General information and eating habits
Under Ottoman rule for over four centuries, much of Romania saw an abundance of vegetable dishes flourish on its table, as well as a variety of meat preparations, including grilled minced meat akin to Turkish keftas and kebabs. Many soups are also inspired by the Ottoman presence in the region. The country's hilly landscapes and more or less temperate climate offer great opportunities in terms of culture. Romanian cuisine makes good use of cereals, fruit, vegetables (potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, turnips, lentils, peas, spinach, etc.) and dairy products, while pork is the most popular meat. Corn and potatoes became staples of Romanian cuisine after their introduction to Europe.
The faithful of the Romanian Orthodox Church practice fasting during several periods of the ecclesiastical calendar, which represents a majority of the year. In the Romanian Orthodox tradition, the faithful follow a diet without any animal products during these periods. As a result, vegetarian food is abundant in stores and restaurants, even if Romanians don't adhere to a vegan or vegetarian diet as such.
Today, Romanian gastronomy can be enjoyed in the country's many restaurants, as well as in rural guesthouses serving home-style cooking based on natural, seasonal farm produce. For a quick bite to eat, you'll be spoilt for choice with șaorme (kebabs), pizzas, rotisseries and other pastries. Then there are the hanuri (inns). These are often pleasant, friendly places where you'll find full menus. They usually also offer accommodation. Crame (cellars), vinării (wine bars) and berării (breweries) are primarily places to drink, but you'll find a few snacks, usually fairly basic: appetizers, grilled meats and the like. Pescării or fish restaurants, on the other hand, are rarer. Cofetării are cafés where you can enjoy pastries accompanied by a hot drink; ceainării or tearooms, although quite rare, can be found in some of the larger towns such as Sibiu or Brașov. Vară grădini, or summer gardens, sprout up everywhere as soon as the fine weather arrives. These are terraces set up in courtyards and backyards, between two buildings, in parks. Here, you can drink beers (standing or seated) and enjoy grilled meats. Last but not least, covrigării were originally where covrigi (pretzels) were made and sold, but nowadays you can also find puff pastries(plăcinte), pizza slices and turnovers.
Cheese and cold cuts
Cheese, or brânză in Romanian, has been known in the region since ancient times. Cheese specialties include cașcaval and penteleu (Dobrogea PDO cheese), both made from sheep's milk, which are somewhat reminiscent of gouda. Brânzăde burduf is a salty, pressed cheese made from raw sheep's milk, with a texture that's both melting and grainy. Telemeă is a fresh cheese preserved in brine, the equivalent of feta. Similar to reblochon, năsal is a ripened, soft cheese with a pronounced taste. Finally,urdă, a cheese made from ewe's, sometimes goat's, or cow's whey, is somewhat reminiscent of Corsican brousse.
Charcuterie includes Sibiu salami, often considered the country's best-loved and most famous sausage. In fact, it has a PGI, as do Pleșcoi sausages, which contain a spicy lamb stuffing. There's also the unmissable pastramă - ancestor of pastrami - which consists of lamb or pork meat cured in brine, then dried and smoked. Lebar is a liver sausage, close to the German leberwurst, while sângerete is the Romanian equivalent of black pudding. Nădlac salam is a type of spicy, smoked sausage from Arad county, on the Hungarian border. Finally, tobă is a type of head cheese.
Starters and hors d'oeuvres
Among the many appetizers are ardeicopți, a salad of roasted peppers in vinegar and olive oil. Otherwise we love murăturiasortate, lacto-fermented mixed vegetables preserved in either brine or vinegar. There are salads too, though for the most part they're more nourishing than refreshing. Beefsalată, for example, is a sort of macédoine combining cooked vegetables and minced meat, all clumped together with a dollop of mayonnaise. It's often served as a starter at Christmas. Ideal as an aperitif, zacuscă is a vegetable spread made with grilled eggplant, onions, tomatoes and peppers. The delicious salatăde vinete is a kind of creamy roasted eggplant caviar. Otherwise, salatăorientală contains potatoes, eggs and olives, while salată de sfeclă is a simple beet salad. Popular in summer,roșii salată contains tomatoes, with minced onions, peppers and cucumbers, not forgetting a good amount of chopped dill. Finally, salatăde icre is a kind of tarama, made with smoked fish roe. Fasolebatută is the Romanian version of hummus, but with mashed white beans bound with olive oil and minced garlic, topped with fried onions.
Soups and ciorbs
Consumed all year round, soups and ciorbe are an institution in Romania. Ciorbă is a soup made sour with borș, a product obtained by fermenting wheat bran, whereas other soups(supă) do not contain borș. To accompany ciorbă, you can add a spoonful of sour cream(smântână) while crunching small chillies(ardei iute). Ciorbăde burtă is a creamy lamb tripe soup. Ciorbăde perișoare contains meatballs and rice, while ciorbă de fasole cu afumătură is made with white beans and smoked meat. Ciorbăde salată cu afumătură contains smoked meat and cooked lettuce, and is thickened with a mixture of sour cream and egg yolk. The ciorbă de pește "ca-n Deltă" (Danube delta-style fish soup) is prepared with various river fish. The ciorbămoldovenească de găină is a sour chicken soup and the ciorbă de urechiușe is made with wild mushrooms. More rustic is ciorbățărănească (peasant soup), made from a variety of vegetables and any type of meat (beef, pork, mutton, chicken, fish). Ciorbă de sfeclă, also known as borșde sfeclă, turns out to be very similar to Russian-Ukrainian borscht made with beet, red cabbage and beef, and topped with sour cream. Borșde burechiușe is another type of soup that contains burechiușe or gălușcă also known as urechiușe (little ears), a type of ravioli stuffed with mushrooms like porcini, then cooked in broth. Borșde burechiușe is traditionally eaten on the last day of fasting on Christmas Eve. Another special soup is storceag, a fish soup flavored with sour cream, egg and vinegar for a touch of acidity.
An abundance of vegetables
Sarmale is Romania's national dish, consisting of boiled cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat, replaced - during fasting periods - by rice. There is also a variant with vine leaves. Mămăligă is a type of polenta that is also a popular filling. Made from hearty cornmeal, it replaces bread and can be served morning, noon and night. More or less thin, sometimes prepared with cheese(mămăligăcu brânză), sometimes with bacon, it's different in every home, in every restaurant. As in the rest of Southeast Europe, there are many recipes for stuffed vegetables: dovleceiumpluți (zucchini), gulii umplute (kohlrabi), ardei umpluți (peppers) or vinete umplute (eggplant). Ghiveci is a vegetable stew sometimes served at room temperature as a cooked vegetable salad. The simple mâncare demazăre is a pea stew with bacon, while the very tasty mâncare de praz is a leek stew with tomatoes and black olives. Chifteluțede ciuperci are small mushroom croquettes. Common in Romania's vast forests, wild mushrooms are much appreciated, as in tocănițăde gălbiori, a chanterelle stew. There are a few savory pie specialties, the most common of which is plăcintăaromână or spinach and cottage cheese pie.
Meat and fish
Grilled meats are plentiful in Romania, as demonstrated by the very popular mititei (or mici), a type of spicy minced meat sausage (pork and beef) grilled on the barbecue. This is THE summer dish, eaten with bread and mustard. Cârnați are a garlicky sausage cooked with white beans in fasole cucârnați. Virșli is a type of sausage made from a mixture of goat or lamb with pork. Another grilled dish, frigărui or shish-kebab à la roumaine, is made up of large chunks of meat with vegetables skewered onto it. Finally, the șnițel is none other than the deformation of the Wiener schnitzel or Viennese escalope, based on veal or pork, sometimes chicken.
Many meats are cooked as tasty stews like ciulama devițel (veal) or ciulama de pui (chicken), cooked with a creamy sauce akin to a béchamel. Tochitură is a stew based on pan-fried pork cubes cooked in a wine and tomato sauce and served with mămăligă. Tocană is a tasty stew of meat - pork or veal - and potatoes, while stufat is a lamb stew with onions and tomatoes. Musacă is a Romanian variant of the famous Greek moussaka, but with potatoes in addition to eggplant. Poultry, though rarer, is particularly appreciated inostropel, a chicken or duck stew with added tomatoes and onions, of which there are vegetarian versions during Lent. Hungarian influences in the west of the country can be seen with papricaș, a Romanian variation of the famous chicken paprikash, a creamy, spicy stew or with gulaș or goulash, a spicy beef and vegetable soup. The more adventurous will try the excellent limbăcu măsline, beef tongue with tomato and olives.
With a mosaic of lakes and rivers, not to mention the imposing Danube, Romania has incorporated many fish recipes into its gastronomy. The delta is, of course, the region in Romania where most fish is eaten. Among the most interesting recipes are chiftele depește, or fish croquettes, and the famous crap pane, a breaded carp fillet. Ghiveci cupește is a fish stew with vegetables. Papricașde pește is also very tasty. Not forgetting spit-roasted carp, fried pike-perch and pike. Many fish are smoked, such as scrumbia de Dunăre afumată (smoked Pontic shad), registered as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product. The fish - mostly fried - is served with mujdei, a garlic sauce of varying degrees of creaminess.
Desserts and drinks
For dessert, you can choose from a delicious variety of cakes, tarts and viennoiseries, combining Ottoman influences with the know-how and ingredients of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, of which Romania was once a part. These include roulade, a classic rolled cake filled with fromage frais, chocolate, nuts, apples and more. The delicate amandine is a chocolate sponge cake filled with almonds and glazed with chocolate. Quite similar, the joffre is a cocoa cake topped with chocolate ganache, created in January 1920 for Marshal Joffre during a diplomatic visit to Romania. The șarlotă is the Romanian equivalent of the charlotte, topped with vanilla cream.Alivenci is a soft cornmeal and cream cheese cake, traditional in eastern Romania and Moldavia.
As for pastries, cozonac is a beautiful brioche marbled with cocoa and sometimes topped with raisins(stafide) or pieces of Turkish delight(rahat), poppy seeds, walnuts and so on. Very versatile, cornulețe are croissant-shaped pastries filled with pieces of Turkish delight, jam, chocolate, cinnamon sugar, nuts or raisins. A little rich after a hearty meal, papanaș are fresh cheese-based doughnuts topped with crème fraîche and jam. In the same vein, brânzoaice are soft turnovers filled with fromage frais. Typical of Central Europe, găluștecu prune resemble thick ravioli filled with pitted half-plums, cooked in water and rolled in toasted vanilla breadcrumbs. Baclavă, cataif and sarailie are cakes of Turkish origin made with filo pastry and dried fruit, soaked in syrup. Last but not least, pască is a pastry specially prepared for Easter, in the form of a large braided wreath topped with a mixture of fromage frais, crème fraîche and raisins.
Entremets include the classic cremăde zahăr ars, an egg and caramel flan, griș cu lapte, a semolina cake often accompanied by a red fruit coulis, or lapte depasăre - literally "bird's milk", which is the equivalent of the floating island. Finally,orez cu lapte is a rice pudding specialty. Salam debiscuiți is simply a recipe for chocolate sausage containing, in addition to cookie crumbs, rum and pieces of Turkish delight. Topoloveni magiun - a type of plum jam - has been registered as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product.
Romanians are accustomed to sipping unfiltered Turkish coffee, although more and more cafés are serving cappuccinos and espressos. The term ceai refers to black tea as well as herbal teas (chamomile, lime, etc.). Romanians are also fond of the taste of elderflower, used, for example, in socată, a sweet drink with lemon, served in summer. Fanta Shokata is an elderflower-flavored variant of the famous soft drink, widely found in Central Europe.
Beer, wine and palincă
Romania's soil, climate and varied landscapes have long favored the cultivation of vines. Traces of this activity have been found dating back over four thousand years. Before 1989, Romania was the world's fifth-largest producer, but the arrival of new countries on the market (Chile, Argentina, Australia, etc.) pushed it down to thirteenth place. However, quality has improved in recent years.
French grape varieties are numerous (pinot, chardonnay, cabernet-sauvignon, merlot). But there are also some typically Romanian varieties, such as fetească. Romanians are particularly fond of sweet white wines and semi-sweet reds. The latter wines often disconcert French tourists accustomed to dry reds, as does the suggestion of adding sparkling water to them. In the Moldavia region, the most famous vineyard is Cotnari. Cotnari grasă is considered the king of Romanian wines. It's a sweet, honey-tasting white wine that's usually enjoyed with desserts or fruit. An excellent fetească albă is also produced here. Around Huși, the famous busuioacă de Bohotin is produced. It's a semi-sweet red wine with a slightly bitter taste. In its bouquet we find aromas of rose blossom, basil and wild strawberries. Ideal with cheese, fruit and more refined desserts. In the south of the region, around Focșani (villages of Panciu, Odobești, etc.), you'll find excellent wines: bărbească neagră or fetească neagră. In Odobești, don't miss a visit to Beciul Domnesc, large royal cellars built in 1839. In Oltenia, heavier red wines are grown than in the rest of the country. In Transylvania, the best-known regions are Jidvei and Târnave. The whites and reds of these regions will not disappoint. Feteasca regală, muscat otonel from Jidvei and dry muscat from Târnave are particularly popular. In Dobrogea, the king of vineyards is undoubtedly Murfatlar, just west of Constanța. Here, white and red wines are produced from a variety of grape varieties. The ideal climate makes this exceptional production possible. Wine tourism (cellar visits, tastings) is possible in Murfatlar in particular, but also in Cotnari (Moldavia) and Jidvei (Transylvania).
Romania is also a land of beer(bere), with each brand originating from a specific town or region. Beer is best drunk chilled in summer. It is often excellent and inexpensive. Draught beer(bere la halbă) is not very common, and is drunk in half-liter bottles (not 33 cl as in France). You'll find mostly blond beers; brown or red beers are rarer. Among the best-known areUrsus (from Cluj), Ciuc (from Miercurea Ciuc), Timișoreana (from Timișoara), Stejar (from Blaj), Ciucaș (from Brașov) and Silva.
Plum brandy is unquestionably the national spirit. It's drunk as a sign of welcome or before a meal. It's called țuică or palincă (in Hungarian-influenced Transylvania), when refined several times. It's also called răchie or horincă, in Maramureș. It can also be made with apricot or strawberry, as in Satu Mare. When it's cold, you can drink it hot(țuică fiartă, pepper is sometimes added). Ideal for treating the flu. Alternatively, secărică is a caraway brandy. Also worth mentioning are vișinata, made from morello cherry,afinată, a very good blueberry liqueur, or zmeurată, a delicate raspberry liqueur.
