Recipes from Transylvania

Ștefan Baciu, 12.06.2016, 14:28

Today’s Cooking Show takes you to the west of
Romania, to its largest province, Transylvania, which showcases heavier
cooking, displaying central European influences. It uses quite a lot of pork,
including lard, and sauces based on onion sautéed with wheat flour.

Soups are very often made with tarragon, an
herb most likely brought there by German Saxon colonists in the Middle Ages.
Smoked fatback is a staple throughout the year, and is used in cooked dishes as
well. From Hungarian cooking, Transylvanian cooking has taken the use of sugar
and hot chilli powder in sauces. Typical dishes are polenta boiled in
buttermilk, sauerkraut soup with sour cream, and stews with smoked fatback
bits, etc.

Today’s recipe is a famous recipe from
Transylvania, the renown Cluj baked sour cabbage. Take two average size heads
of sauerkraut, 1-1/2 kilogram of pork with some fat on it, a handful of rice,
two or three onions, salt and pepper. Chop finely the onion, then put the pork
through the mincing machine. Melt some lard and sauté in it the onion with the
pork. Finely slice the cabbage, then sauté it separately in lard as well. Boil
the rice in salted water, then mix it in with the minced meat with onion. Take
a large stovetop pot, at least 3 or 4 l capacity, then start layering the
contents. Put in alternative layers of meat and cabbage, with a bit of
sauerkraut in between the layers. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then
put the pot in the oven at medium heat for about a quarter of an hour. This can
be served with a glass of semidry wine at room temperature. Enjoy!