Romanian cooking is hearty, sour and pork-heavy, with a strong tradition of pickling and preserving that makes winter food as good as summer food. It overlaps with its neighbours but has its own logic — plenty of polenta, plenty of sour cream, and a national enthusiasm for offal that visitors tend to miss.
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Cabbage rolls stuffed with pork and rice, cooked with smoked meat and served with polenta and sour cream. The national dish.
The leaves are pickled whole cabbages rather than fresh ones, which gives the sour note that defines the dish. They are layered in a pot with smoked bacon and bay and cooked for hours; like most braises, they are better the next day.
Skinless grilled minced-meat sausages, finger-shaped, eaten with mustard and bread. The standard barbecue food.
The meat is minced fine and worked with water and spices so it stays juicy, then grilled over charcoal without a casing. They are eaten by hand, standing at a grill, and a 'mic' is never served alone — it comes in threes or fives.
A sour tripe soup, white with sour cream and sharp with vinegar, finished with garlic and chilli. A hangover cure with a devoted following.
Ciorbă is the sour soup family, soured with borș or vinegar rather than lemon. The tripe version is the most famous and the one visitors are most likely to skip — which is a mistake, because it is the best thing on many menus.
Polenta cooked with sheep cheese and sour cream, eaten in place of bread with stews or on its own.
Mămăligă was historically the food of poor households, which is why it is served with whatever is rich — cheese, cream, fried egg. It is cooked by stirring cornmeal into boiling water until it pulls away from the sides of the pot.
Fried cheese doughnuts topped with sour cream and jam. The dessert everyone orders, and it is enormous.
The dough is made with fresh urdă cheese rather than flour alone, which gives a slightly tangy, dense crumb. A proper portion is two doughnuts with a well of cream in the middle and sour cherry jam on top.
A roasted aubergine and red pepper spread, cooked down slowly and jarred. Eaten on bread as a starter or a snack.
It is made in late summer in large batches, and every family has a version with more or less onion. The vegetables are roasted until the skins blacken, which is where the smoke comes from — a version made from boiled vegetables tastes like nothing.
A sweet yeasted bread swirled with walnut or poppy seed, baked for Easter and Christmas.
It is a tall, domed loaf, enriched with milk, butter and eggs, and the swirl is made by rolling the dough with the filling before the second rise. Sliced thick, it is breakfast for a week after the holiday.
Plum brandy, usually homemade, usually stronger than the glass suggests. Served before the meal rather than after.
It is distilled twice in many households and served cold in small glasses alongside pickles and cheese. Palincă is the same drink under a Hungarian-influenced name, and the strength varies wildly between bottles.
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