything that has been created around this concept is unique. This year’s theme is related to royalty. It usually is a black tie event, but this year participants can also choose to wear costumes of kings and queens and a Master of Ceremonies will present them as such upon entering the hall. Around one thousand guests will party together in the building’s largest room, the Union Hall. There is also a stage and the tables on which the royal menu will be served. Each dish in the menu has been inspired by an event of an international royal house. Renowned Romanian bands will perform at the party.”



    So there will be a Master of Ceremonies announcing the guests. Whoever dreams of being Louis XIII of France, Prince Albert of Monaco or Queen Elisabeth of Britain can see their wish come true at the New Year party at the Parliament Palace. If it’s the black tie that you’re going for, organizers recommend ladies to wear a long dress or a cocktail dress, while the gentlemen should wear a Tuxedo, gray pants, white shirt, black silk bow tie and black shoes. In these outfits guests are allowed to take part in royal dances, which they can learn from professionals right there at the party. No wonder that this offer attracts so many people, both from Romania and from abroad.



    Alin Caraman: “Every year we enjoyed international participation, either ambassadors of foreign countries who decided it was the right place to spent the New Year’s Eve as well as foreigners who came here for this special event. And what could be more thrilling than spending the New Year’s Eve in the world’s second largest building, according to Guinness World Record, in an extremely elegant atmosphere with exquisite cuisine? Services are provided this year by suppliers of the Romanian Royal House. The organizer is a supplier of the Royal House and so are the catering company, the wine suppliers and the firm providing gentlemen’s attires. So, I can say the New Year’s Eve will have a royal theme this year. This is the reason for which many foreign tourists and foreign groups of tourists have contacted us and are getting ready to come to the Palace for the New Year’s Eve party.”



    An event of this kind is also being organized in Sibiu, central Romania, and this event could be attended by anyone, as it takes place right in the city center. Well-known Romanian artists are to step on the stage beginning with 10 p.m., but the special guest this year is a renowned artist from Italy. Here is event manager Andrei Dragan Radulet with more.



    Andrei Dragan Radulet: “A New Year’s Eve Party is being organized In Sibiu’s Grand Plaza on a retro theme. Because of the latest tragic events, a decision was made at national and even international level, under which there will be no fireworks this year in solidarity with those that have suffered. Retro means that we’ll bring in artists from the 80s and 90s, and one of them is Francesco Napoli, known for his 1980s hit Balla Balla.”



    If you are into mountain trekking, you could visit the resort of Slanic Moldova. Here is hotel manager Ioan Munteanu.



    Ioan Munteanu: “A four night accommodation package, all meals included, the New Year’s Eve dinner and carnival, costs 290 euros. Tourists coming on January 3rd can benefit from a three-day package with meals and activities included (access to swimming pool) at 250 euros. Both packages sold out a month ago.”


    No matter what you choose for the New Year’s Eve party, have fun and enjoy to the fullest!



  • Transylvanian Smoked Meat Soup

    Transylvanian Smoked Meat Soup

    This week’s recipe is the Transylvanian soup with smoked meat, which has two versions, one with potatoes, one with cabbage. Its little secret is that of blanching the meat before using it in the soup, because, no matter what kind of smoked preparation we use, boiling it takes away part of its salt.



    For this recipe, take half a kg of smoked ribs, a few potatoes, two onions, two carrots, one piece of celery root, a parsnip, tarragon, vinegar, egg, and sour cream. Shred the smoked rib, and set it to boil, skimming the pot periodically. Add the potatoes, cubed, then the chopped onion, carrot, parsnip and celeriac. At the end put in tomato juice, the finely chopped tarragon, then, at the end, mix separately egg yolk with sour cream to finish the soup.



    If, however, you opt for the sauerkraut solution, then finely shred it and wash it to make it less salty. Use the sauerkraut liquid as a souring agent. You can use less vegetables, but the minimum is two chopped onions and a few garlic cloves. Separately, brown two tablespoons of flour, then add some water, and after it comes to a boil, pour it into the soup pot. Towards the end add the chopped garlic and either use the egg yolk-sour cream mixture or some buttermilk. Enjoy!

  • Plats de la région de Valachie

    Plats de la région de Valachie

    Nous allors faire une incursion dans la région historique roumaine sise entre les Carpates et le Danube. Les documents historiques moyenâgeux décrivent souvent les fêtes organisées par les princes régnants valaques en l’honneur de leurs invités et l’abondance des plats sur les tables princières. Les grands boyards organisaient eux aussi des festins pour célébrer Noël, l’Epiphanie et Pâques. Ces repas festifs comprenaient une soixantaine de plats et les invités devaient absolument vider toutes les assiettes, afin de ne pas offenser les hôtes. Les cuisiniers de l’époque utilisaient la viande de porc, de mouton et de volaille, et évitaient le bœuf parce qu’ils disaient que cet animal avait beaucoup travaillé pendant sa vie pour tirer des chars et labourer la terre.



    La cuisine valaque est caractérisée par la diversité et l’ingéniosité. A travers le temps, elle a été influencée par la cuisine grecque, celle orientale, mais aussi par les cuisines française et même italienne. Dans cette région, on utilise aussi une longue liste de légumes et de fruits, mais aussi du poisson et des produits laitiers. L’aspic de coq, d’oie et de porc est un plat traditionnel de Valachie. A l’époque, les invités étrangers qui participaient aux festins découvraient fascinés un tel plat qui contenait aussi des morceaux de légumes aux couleurs vives. Les fruits en saumure, pommes, poires et petites pastèques qui accompagnaient des plats riches en graisses impressionnaient également les voyageurs étrangers. Selon la saison, les rôtis étaient accompagnés en automne par des coings et en hiver par des pruneaux.



    Les soupes aigres de bœuf ou de volaille sont également riches en légumes. Mentionnons aussi que ces soupes contiennent un ingrédient indispensable nommé bortch, un condiment originaire de Roumanie, obtenu à partir de la fermentation du son de blé. La soupe aux boulettes de viande et à la crème aigre est également très répandue en Valachie. C’est avec ce genre de soupes aigres que les boyards d’autrefois commençaient leur journée, lorsqu’ils se levaient tard et le petit-déj se transformait en un déjeuner copieux.



    C’est notamment une soupe aigre que nous vous proposons de préparer vous-mêmes à la maison. Vous avez besoin d’un ou de plusieurs morceaux de viande de porc, de bœuf ou de volaille et de beaucoup de légumes : un tiers de céleri-rave, deux racines de persil ou de panais et deux carottes, deux pommes de terre, des petits pois, un poivron, un quart de chou et un gros oignon. La liste se poursuit avec un demi-litre de jus de tomates ou un petit bocal de 250 grammes de coulis de tomates, du persil, de l’estragon ou de la livèche. N’oubliez pas non plus le bortch, que vous pouvez trouver sous une forme liquide ou en sachets chez les traiteurs roumains.



    Coupez la viande en cubes et faites-la bouillir dans une casserole plutôt large, et écumez-la à plusieurs reprises. Ajoutez les légumes coupés en dés d’un centimètre environ. Un quart d’heure avant de retirer la casserole du feu, ajouter le bortch et le jus ou le coulis de tomates. La soupe est servie chaude, enrichie de crème aigre. Ne pas oublier d’essayer un piment fort et un petit verre d’eau-de-vie de prunes. Uniquement si vous en avez le courage. (trad.: Alex Diaconescu)

  • Ragoût de porc

    Ragoût de porc

    Début décembre, toute la cuisine roumaine tourne autour d’un animal qui deviendra l’ingrédient principal des plats de Noël. Il s’agit du cochon, qui sera tué le 20 décembre lors de la Saint Ignat pour être transformé en une multitude de plats traditionnels incontournables pour un repas festif roumain : saucisses, boudin, aspic, pâté, lard fumé et feuilles de choux farcies. Evidemment une grande partie du cochon n’est pas consommé pendant les fêtes de fin d’année et c’est pourquoi le lard est conservé par fumage alors que les saucisses et les morceaux de viande frites sont conservées dans des bocaux de lard, à la façon du confit. Celui-ci est utilisé tout au long de l’hiver pour enrichir toute sorte de plats à base de pommes de terre, choux ou haricots secs.



    En Transylvanie, province historique roumaine où la viande de porc joue un rôle plus important, les familles paysannes tuent d’habitude deux cochons, un avant Noël et un autre en début d’année. Le rituel n’est pas complet sans un plat spécifique, appelé « pomana porcului », une sorte de ragoût qui est d’habitude offert aux participants de cet événement. Afin de protéger ces traditions, le département de Covasna, dans le centre de la Roumanie, accueille un Festival international consacré à cet événement et à ce plat, auquel ont participé des équipes de Croatie, Slovaquie, Hongrie et Roumanie. Plusieurs heures durant, les équipes préparent différents plats à base de viande de porc, bref un véritable festin.



    Ce plat est très nécessaire vu le laborieux travail que constitue le découpage du cochon, qui se fait à la campagne en plein air, sous les caprices de la météo du mois de décembre. Sachez que d’une région roumaine à l’autre, d’une ville à une autre, le cochon tué est accompagné par toute une série de rituels et de règles et donne en quelque sorte le coup d’envoi à la période des fêtes d’hiver.



    Pour le préparer il vous faut une marmite en fonte dans laquelle vous mettrez un peu de lard à feu moyen. Coupez des morceaux de viande et notamment de poitrine et mettez-les dans la marmite, avec quelques morceaux de foie et laissez dorer un peu. Ajoutez-y un peu d’eau ou de vin et laissez mijoter pendant une demi-heure remuant de temps en temps. Décortiquer une tête d’ail et écraser les gousses avant de les jeter dans la casserole. Vers la fin parsemez le plat de thym, de poivre et salez. Ce plat est servi accompagné de polenta et d’un ou plusieurs verres de vin rouge. Son effet réconfortant est garanti s’il est consommé en plein air, accompagné d’une tasse d’eau-de-vie de fruits chaude, notamment de prunes. Bon appétit ! (trad.: Alex Diaconescu)

  • A staple of any festive gathering of Romanians: Mici / Mititei

    A staple of any festive gathering of Romanians: Mici / Mititei

    Todays Cooking Show is about a dish familiar to our regular listeners, a staple of any festive gathering of Romanians. It is to Romanians what burgers are to Americans. We are talking about the so-called ‘mici or ‘mititei, skinless sausages grilled to a crisp on high heat, preferably on charcoal. Most likely based on a Turkish recipe, that for kebap, it is now a Balkan staple, being eaten with delight in all countries of the area. However, the Balkan Christians have included pork in the original mutton-based mix.



    This is how we make them: mix in equal parts minced beef, mutton and pork, seasoned with black pepper, dried thyme, allspice, one whole head of garlic for each kilogram of meat, which we turn to a paste, and salt to taste. To make the mixture more tender, either add minced fat, or a strong stock made from beef bones. Put in all the finely ground spices and mix well to an even consistency, and at the end add a mixture of baking soda and lemon juice, blending well. It is best left a few hours in the fridge for the flavors to blend.



    When you are ready to grill, take out the mixture, and start taking out small handfuls of the mix, as much as you can hold with closed fingers, shaping them like tiny loaves of bread. Leave them a bit for the surface to dry, reducing the mess, since the mixture is quite sticky. It is helpful to rub a bit of cooking oil on your palms when handling them to avoid this problem. The Romanian traditional way of cooking them is on a grill close to a bed of searing hot charcoal, so that the surface is almost burned while the insides are still slightly pink. Grilling them to perfection is an art form, so keep practicing, and definitely enjoy!

  • Meat and Cabbage

    Meat and Cabbage

    The meat-cabbage combination is widely used in Romanian cuisine. The most famous is stuffed cabbage, the so-called ‘sarmale’. You can find them everywhere, larger in Transylvania, smaller everywhere else. One other very popular dish is similar in ingredients, but without the effort of rolling the meat in the cabbage leaves. The Transylvanian version is known as Cluj cabbage, while in Banat and the south it is known as ‘cabbage moussaka’.



    You can make your own version with shredded fresh cabbage or sauerkraut, or preferably the two combined, pork and your choice of spices and herbs. For our proposal you need one cabbage, one kilogram of pork (butt or rib), one onion, one green pepper, tomato juice or paste, oil, a bay leaf, thyme, and black pepper.



    Shred the cabbage, and if you are using fresh cabbage you have to rub it with some salt. If you are using sauerkraut, each leaf has to be washed under running water, then shredded. Start by frying the cubed pork, or, if using rib, cut in strips. Brown the meat in a larger vessel, large enough to fit the cabbage. Add the finely chopped onion and green or red pepper, fry a bit, then add a small quantity of water, cover and let simmer. Then put in the thyme and black pepper, the bay leaf, then the cabbage and tomato paste or juice. Also, add a bit of water, cover, and simmer until the cabbage is thoroughly cooked. Add salt to taste. You can also take the cover off and cook in the oven until the top browns. Serve with polenta and your choice of a semi-dry wine.

  • Traditions for December 1

    Traditions for December 1

    Romania’s national day, December 1st, tends to run contrary to the Christmas fasting tradition, because it often is celebrated with smoked ham and baked beans, or smoked sausage and beans. It is an all-time favorite among Romanians, which may explain why it is a staple for the national day. This is by no means something exclusive to Romanian cuisine, being known across the world.



    This is not complicated to make, but it takes time, because you need to soak the beans overnight. Also, it is best made in large quantities, in cauldrons, the way it is made in the army or in monasteries. This does not mean it is not going to come out just as good in the smaller quantities you are going to make at home.



    You need at least half a kilo of dried beans, two medium sized onions, two carrots, tomato juice, two bay leaves, salt and pepper to taste. Boil the soaked beans for at least 10 minutes after you achieve a rolling boil, and change the water twice. The last boil should be at least 30 minutes, then add the sliced carrots and the bay leaves. Chop finely the onion, then sweat it in a bit of oil, adding it to the beans with some chopped fresh parsley, tomato juice and a few peppercorns. When the beans seem cooked, add the salt.



    You can optionally introduce now the smoked meat, which can be ribs, sausages, or ham on the bone. Cook this until the meat separates from the bone.



    This dish goes best with a mixed pickle salad, with a semi-dry red wine, or, better yet, mulled wine. Enjoy!