Following Bachus on the Romanian Wine Road
Wine is part of the cultural life of each country.
Wine is a symbol of any table and the taste varies from one region to another, from one recipe to another and, of course, from the simple consumer to the sophisticated connoisseur.
For all the countries that care about keeping and fortifying their reputation in the wine world, it is very important to have a history of the vineyards, a tradition of the wine making methods, a high standard of quality for the wineries, and, why not, a road of wine that expresses all these aspects. Each country, or even region, prized for its wine-making has the duty to carry the wine lovers on such a trail, in order to reveal them the mystery of wine.
For a long period of time, visiting the wineries in Romania was not possible, because of the restrictive politics, until 1989. The wine consumers were intrigued by the barriers set at the entrance of the winery, by the wired fences surrounding the vineyard and by the gates locked with chains. This was one of the reasons most of the loyal wine consumers turned to other products.
This is why wine tourism is not yet very well developed in Romania, but the fact that some of the country’s most beautiful wine cellars and vineyards are not yet known to large groups of tourists can make a trip there even more worthwile.
We invite you now to discover the Romanian Wine Road!
Romanian Gastronomy
Romanian has been occupied throughout history by the Greeks, Romans, Turks and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Other European countries, such as France, Italy, Poland and Russia, have also had a profound effect on the language and culture of Romania. These mixed cultural influences are evident in traditional Romanian food.
The Romanian gastronomy is based on delicious dishes and traditions; even it receives strong influences from the Ottoman cuisine as well as from other neighbouring countries, it maintains its own character.
Quite different types of dishes in Romania are sometimes included under a generic term; for example, the category ciorba includes a wide range of soups with a characteristic sour taste. These may be meat and vegetable soups, tripe and calf foot soups, or fish soups, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerkraut juice, vinegar, but mostly by traditionally bors (fermented wheat bran). There is nothing better than a clear or vegetable soup with nettles, dandelion, mushrooms, onion and garlic.
Sour meatball soup is among the most traditional of the sour soups, but cabbage ciorbă is also popular, and ciorbă de burtă (tripe soup) is considered the ultimate hangover food.
For the second course, a plate of pork, specially if it is obtained in the so-called Pig Roast, an ancient ritual that starts with the slaughter of the pig and follows with the preparaton of its meat. Pork and chicken are the preferred meats in Romanian dishes, but beef, lamb and fish are also
popular. Pork products such as bacon, ham, spare ribs, chops, and various cold cuts are also favorites of the Romanians. With every meat dish will come along a variety of pickled vegetables, mostly cured in brine but also in vinegar.
Popular Romanian main courses include mititei (the "Wee Ones" - small skinless grilled sausages), meatballs (perişoare if found in a meatball soup) and the snitel. One of the most common dishes in Romania is mamaliga, a Romanian specialty cornmeal mush served on its own or as an accompaniment or in place of bread. Along with other tasty Romanian side dishes comes ‘polenta’ which has been introduced by the Romans. It is coarsely or finely ground yellow or white cornmeal boiled with water into porridge and eaten directly or baked, fried or grilled.
Mămăliga is a fat-free, cholesterol-free, high-fiber food.
Since mămăliga can be used as an alternate for bread in many Romanian and Moldovan dishes, there are quite a few which are either based on mămăligă, or include it as an ingredient or side dish. Among the most popular of them is sarmale (a type of cabbage roll) with mămăligă. Another very popular Romanian dish based on mămăligă is called bulz, and consists of balls of mămăligă filled with cheese and butter and roasted in the oven.
A Romanian traditional meal may also include "Saramură " (grilled carp in brine), "nisetru la grătar " (grilled Black Sea sturgeon) or "scrumbie la grătar " (grilled herring), "tocaniţă " or "tochitură " (meat stew seasoned with onions and/ or spices), "ghiveci " (over 20 vegetables cooked in oil).
All participating people are invited to the meal and the dishes are accompanied with a tuica glass, a plum liquor.
Tuica is a strong type of plum brandy that is widely regarded as the country's traditional alcoholic beverage,
along with Romanian wine which has a tradition of nearly three millennium.
For desert, we invite you to taste "PapanaÅŸi " (cottage cheese donuts, topped with sour cream and fruit preserve),
"cozonac" (traditional holiday sweet bread filled with walnuts, poppy seeds or cream cheese), plum dumplings or
the Romanian traditional pies or "clătite cu brânză" (crepes filled with cottage cheese, raisins and spices).
Romanian cozonac is a slightly sweet yeast-raised egg bread, similar to hoska, that is traditionally eaten for Easter,
Christmas and New Year's. Bulgarians call this bread kozunak.
It's considered the Italian panettone of the Romanians. When the cozonac dough is filled with farmers cheese,
it becomes a pasca.
We are also proudly promoting the Transylvanian Treats: One Sweet "Cylinder", as well as the delicious "Alivanca", the Moldavian Cheese Pie.
The first known recipe of Kürtőskalács (or Kurtos Kolac) originates from Transylvania, included in the 1784 cookbook of Countess Mária Mikes of Zabola. Nowadays is a popular pastry specific to Hungarian-speaking regions.
a long rope of sweet yeast dough is tightly wrapped in a spiral around a wooden form, something like a rolling pin, and dusted with sugar.
It is then baked, slowly turning, on a rotating spit above an open flame. Carefully edged off its wooden mold after baking, each chimney cake is a whimsical-looking, soft bread with an addictively crunchy caramelized sugar crust and an airy open center.
Alivanca is a traditional Romanian custard tart, from the province of Moldova made with cornmeal, cream cheese like urdă or telemea and smântână.
A form of cheesecake was very popular at the Ancient times in Greece. The secret of its manufacture was passed during the Roman invasions. At that time, the Latin name used for this type of cake was placenta that was transmitted in Romanian culture.
The alivenci (singular "alivancă", plural "alivenci") are traditional cake bars made in the Romanian peasant homes for hundreds of years, especially in the north-eastern part of the country, Moldova. Polenta was a staple in their homes, and from here to inventing a sweet dish using the ever present polenta flour it was only a step :).
These cake bars are even mentioned in one of the most well-known children's fairy tales, "Capra cu trei iezi" (The goat and her three kids), by Ion Creangă, the most well-beloved peasant story-teller of the country.
Moving on from the cultural legacy of this dessert to the actual recipes, it will taste delicious made it topped with some caramelized apples, for an extra je-ne-sais-quoi, but the traditional version was usually without a topping.
The Romanian gastronomy becomes unforgettable for those who try it as Romanians use everything that nature provides to transform it into dishes that are true masterpieces. The gastronomy varies from one region to another, but all of them have a common characteristic:
DELICIOUS
