Radio România Internațional

Tag: Romanian cuisine

  • Comfort food

    Comfort food

    Since this is the cold season, we
    thought we would remind you of a classic Romanian dish, the very definition of
    comfort food for cold winter days. Be warned, it is not a vegetarian dish
    originally, but by eliminating the meat part, you can easily turn it
    vegetarian, even vegan. We are talking about bean stew with smoked pork. You
    can use whatever kind of smoked meat you want, such as ribs, or even sausage.
    It is so popular, that during winter celebrations, cities organise fairs where
    they make it in large quantities and distribute it to fair-goers.




    It is a rather easy dish to make,
    because the only time-consuming part is getting the dried beans soaked. Leave
    at least half a kilo of beans to soak overnight. It is a well-known fact that
    the best stew is made in a large cauldron, as they do in the army or in
    monasteries, but you can easily make a very tasty stew at home too.




    For half a kilo of beans, take 2
    medium onions, 2 carrots, tomato juice, 2 bay leaves, peppercorns, and salt to
    taste. Boil the beans for about 10 minutes, change the water, then repeat this
    twice. Boil for the last time for 30 minutes, then add in the carrots, sliced,
    and the bay leaves. Separately chop finely the onion, then sweat it in oil,
    then add it to the bean mixture, along with tomato juice and peppercorns to
    taste, and when the beans are soft, add salt to taste, then finely chopped
    fresh parsley.




    When adding the ingredients, you can
    use the smoked pork, such as leg, ribs, or sausage. If you use smoked leg of
    pork, you have to boil it separately before using, until you can shred the meat
    off the bone, adding it to your stew. If you want, you can cook the beans
    without meat, then use it as a side dish for grilled sausages.


    Serve hot, with pickles and a
    semi-dry wine at room temperature. Enjoy!

  • Chicken vegetable stew in a clay pot

    Chicken vegetable stew in a clay pot

    With markets in Romania now full of
    all types of vegetables, today’s recipe is blends chicken and vegetables, but
    with a twist. This particular recipe uses a special type of clay dish, a
    covered flat vessel with a cover, both made of unglazed ceramic, meant to soak
    up water before being set in the oven. It is inspired by a method used by the
    Romans for cooking, the so-called terra sigilata. Before placing in it the
    ingredients, soak it in water for about 15 minutes.




    You need 6 to 8 medium sized
    potatoes, 2 or 3 medium sized onions, a bell and a green pepper, and one
    tomato. You can also ass green peas, green beans, carrots or corn.
    Alternatively, you can buy frozen mixed vegetables and use those. Take the dish
    out of the water, then lay on its bottom a layer of cubed potatoes. Lay on top
    of it the rest of the vegetables, then the onion, sliced finely. Place the
    chicken meat on top, preferably thighs. Put the cover on top, after also
    soaking it in water for about 15 minutes. Do not preheat the oven.




    Place the dish in the oven, then
    turn on the heat on minimum, then, for about 45 minutes, increase the heat
    until it reaches the maximum. After about an hour, turn the heat down to low,
    take off the cover of the vessel, and leave to simmer until the thighs are
    starting to brown. When taking the vessel out of the oven, use a wooden board
    to set it on, as the sudden change of temperature if you put it on another
    surface may crack it. Add your favourite spices and condiments after putting
    the stew on plates, and serve with a dry or semi-dry white wine. Enjoy!

  • Meatball soup

    Meatball soup

    Meatball soup is one of the most appreciated dishes in Romanian cuisine.
    Similar dishes can also be found in the international cuisine. In Italy, for
    instance, there are beef meatballs soups with lots of vegetables, just like in
    the Mexican cuisine. The Turkish cuisine offers a soup with minced beef or
    lamb. In all these recipes, the minced meat shaped like a meatball or a flat meatloaf is roasted a little bit before being added to the broth. However, in the
    Romanian recipe, the meatballs are put straight to the boil. A distinction should
    also be made between the sour meatball soup, with fermented wheat bran brew
    used as a souring agent, and the thick meatball soup, for which tomatoes and sour
    grapes can be used, as well as lemon juice.


    For the meatball soup, we need around 700 grams of minced beef, one
    piece of boned beef shin, two carrots, one parsnip and one parsley root, one
    celery, a cup of rice, one onion, two eggs, tomato juice, fermented wheat bran
    brew, one bunch of parsley and another one of dill.


    Put the beef shin to the boil in around 4 liters of water. Skim, then add
    the grated root vegetables. Add bell peppers and tomatoes, finely-chopped. When
    boiled, take out the meat shin and cut it into small pieces, then put it back
    in boiling broth. Finely-chop the onion,
    then mix it with the minced meat, the two eggs, the finely-chopped dill and the
    rice. Add a little bit of salt. After 20 minutes, mould little balls of meat,
    traditionally known as perisoare, then put them in the boiling soup. Add the
    tomato juice and the fermented wheat bran brew, and then boil for another five minutes.
    Remove the pot from the heat and add the finely-chopped parsley leaves. Simmer
    for around ten minutes. Serve the broth in large bowls with a little bit of sour cream as
    garnish. Keep in mind that it goes
    best with a red pepper. Enjoy!





  • Meatball soup

    Meatball soup

    Meatball soup is one of the most appreciated dishes in Romanian cuisine.
    Similar dishes can also be found in the international cuisine. In Italy, for
    instance, there are beef meatballs soups with lots of vegetables, just like in
    the Mexican cuisine. The Turkish cuisine offers a soup with minced beef or
    lamb. In all these recipes, the minced meat shaped like a meatball or a flat meatloaf is roasted a little bit before being added to the broth. However, in the
    Romanian recipe, the meatballs are put straight to the boil. A distinction should
    also be made between the sour meatball soup, with fermented wheat bran brew
    used as a souring agent, and the thick meatball soup, for which tomatoes and sour
    grapes can be used, as well as lemon juice.


    For the meatball soup, we need around 700 grams of minced beef, one
    piece of boned beef shin, two carrots, one parsnip and one parsley root, one
    celery, a cup of rice, one onion, two eggs, tomato juice, fermented wheat bran
    brew, one bunch of parsley and another one of dill.


    Put the beef shin to the boil in around 4 liters of water. Skim, then add
    the grated root vegetables. Add bell peppers and tomatoes, finely-chopped. When
    boiled, take out the meat shin and cut it into small pieces, then put it back
    in boiling broth. Finely-chop the onion,
    then mix it with the minced meat, the two eggs, the finely-chopped dill and the
    rice. Add a little bit of salt. After 20 minutes, mould little balls of meat,
    traditionally known as perisoare, then put them in the boiling soup. Add the
    tomato juice and the fermented wheat bran brew, and then boil for another five minutes.
    Remove the pot from the heat and add the finely-chopped parsley leaves. Simmer
    for around ten minutes. Serve the broth in large bowls with a little bit of sour cream as
    garnish. Keep in mind that it goes
    best with a red pepper. Enjoy!





  • Preserving pork

    Preserving pork

    Pork is a staple in Romanian traditional
    cuisine. So much so that slaughtering pigs is a tradition with a whole array of
    rituals attached to it, as you may know from countless other shows. Even though
    the weather in winter in Romania is quite cold, the large quantity of meat
    resulting has to be preserved by means other than cold. The most common
    methods, as in many other parts of the world, are salting, cooking or smoking,
    or a combination of those.




    One of the most common means of preserving
    various pork products was to put them in lard. Lard is traditionally obtained
    by melting small pieces of fatback in a large cast iron pot over an open fire.
    The resulting lard is placed in jars, and in that people preserve all manner of
    pork products, from simple cuts of meat to sausages. Sometimes raw sausages are
    fried in the lard they get preserved in.




    These customs are
    quite old, as old as the villages and cities they are kept. Many fortified
    cities in Transylvania, where pork is eaten more, had actual towers with a
    special room for preserving cuts of meat. In winter, men would cut blocks of
    ice and wrap them in straw to make cold storage. These towers were referred to
    as Fatback Towers. In order to prevent the ice melting, it was a general rule
    that people would only open the cold rooms once a week, Sunday after mass.




    Salted and smoked
    fatback is still a staple of winter meals, generally eaten with bread and red
    onion dipped in salt. Enjoy!

  • New Year’s recipes

    New Year’s recipes

    Today’s show
    will once again be about the kind of dishes that Romanians enjoy more often
    around the holidays. This particular recipe is for a type of soup that is typically
    served on the first day of the year for lunch, as a fortifier after a night of
    partying. It is giblet soup, using bits and pieces of chicken such as heads,
    necks, feet and backs.




    Giblet soup is a
    rich brew that is best shared, hence the large quantities in the recipe. It
    takes a large pot, worth about 10 liters. Take about 2 kg of giblets, and let
    boil in 4 liters of water with a pinch of salt. Skim the stock, then add 2 or 3
    onions, a few carrots, one parsnip and celeriac, all finely chopped. Bring to a
    boil, then add a cup of rice. The secret ingredient is sauerkraut juice, about
    2 liters. Separately, beat two eggs with sour cream and a bit of the liquid,
    adding that to the soup. Add finely chopped lovage to garnish and add that
    special flavor that characterizes Romanian cooking. Enjoy!




    Another recipe
    typical of the holidays, and similar in preparation, is aspic. Aspic is made of
    chicken, goose, pork, veal and even fish stock, although fish has too little
    natural gelatin. For instance, to make chicken aspic you need 1 kg of wings and
    thighs as well as feet and heads, so that the aspic should jellify quicker. You
    also need 2 onions, 2 carrots, a head of garlic and several sprigs of green
    parsley.




    Boil the meat
    with the carrots and onions. Skim and leave to boil until the meat shreds off
    the bones. At the end add salt to taste. Take out the meat and bones and shred
    the meat in medium sized strips. Strain the liquid and pour it in a container
    and then add pressed garlic. In a bigger container or in several smaller bowls
    place, for decoration purposes, round slices of carrot, green parsley sprigs,
    thin slices of pickled red pepper and also the strips of meat. Then pour the
    chicken stock carefully and leave to cool, then place the container or bowls in
    the fridge for the jelly to congeal. The aspic is served the next day. Good
    luck and enjoy!

  • The shepherd’s loaf

    The shepherd’s loaf

    According to the traditional calendar, the herds of sheep
    descend from the mountains, weather permitting, from September until around the
    celebration of Saint Demetrius, when they are given back to their owners until
    spring.




    Giving back the sheep is also marked through traditional
    celebrations, when a number of mutton dishes are prepared. Apart from pastrami,
    the shepherd’s mutton dish in its own fat, suitable for the cold season, is
    also prepared. To prepare thisdish, cut the meat in medium-sized
    pieces, and allow it to boil in its own fat. Add finely cut onion and garlic,
    pepper, bay leaves and salt. When the meat has boiled long enough to fall off
    the bone, place it in enamelled or wooden pots and cover it with the molten
    fat. The layer of fat at the surface protects the meat from getting stale. The
    pots must be kept in a cool place, in cellars or storerooms.






    Another dish prepared by shepherds is the so-called
    sheep’s bread. This dish is usually made on the evening of November 7th,
    a day before the Feast of St. Michael and Gabriel. On the morning of November 8th,
    this bread is thrown into the sheepfold at the moment when rams are also
    allowed inside. It is believed that if the bread falls face up, all sheep will
    breed in spring.




    To make this bread, you need one kilo of corn flour and a
    handful of wheat flour. Put the cornflower in a pot, pour some hot, slightly
    salted water over it, and then add the wheat flour. Stir into the flour mixture, adding a little bit of sugar, until the doughgets easily separated from the side ofthe bowl and forms a ball.
    Punch the dough down and shape into loaves. Put them in a clay pot and cook
    them in an oven or in embers. Eat the loaves as you would regular bread. Enjoy!

  • Chicken ragout

    Chicken ragout

    Today we’ll be
    cooking chicken ragout, a traditional Romanian dish that is easy to prepare
    since you don’t need too many ingredients. You can prepare this dish in your
    own kitchen or in the open air, in a clay pot over charcoals, just as the
    people who toiled the land used to do in the past.




    For this recipe you
    need several chicken thighs, although drumsticks are equally good. You also
    need two onions, several garlic cloves, several tomatoes or tomato juice, oil,
    a little white wine, one bay leaf, pepper, thyme, a bunch of parsley and salt.




    Wash the chicken
    cuts, drain and then brown them in oil in a frying pan or a Dutch oven.
    Julienne the onions and brown in a little oil, then add in the tomatoes cut
    into small cubes or the tomato juice, the thyme twig, the bay leaf and several
    pepper grains. Place the mixture into a bowl and then add the browned chicken
    cuts. Add water or possibly a glass of wine and simmer over low heat until the
    liquid is diminished.




    Before turning off
    the heat, add several finely-chopped garlic cloves, chopped parsley leaves and
    salt to taste. The chicken ragout can be cooked either on the heater or in the
    oven. Serve with polenta and pickles. Enjoy!

  • Grill recipes

    Grill recipes

    To make a grill
    people in Romania use pork, chicken, sausages and the traditional minced meat
    rolls. Sometimes fish is used in grill recipes, such as mackerel, particularly
    in springtime, catfish or carp. Because the latter two are large fish, they are
    usually chopped into slices, 2-3 centimetres thick. A 2-3 kilogram carp could
    be turned into a real delicious grill dish. After slicing it, the carp should
    be left to pickle for an hour or so in a sauce made up of white wine, a
    teaspoonful of pepper and another one of salt. Then place the slices on the
    grill with a couple of tomatoes that will be later used in the preparation of a
    garlic sauce. After the tomatoes have been grilled, peel and mash them into a
    puree. Add to this puree a couple of mashed garlic cloves, which have
    previously been mixed with a little bit of oil. Mix all these ingredients until
    you get a homogeneous cream, which should be poured over the grilled fish.




    Another interesting grill
    recipe are joints roasted on the spit, although this dish may take more time to
    prepare. You need a kilo of pork butt, or any other kind of fatty meat, and cut
    it in small 3 cm cubes. Place all these slices on a 30 cm spike with onion,
    mushrooms and bell pepper slices between them. These spikes are all placed on
    the grill but care should be taken to rotate them in order to grill them
    properly on either side. You can serve them hot with French fries and a pint of
    cold beer.




    However, nothing compares
    with the traditional mititei. This is 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 kebab, 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
    flavours 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!

  • Traditional fatback

    Traditional fatback

    Today we will be talking about a preparation
    that is fundamental to traditional culture in Romania, as well as the rest of
    the Balkans, fatback. In fact, that is an approximation of the term, since its
    preparation may be quite elaborate, and the better term is the Romanian one,
    slanina, which is a term derived from the old Slavic word for salt. In fact,
    most neighbouring peoples use a similar term, since most of them speak Slavic
    languages. Slanina generally indicates fatback and with the rind on, and is
    most times salted and smoked, sometimes spiced and seasoned. It is the most
    common way of preserving pig fat from the back or belly.




    Its making is closely related to the entire
    range of winter traditions related to the slaughter of pigs in traditional
    households in villages. Each area has its own ways of preparing it, and the
    methods also vary in terms of how long it is expected to last. In some
    villages, it is kept buried in salt. In others, it is kept in a brine. One
    version of that is using a brine made by dissolving two tablespoons of salt per
    litre of water. After bringing the brine to a boil, crushed garlic is added,
    then peppercorns and black pepper powder, thyme, and bay leaves. The fatback is
    set into a barrel or a large pot, then covered in the cold brine, and left for
    about three weeks. Then it is sent to get smoked.




    In certain areas of Transylvania, people salt
    the fatback using brine in which sauerkraut was made, which has a distinctive flavour
    and salty tangy taste. They add peppercorns and bay leaves to the brine. They
    first boil the fatback until a fork can be pushed into it easily, then they
    press it. After draining it, it is covered in a garlic paste, then sprinkled
    with paprika, sometimes mixed with chili powder. It is then kept in a dry, cool
    place. Before refrigerators, people used a room, sometimes a dedicated one, for
    hanging out their preserved pork products. In Medieval Saxon villages in
    Transylvania, the fatback was kept in rooms set aside in defence towers. Almost
    every fortified church in Transylvania has a fatback tower, which is actually
    called just that. Every family had its own set of hooks for hanging out their
    fatback. You could only go in there on Sundays, because the temperature was
    kept low by blocks of ice covered in straw, brought in during the winter
    months.




    No matter how you prepare it, you can eat the
    fatback as is, sliced thin, alongside other entrees, preferably with red onion
    or cloves of raw garlic, as the people in villages traditionally do when they
    go work in the field. Also, smoked fatback is essential to many other dishes,
    because it is the main method of lending a smoky flavour to cooked dishes. One
    of them is the famous sarmale. In some areas of Romania, it is even used to
    give a smoky taste to meat and vegetable soups, usually thick concoctions eaten
    in the cold months of winter. One other popular preparation is the so-called
    spiked roast pork. The hunk of meat is stuck with the tip of a knife, and in
    the cuts people put cloves of garlic and slices of smoked fatback, which gives
    it a unique flavour. In any case, there is nothing like the taste of smoked and
    salted fatback.

  • Roast chicken with quinces

    Roast chicken with quinces

    We invite you to experiment a recipe from the
    Romanian region of Wallachia, alternatively known as Muntenia, the
    southern-most territory inhabited by Romanians, on the northern side of the
    lower Danube. It is Romania’s gateway to the Balkans, and as such it has a
    wonderful medley of influences in its cooking. There are mainly Balkan
    influences, from Turkish to Greek to Bulgarian, and in the last two or three
    hundred years it has started adopting western European cooking ideas, such as
    French desserts, Italian pasta or German minced meat preparations. It is also a
    cooking culture in which pickled vegetables in brine are omnipresent.




    And now, on to our recipe. Since this is the
    season for quinces, we will show you how to make roast chicken with quinces.
    You need 4 to 6 chicken thighs, 10 medium sized potatoes, two quinces and one
    onion. Peel and cut the potatoes in round slices, cut the onion julienne, and
    lay them in a covered oven dish. Cover the bottom of the dish with potato
    slices then put in the onion. Put the thighs on top. Cut the quinces into
    slices a few millimetres thick, and put them on top of the chicken. Add water
    to cover the bottom vegetables, cover and set to cook in the oven for about 45
    minutes. Take off the lid, add salt to taste, then put the dish in the oven
    once again for the thighs to brown and get crispy. You can use a ceramic oven
    dish as well, as is traditional in peasant households. Serve with pickles and a
    semi-dry white wine, well chilled.

  • Pickled cucumber

    Pickled cucumber

    Autumn is a time when traditionally pickles are getting
    made, and in Romania that may mean most vegetables. That can mean cucumbers,
    green tomatoes, bell peppers, baby watermelons, chili peppers, sauerkraut, eggplants,
    onions, cauliflower, celery, or carrots. All these are fodder for pickling,
    either in brine or in vinegar.




    This gives us the opportunity to provide you
    with our recipe for pickled cucumbers. It is recommended you use small sized
    cucumbers. The other ingredients are salt, mustard seed, garlic, horseradish
    and dried dill. Wash the cucumbers well in cold water. Peel the horseradish and
    shred it. Peel the garlic, lightly crushing it so it doesn’t break apart. Cram
    the cucumbers in the jar of your choice, making sure you put in garlic and
    horseradish after every layer. Sprinkle in mustard seed, then top everything
    with dried dill twigs.




    Separately, prepare the brine. Bring sufficient
    water to the boil, using one and a half tablespoons of salt per litre of water.
    Fill the cucumber jars with the brine, then seal them. Keep them in a warm
    place for two or three days, then move them to a cool place for storage for
    about a month, then enjoy.




    The more common version is vinegar-pickled
    cucumbers. For this, use one litre of vinegar for every two and a half litres
    of water, as well as four tablespoons of sugar and four tablespoons of salt.
    Alternate layers of cucumbers in the jar with pieces of horseradish, slices of
    carrot and slices of onion, as well as mustard seed and peppercorns. Boil the
    sweet vinegar brine, then carefully top the jars of cucumbers with it. Seal the
    jars, then place them in a pot of water which you then gently bring to a boil,
    then simmer for a quarter of an hour. Leave to cool, then store the jars in a
    cool place, waiting about a month before enjoying.

  • Grill recipes

    Grill recipes

    To make a grill people in Romania use pork, chicken, sausages and the traditional minced meat rolls. Sometimes fish is used in grill recipes, such as mackerel, particularly in springtime, catfish or carp.



    Because the latter two are large fish, they are usually chopped into slices, 2-3 centimetres thick. A 2-3 kilogram carp could be turned into a real delicious grill dish. After slicing it, the carp should be left to pickle for an hour or so in a sauce made up of white wine, a teaspoonful of pepper and another one of salt. Then place the slices on the grill with a couple of tomatoes that will be later used in the preparation of a garlic sauce. After the tomatoes have been grilled, peel and mash them into a puree. Add to this puree a couple of mashed garlic cloves, which have previously been mixed with a little bit of oil. Mix all these ingredients until you get a homogeneous cream, which should be poured over the grilled fish.



    Another interesting grill recipe are joints roasted on the spit, although this dish may take more time to prepare. You need a kilo of pork butt, or any other kind of fatty meat, and be cut it in small 3 cm cubes. Place all these slices on a 30 cm spike with onion, mushrooms and bell pepper slices between them. These spikes are all placed on the grill but care should be taken to rotate them in order to grill them properly on either side. You can serve them hot with French fries and a pint of cold beer. However, nothing compares with the traditional ‘mititei, a staple in the Balkans cuisine consisting in minced pork, beef or mutton rolls mixed with various spices. Prepared just like the Turkish kebab, they are very much like the Serbian dish called ćevapčići. They usually go well with bread and mustard. Enjoy!

  • Cherry Preserves and Liqueurs

    Cherry Preserves and Liqueurs

    The Cherry Festival was held on the last Sunday in June in a small town in Bistrita-Nasaud County, 45 km away from the country seat. This is a tradition for the 400 families in the area who tend to large cherry, sour cherry and walnut orchards. For many of them, cherries are the main source of income, with their produce getting sold on both domestic and foreign markets. At the festival, in exchange for a token fee, visitors can sample the entire range of varieties of cherries on display, in various shades of red.



    Today’s culinary theme is cherries. The most popularity is enjoyed by preserves and liqueurs. For cherry preserve you need equal quantities of pitted cherries and sugar. Place the pitted cherries in a the pot where you make the preserve, cover in the sugar, and leave them there in a cool place for two or three hours, time in which they leak out liquid. Squeeze in some lemon juice, and then set to simmer on the stove top. Stir gently from time to time, and increase the heat gradually, until the contents reach a boil. A foam will form on the surface, which you should skim. Boil gently until the contents thicken. Check the consistency by taking out a teaspoonful of the liquid, letting it cool down to see if it is the proper thickness. Pour the contents into jars, leaving about an inch of space at the top. Any kind of cherries can be used to make a delicious preserve.



    A cherry liqueur is equally easy to make. The ratio of cherries to sugar is three to one. Take the jar in which you’ll make the liqueur and fill it in layers with cherries and sugar. Leave it aside for a few days, but don’t seal it, to avoid pressure building up. Once the sugar is completely dissolved in the liquid leaked out by the cherries, top with grain alcohol and leave it for about two weeks.



    In addition to all this, you can also make a delicious, yet simple cake. You can use cherries, but also apricots. Take a kilogram of white flour, four eggs, 100 grams of butter, and a pound (half a kilogram) of cherries, as well as baking powder. Mix the butter with the sugar, then mix in, in this order, the eggs, the flour, and the baking powder. Knead until smooth. Take a baking tray, line it with baking paper, then pour in the mixture. Place the pitted cherries on top. Bake at medium heat in the oven for about half an hour, then sprinkle with confectionery sugar.

  • Clay Pot Baking

    Clay Pot Baking

    This baking method was used during the Roman colonization, then later in the Middle Ages, and the recipe has been passed down from one generation to another down to this very day. In fact, the Romanian word for this type of baking, “ţest, comes from the Latin “testum, which means turtle shell and suggests the shape of the clay pot. Baking bread this way was rather common all across the Balkans. As compared to the oven, which is larger, the “ţest has the advantage of reaching the right temperature faster and not needing wood for the fire, only twigs and vegetable remains of sun-flower, corn or other types of dried vegetation. Another advantage is that the method can be used not only to bake bread, but also to cook meat and vegetable dishes.



    Before telling you how to make this type of bread, we should first say that this mobile oven would be built, according to tradition, only on the Ropotin day, a feast celebrated on the third Tuesday after Easter, or, according to other local customs, on the first three days of Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday after Easter. Making these claypot ovens was a ritual, and its main aim was to keep away the hail storms that could have damaged the crops. It was made of yellow clay, mixed with horse manure and straws. Before being used, it had to be fired first, just like any other object used in the household. It can either have a handle to which a chain is attached to keep the top above the bakestone or holes through which metal rods are inserted, with the same role, of lifting up or down the claypot on the hot bakestone.



    The first thing to do is to light a fire, and keep the embers under the bakestone for about half an hour. To make the dough you need flour, water, salt and yeast. In the old days, women would not use yeast, but the foam left by fermented fruit, used to make the traditional brandy called “tzuica. So, first knead the dough and then leave it to rest and grow. Place the flattened dough inside the hot clay pot, which you must first coat in egg or tomato juice. Place the pot on top the hot bakestone, where it should stay for about half an hour. If the heat is too much, you can remove the burnt top layer. But, in order to prevent that, fresh cabbage leaves can be placed on top of the dough, which are later removed.



    As we mentioned earlier, the method can be used to also cook meat or vegetable dishes. So, inside an enameled pot we can put chicken, covered in spices and a little bit of oil, alongside potatoes, carrots, paprika, onion and green beans. The pot is kept on the bakestone for half and hour and the food can be served right away. Enjoy!