Taste of wilderness - Food / Romania

Recipe for “mici” (pronounced like: meetch)- Romanian Skinless Sausages

Ingredients
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef - 73% lean (the fat is necessary!)
1 tsp (full) salt
1 tsp (leveled) baking soda
1/8 tsp (leveled) ground cumin
1/4 tsp (leveled) black pepper
1/8 tsp (leveled) basil

Optional:
1/4 tsp (leveled) dill
1/4 tsp (leveled) parsley flakes
2 oz beef broth
1 garlic bulb

Preparation
Smash the garlic, then add the beef broth and all the spices. Mix thoroughly the composition with the meat. Leave in the fridge overnight. Make the sausages just before cooking on a barbecue grill. A piece of “mic” – sausage- is 2,5- 3 cm diameter, 7-10cm long. The above quantities yield approx 20 pcs.

Other local specialities you may come across:

Soup
"Ciorbă de perişoare" (meatball soup);
"Ciorbă ţărănească" (vegetable soup, with or without meat);
"Ciorbă de burtă" (tripe soup).

Entree
”Virşlii”- the famous sheep and goat meet sausages in Retezat region; there are only few families who produce them, each having an own recipe which is kept secret;
”Tocăniţă de cartofi” (potatoes and meat stew, seasoned with onions and spices); “Ghiveci” (more than 10 vegetables cooked in oil) ;
“Sarmale” (pickled cabbage leaves stuffed with a mix of minced meats, rice and spices).

Dessert
"Papanaşi" (cottage cheese donuts, topped with sour cream and fruit preserve);
"Clătite cu brânză" (crepes filled with cottage cheese, raisins and spices);
"Cozonac" (traditional holiday sweet bread filled with walnuts, poppy seeds or cream cheese).