Romania

🇷🇴Romania

Pickled Green Tomatoes

Gogonele murate

Unripe green tomatoes brined whole with dill, horseradish and celery leaf, eaten firm and sour through the winter.

🇷🇴Romania

Pig's Gift

Pomana porcului

Pan-fried cubed pork served fresh from the winter pig slaughter to the family and neighbours who helped, with garlic and polenta.

🇷🇴Dobruja, Romania

Placinta Dobrogeana

Plăcintă dobrogeană

A protected Dobrujan pastry of thin layered dough and cheese filling, coiled or folded before baking into crisp, flaky sheets.

🇷🇴Romania

Pleșcoi Sausages

Cârnați de Pleșcoi

Mutton and beef sausages heavily spiced with hot paprika, garlic and thyme, smoked lightly and grilled until they blister.

🇷🇴Wallachia, Romania

Plum Butter

Magiun de Topoloveni

Plums cooked down for many hours with no sugar or preservative until they reduce to a dark, thick, intensely fruity butter.

🇷🇴Romania

Plum Spirit

Țuică

A single-distilled plum spirit of moderate strength, drunk warmed in winter and poured as the opening drink at any gathering.

🇷🇴Galicia, Romania

Polenta

Mămăligă

Coarse maize meal cooked in a cast-iron pot and stirred stiff, turned out as a dome and cut with a thread rather than a knife.

🇷🇴Romania

Pork Cracklings

Jumări

Cubes of pork fat rendered slowly until the solids turn crisp and golden, salted and eaten with bread, onion and a glass of țuică.

🇷🇴Romania

Pork Knuckle with Cabbage

Ciolan cu varză

Smoked pork knuckle slow-roasted and served over sauerkraut cooked with paprika and tomato, a hearty tavern plate.

🇷🇴Romania

Potato Sour Soup

Ciorbă de cartofi

Potatoes boiled with red peppers, onions and tomatoes in a light broth soured with borș and finished with sour cream and parsley.

🇲🇩Romanian Moldavia, Moldova

Pârjoale

Pârjoale moldovenești

Flattened patties of minced pork and beef loosened with bread soaked in milk, heavy with dill and garlic, fried until dark and eaten hot or cold.

🇲🇩Romanian Moldavia, Moldova

Rară Neagră

Băbească Neagră

A bottled red wine made from the Rară Neagră grape, called Băbească Neagră in Romania, with light cherry and plum fruit and fresh acidity.

🇷🇴Romania

Red Orach Soup

Ciorbă de lobodă

Wild red orach (mountain spinach) simmered with rice, onions and carrots in a borș-soured broth, finished with egg yolk and lovage.

🇷🇴Romania

Rice and Offal Sausage

Caltaboș

Pork offal and rice seasoned with pepper and herbs, packed into casings and boiled, then fried in slices.

🇷🇴Romania

Roasted Vegetable Spread

Zacuscă

Roasted aubergine and red pepper cooked down with onion and tomato into a dark spread, jarred by the crate every autumn.

🇷🇴Romania

Rom Chocolate Bar

Rom

A rum-flavoured fondant bar in dark chocolate, wrapped in the national flag since 1964.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Brandy

Vinars

Aged grape or fruit brandy, the Romanian equivalent of cognac, distilled from wine and matured in oak for years.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Cabbage Rolls

Sarmale

Minced pork and rice rolled in whole leaves of barrel-soured cabbage and simmered for hours with smoked pork and tomato, served with polenta and sour cream.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Chicken Sour Soup

Ciorbă de pui

Chicken on the bone simmered with carrots, parsnip and root celery in a clear broth soured with borș or lemon and finished with lovage and a swirl of beaten egg.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Doughnuts

Gogoși

Discs of yeasted dough deep-fried and dusted with icing sugar, sometimes filled with jam or chocolate.

🇷🇴Timișoara, Romania

Romanian Lager

Timișoreana

A pale lager from the country's oldest brewery, founded in 1718 in the west, and the standard bottle in a Romanian pub.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Meat Skewers

Frigărui

Cubes of pork (sometimes with bacon, onion and peppers) marinated in garlic and herbs and grilled on skewers over charcoal.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Meatballs

Chiftele

Flat patties of minced pork with garlic, dill and soaked bread, floured and fried, eaten hot with mustard or cold in a sandwich.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Moussaka

Musaca

Layers of potato or aubergine with minced pork, baked under a topping of egg and sour cream rather than béchamel.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Pancakes

Clătite

Thin pancakes rolled around sweet curd cheese, jam or walnut and sugar, sometimes baked with sour cream on top.

🇷🇴Romanian Moldavia, Romania

Romanian Pork Stew

Tochitură

Pork shoulder, sausage and offal fried and then stewed with garlic and wine, served on polenta with sheep cheese and a fried egg.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Pretzels

Covrigi

Soft twisted rings of bread baked all day and sold hot from window kiosks, topped with coarse salt, poppy or sesame seed.

🇷🇴Romania

Romanian Schnitzel

Șnițel

Thin pork or veal escalope breaded and pan-fried golden, the Romanian take on the Austrian schnitzel, served with potatoes and lemon.

🇷🇴Romanian Moldavia, Romania

Rădăuți Chicken Soup

Ciorbă rădăuțeană

A creamy chicken soup with strips of white meat, soured with vinegar and thickened with egg yolk, sour cream and garlic.

🇷🇴Romania

Saints' Day Pastries

Mucenici

Figure-of-eight shapes made either as boiled dough in sweet walnut syrup in the south or as baked sweet bread in the north.

🇷🇴Romania

Salata Orientala

Salată orientală

A Romanian potato salad mixed with boiled egg, onion, olives, and pickles, dressed sharply and served cold or at room temperature.

🇷🇺Russia

Salo

Сало

Salo is cured pork fatback, salted and sometimes smoked, and eaten with bread, garlic, and black pepper.

🇲🇩Moldova

Sauerkraut Brine

Zeamă de curechi

The sour brine drawn off barrelled cabbage, drunk cold by the glass in winter and used to sour soups and cure hangovers.

🇷🇴Romania

Savarin

Savarină

A ring of yeasted sponge soaked heavily in sugar syrup, split and filled with whipped cream and topped with jam.

🇷🇴Romania

Scrumbie de Dunăre afumată

A named smoked Pontic shad from the Danube Delta and Dobruja, prized for oily flesh, firm texture, and a deep clean smoke flavor.

🇷🇴Romania

Semolina Dumpling Soup

Supă de găluște

A clear chicken and root vegetable broth with light semolina dumplings floated in it.