The Transylvanian cooking ingredients and tastes of authentic recipes are considered to be the most diverse in Romania. Both the cultural and the culinary diversity of this area are the result of the turbulent history of this territory lying at the crossroads between the Western and the Eastern civilizations. The ethnic groups once living here have influenced the way food is prepared and served.
The people living here today are excited to welcome guests with food prepared in their homes. The dishes follow Romanian, Hungarian or Saxon recipes and the results are delicious.
The local traditional cuisine is based on seasonal ingredients and the meals differ from one season to another, from one home to another. Here we can taste dairy foods, different types of cheese (caş, telemea, brânză frământată), homemade meat dishes, homegrown fruits and vegetables, fresh or preserved. The menu also includes sausages, bacon, zacuscă, eggs, soups, ciorbă, stew, pickles, and desserts such as cake, ginger bread, pie, doughnuts, jam and natural fruit juices. It’s impossible to miss the pălincă to awake your appetite.
In Mălâncrav many homes still use traditional ovens for baking bread and cakes for daily meals or for family and holiday celebrations. Leavening and kneading the dough is done very early in the morning. Once the willow-wood fired oven is hot, the dough is sized, all the ingredients are added and, once put in baking tins it’s ready to sit in the oven. Later in the day, after several hours of household chores, the atmosphere is invaded by the smell of baking bread, hanklich (plain, with semolina, apple or cream) or striezel (with nut, Turkish delight, raisins or cinnamon), all waiting to be tasted.
Cooks:
Boitor Aurelia, house 335
Neagu Mihaela, house 276
Jeler Nicoleta, house 297
Neagu Lucica, house 139
Petrean Daniela, house 280
