Muntenia or Wallachia, as it used to be called in the Middle Ages and in
\nearly modernity, has over the centuries acquired an impressive gastronomic
\nreputation. The cuisine here has Middle Eastern and Greek influences, as well
\nas French and Italian. Rulers and noblemen used to throw feasts as a good
\nopportunity to discuss politics and matters of state, so the food had to make
\nit worth their while. One of the Wallachian Princes of the 16th
\ncentury, Neagoe Basarab, wrote a series of letters to his son, Teodosie, which
\ncontained, apart from the usual advice on matters of statesmanship, a set of
\nrecommendations as to polite table manners. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The cuisine here is famously rich in
\nvegetables, meat, fish, dairy products and fruit. A staple of the area is the
\naspic made from chicken or pork and vegetables, a dish that used to delight
\nforeign guests who attended the feasts hosted by princes and noblemen. Sour
\ngrapes and other green fruit were used as souring agents for soups. Later on,
\npeople started using lemon or the famous fermented wheat bran called borsch
\nas a more convenient replacement. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Today they also use the juice from pickled
\ncabbage to sour the soups. Meatball soup is a particularly popular dish and one
\nwhich is quite easy to make, but you need to be very careful, because the
\nmeatballs may easily break up and scatter in the pot. To make this soup, you
\nneed around 750 grams of minced beef, a piece of meat on the bone, two carrots,
\na parsnip and a parsley root. You also need a celery stalk, a cup of rice, an
\nonion, two eggs, tomato juice, one bunch of parsley and another of lovage.
\nBring the beef on the bone to the boil in a 4-litre pot, skim the scum rising
\nto the surface, then add all the grated vegetable roots. You can also add red
\npeppers and tomatoes, also finely chopped. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Take out the beef after it has
\nboiled, cut the meat into small pieces and then put the pieces back in the
\nliquid they boiled in. Finely chop the onion, then mix it in a bowl with the
\nminced meat, the eggs, the rinsed rice and a pinch of salt. After about 20
\nminutes, mould little meatballs, then put them in the pot where you brought the
\nvegetables to a boil. Add the tomato juice and leave to simmer for another five
\nminutes. Remove the pot from the heat, then add the finely-chopped parsley. Add
\na dollop of cream after you have filled your soup plates with the thick soup
\nand spray the plate with some finely-chopped lovage. This dish is ideally
\nserved with a hot pepper.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Enjoy!<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Muntenia or Wallachia, as it used to be called in the Middle Ages and in early modernity, has over the centuries acquired an impressive gastronomic reputation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45767],"tags":[45916],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-173966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-cooking-show","tag-wallachian-dishes"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n