\nThe names of some of the sausages
\nmade in Romania also contain their place of origin. Such examples
\ninclude the Banat sausages from south-western Romania, the Szekler
\nsausages from eastern Transylvania and which are made after different
\nrecipes but have one ingredient in common, namely paprika, which
\ngives them their dark-red colour, something that is also brought
\nabout by the smoking process to which they are subjected so that they
\nkeep longer, as well as the Oltenian sausages, the spicier version of
\nthin, semi-smoked sausages known as cabanos.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nThe eastern region of Buz\u0103ului is known for two types of sausages
\ncontaining this denomination of origin: the Ple\u015fcoi sausages and
\nthe Buz\u0103u babic. The Ple\u015fcoi sausages were added to the list of
\nproducts with protected geographical indication in the European Union
\nin 2019. They are made in Buz\u0103u county at several locations,
\nincluding that which gives the product its name. There are two types
\nof Ple\u015fcoi sausages, dried and smoked, and in both versions the main
\ningredient is mutton, two thirds, as well as beef, one third. The
\ntraditional recipe allows for mutton to be replaced with goat meat,
\nbut no more than 10%. The condiments used are chilli peppers, thyme,
\npaprika and chilli powder, garlic and salt. They are traditionally
\ncooked on the grill or in the pan and served as a cold starter or
\ntogether with other grilled products, with or without a side dish and
\nwith pickled green tomatoes or cucumbers.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nBulgarian and Serbian refugees who settled in the Buz\u0103u
\narea at the end of the 18th
\ncentury as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars adopted the local
\nrecipe for Ple\u015fcoi sausages but made some changes, using pork
\ninstead of mutton, probably to spite the Ottomans. They also added
\ndried and finely cut chilli pepper and this led to the creation of
\nwhat is today known as the Buz\u0103u babic or the Buz\u0103u Serbian babic.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
George
\nBuzoi tells us more about how the babic was born:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Out
\nof need. Everyone kept a pig or two in their farms, and they also had
\ncows. The babic is very good for people to take with them when
\nworking the land in the summer, because it keeps well. It’s a dried
\nraw product. It’s full of fat, but its taste is not spoiled. You
\ncan imagine how much protein there is in a product that is not
\ntreated to heat. Farmers didn’t have a lot of money, and the babic
\nwas all they needed as protein.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
George
\nBuzoi also enlarged on the content of the babic:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Meat,
\nnamely pork and not necessarily beef and the pepper paste, which is
\nthe biggest secret of all. The pepper paste is extremely expensive to
\nbuy. A lot of pepper must be set aside from the summer harvest to
\nmake this paste. We make it at home. It adds both colour and taste.
\nThe recipe also contains some chilli and salt. The drying and smoking
\nprocess is also very important.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nrecipe for babic is passed down from generation to generation, as in
\nthe case of Marcel and Valentin Popa, father and son, who are babic
\nmakers from the area.
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We
\nhave to respect the quantities of meat and spices to make the product
\nand we only use naturally grown pepper and thyme, no other
\ncondiments.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Costel
\nMatei also makes babic sausages and described for us the process:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Beef
\n40%, pork 60%, paprika and pepper paste. The pepper is dried and then
\nground, and boiled twice, so that from a sack of peppers you end up
\nwith two jars of pepper paste of 200 grams. It’s an essential
\nproduct, it keeps well and it’s very tasty. The recipe also
\ncontains salt and that’s about it. The secret is in how you knead
\nthe mix, only using the fists. We knead it twice a day for three or
\nfour days until the mixture starts giving off a pleasant smell of
\nstale meat. The casings are then filled with this mix, the sausage
\nis pierced, especially at the ends, and it is then hung up to dry
\nuntil the skin sticks to the meat, for 5-6 days, depending on the
\nlevel of humidity, and then it’s smoked.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nthe Buz\u0103u region people even make babic soup, with lots of
\nvegetables and very thinly sliced pieces of this sausage. Until this
\nproduct is, however, included in the register of products with
\nprotected geographical indication, local producers must work together
\nto make sure that even industrial producers make the babic after the
\nsame recipe.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Buz\u0103u babic can be traced back to Bulgarian and Serbian refugees who settled in Buz\u0103u at end of 18th c.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42520],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-137586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inside-romania"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n