Christmas food
Christmas is represented through a rich meal, with essential components such as: roast beef, knot-shaped bread, sarmale, fruits, fish, and sweets and of course the drink. Also eggs and nuts have a special part; they represent the lasting through time, the seed that isn’t lost.
The ceremony regarding the preparation of the feast starts from the day of Ignat. That is when the caltabosi, toba and sangretele are prepared and served as an appetiser. The recipes differ from region to region, from household to household.
Along with these appetizers there is also a pot with boiled plum brandy with sugar and pepper.
The house wives must prepare the sarmale a few days in advance. Regarding the recipes, there as many as there are house wives.
All these types of food are drunk with wine. The house wives prepare everything before Christmas so that during those 3 days they can enjoy themselves along with their families.
All in all, the Christmas dinner ends with a slice of pound cake. The dough well worked must be filled with baked, grinned nuts, raisins, poppy seeds, and cocoa. The dough is then baked and left to cool. This is the smell of Christmas. The smell of pound cake nicely staked together and left to cool.
Home made sausages
The meat from the pig is put through the sausage machine. It’s then mixed with salt, pepper, pounded coriander, ienibahar and pounded garlic. It’s then added a little juice from the meat. Separately the pig intestines will be washed and left in cold water. The intestines will be filled with the prepared meat described above. After which they are left outside to dry.
Caltabosi
Ingredients: 1kg rice, 0.5kg pork liver, ½ lung, 1.5kg meat from the head, 1 heart, 300g of lard from the head, large intestines from a pig, 1 onion, salt, pepper, savory.
The meat, lung, heart and 150g of lard are set to boil. When they are half boiled the liver is added. The rice is boiled separately. 150g of lard is fried and then an onion is set to fry. After all the organs and the meat have been boiled, everything is minced and mixed with the fried lard, rice and onion. It’s seasoned with salt, pepper and savory and is well worked, being careful not to fragment the rice to much. The intestines are well cleaned, are washed several times and filled with the resulted mixture. It’s then tied at both ends, placed in gauze and set to boil. They are boiled a couple of times then taken out and left to cool.
The caltabosi are eaten fried or boiled, warm or cold, with mustard or horse radish.
Meat Jelly (piftie)
Ingredients: 2kg legs, ½ head with ears, 300g lean meat, an onion, a carrot, garlic, salt
The legs are roasted, are well washed and boiled. The head is cleaned and diced. The legs, head, meat and vegetables are put in pot with water and boiled until the meat from the legs starts to peal off. It’s put into plates and garnished with parsley, carrot slices and eggs. The juice from the meat is filtered and then the garlic is added. Then the juice is added and the plates are left to cool until the whole thing gets curdled.
Toba de porc
Traditionally the toba is made of a head of a pig, toungue, heart, kidney, and rind, leaves of laurel, pepper and pimento. All these are boiled and placed in the pig’s stomach. It is served cold, as a snack, cut into thin pieces, with lemon, mustard or pickles.
Roast beef
Ingredients: Pig’s meat, pepper, salt, garlic.
The meat is salted, peppered and is rubbed with garlic. After an hour is placed in a tray with a couple of spoons of water and put into the oven. It’s kept in the oven until it’s nice and brown. After cutting you can serve it. It can be served with fried potatoes, tomatoes and other garnishing.
Sarmale cu varza murata
Ingredients: leaves of laurel, minced greens, sauerkraut, minced meat (pork meat or with beef), onions, rice, spices.
It’s cut into small pieces, fried and then added the rice and a little water. After the rice has risen a little, it’s taken off the fire and mixed with the meat. A spoon from this composition is taken and placed on a leaf of sauerkraut, of medium size. The meat is rapped so as the meat can’t get out. In the pot the sarmale are boiled leaves of cabbage are placed on the bottom, a little tomato sauce and even some bacon. Then water is poured until it fills half of the pot and put in the oven. On the rows of cabbage slices of tomato may be put and even green peppers. Once in a while it is checked on. When they are ready the water must be taken out and the cabbage from the top must be made nice and brown. It can be served with sour cream and hot peppers. Boiled with wine or in meat juice, the sarmale with maize porridge can always be found on the Christmas table.
Cozonac trandafir
Ingredients: 400g flour, 2 eggs, 1 glass of milk, 40g yeast, 100g butter, 5 spoons of granulated sugar, rum, vanilla, 50g raisins, ½ spoon of salt. The yeast is soaked in a little warm milk, with a spoon of flour. While the mixture stays warm, the rest of the flour and milk is mixed with the eggs. Dough is made which is stretched on crust 2cm thick. The butter is rubbed with the sugar until it gets foamy and is spread all over the surface of the crust. The crust is rolled and is cut into equal pieces of about 4-5cm. A round tray is oiled, granulated sugar is sprinkled and then the pieces are placed one next to the other. It’s left for about 20-24 min to grow, its oiled with egg and put in the oven.
Craciuneii or colaceii de Craciun
Sunt pregatiti din aluat dospit si sunt consumati la masa, daruiti colindatorilor sau oferiti de pomana pentru sufletele celor disparuti. Pot avea orice forma: cerc, potcoava sau stea, iar în ziua de Craciun exista obiceiul de a fi asezati pe o farfurie în fata fiecarui membru al familiei si reprezinta în acest fel sacrificiul grâului, jertfa divinitatii. În seara de Ajun colaceii le sunt oferiti copiilor împreuna cu un banut sau le sunt dati copiilor care vin a doua zi cu Steaua, de Craciun.
2kg flour, 124ml oil, 100g yeast, 1 spoon of sugar, salt, water. The yeast is made into a small pool and inside the warm water is poured with the flour, sugar, yeast, oil. The dough is worked for about half an hour and left to rise for about one hour. Then the dough is put into the oven. The paste is spread, blended, flour is sprinkled and the knot-shaped breads are left to rise until they fill the trays they are put in. They are put in a hot oven and left to bake for an hour to develop a crust and get nice and brown. When they are taken out of the oven they are oiled with water containing sugar.
Pogacele cu jumari
Ingredients: 500g porc scraps, 5 eggs, 1 cup of water, 800-850g flour, 50g yeast, salt, teel. The scraps are put through a grinder and then mixed with flour, 4 eggs and the yeast which was dissolved in warm water. Salt is sprinkled and the dough is worked until it becomes elastic. A sheet 5mm thick is laid which is cut into special shapes. The left over dough is mixed with an egg, teel and put in an oiled tray with. It’s left to grow for 10-15 min and then baked at a small fire until they get nice and brown.
Supa taraneasca de zgreaban afumat
Ingredients: Pig’s stack, an onion, a carrot, celery, parsley, home noodles, a few leafs of celery. The stack is cut into small pieces, washed and boiled. After being boiled a few times, the bones are washed again and boiled again. Cut the onions, carrot, celery and parsley into small cubes and add them to the pot. After everything has boiled, the noodles are added and everything is boiled a couple more times. After the soup is taken off the fire, the leafs of celery are sprinkled.
Tarta cu ficat de porc
For the dough: 250g flour, 125g margarine, 1 spoon of lard, 50ml water, salt ,one egg. For the filling: 300g liver, 60g cheese, 2 spoons of butter, 1 cup of milk, 1 spoon of flour, salt, pepper, oil.
The dough: the margarine and flour is mixed, a dash of salt is added, pour some warm water and work the dough until it unglues from the receptacle. At the end the lard is added, the dough is worked a little more and left to cool for a few hours. During this time the filling is prepared.The liver is put through the grinder, and then stewed in butter. Separately a white sauce from the butter, flour and milk is boiled and after the liver is done everything is mixed. Then the yolks, cheese, salt and pepper is added and at the end the whites of the eggs. A sheet of liver is then laid. From the left over dough another is sheet is laid and cut into 1cm strips which are used as a lattice for the tart. The stripes are oiled with beaten eggs and the tart is put in the oven for 30 min.
Romanian wine
In Romania the wine industry has ancient traditions. Many kinds of wine like Babeasca, Fateasca, the Romanian Grasa or Tamaioasa have been passed down for centuries until today. Other kinds like Riesling, Merlot, Aligote, Sauvignon, Cabernet, Muscat or Chardonnay have been imported from France at the beginning of the XX century finding in Romania a second home. The areas for wine cultures are situated around the Carpati. In Moldova there is the famous vineyard of Cotnari, where the wine for Stefan the Great was made (the XV century). In Dobrogea, on the limy hills, there is the vineyard of Tarnave and in Walachia there known vineyards such as Stefanesti and Dealu Mare.
Wine is also an important element of the Christmas table along with the other foods.
