Romania

A Romanian shepherd's dish of mămăligă (cornmeal polenta) formed into a ball around a core of cheese and butter, then grilled or baked until molten inside.

A Romanian sour tripe soup in which slow-cooked beef tripe floats in an acidulated broth finished with a raw egg-and-sour-cream liaison and sharpened with raw garlic.

A Romanian soured white-bean soup whose body comes from dried white beans slow-cooked with smoked pork, whose aromatics are defined by thyme, and whose tartness — the mark of all ciorbă — is delivered by borș or vinegar.

A Romanian everyday sour broth soup built around small pork-and-raw-rice meatballs (perișoare) simmered directly in a vegetable-enriched stock made acidic with borș or lemon and finished with fresh lovage.

A Romanian and Moldovan enriched yeasted sweet bread made with high-egg, butter-and-milk dough, rolled and swirled with a ground walnut and cocoa filling, then baked tall in a loaf pan as a feast-day centerpiece for Christmas and Easter.

A rich, egg-and-butter-enriched yeasted Romanian festive bread rolled around a dark walnut-and-cocoa filling, shaped into a tall loaf or braid, and baked for Christmas and Easter celebrations.

A traditional Romanian Easter loaf made from minced lamb offal mixed with rice, eggs, dill, and green onions, wrapped in caul fat and baked until set.

A Romanian mashed white-bean spread topped with onions caramelised in sunflower oil.

Friptură de Porc is a celebratory roasted pork dish, marinated with garlic and herbs and repeatedly basted with its own rendered fat, served sliced as the centerpiece of festive meals in Moldova and Romania.

Crisp, golden cracklings of pork fat and skin left behind after pork fatback is slowly rendered down into lard.

A dense, slow-cooked yellow cornmeal porridge prepared in a cast-iron ceaun by continuous stirring until stiff enough to unmold and slice, serving as the foundational bread-substitute starch of Romanian and Moldovan cuisine.

Skinless grilled cylinders of mixed ground pork and beef seasoned with garlic, coriander seed, black pepper, and bicarbonate of soda — Romania's defining street food and the canonical Balkan skinless grilled meat roll.

A Romanian dish of pan-fried pork tenderloin finished in a creamy sauce built on smântână (Romanian sour cream) and garlic.

A Romanian dessert of fried (or boiled) doughnuts made from fresh cottage-style cheese, topped with sour cream and fruit jam.

A Romanian and Moldovan pastry of thin, hand-stretched dough folded around a savory or sweet filling — most canonically fresh cottage cheese, braised cabbage, or mashed potato — and cooked on a dry griddle or shallow-fried until blistered and tender.

A Romanian and Moldovan spread of charred, peeled aubergine mashed with raw onion and sunflower oil into a smoky, creamy paste eaten cold on bread.

Sarmale are cabbage leaves stuffed with a seasoned mixture of minced pork and rice, rolled, and slow‑braised until tender, served as a main course.

A slow-braised Romanian and Moldovan meat stew of pork or lamb cooked down with onions and tomatoes into a thick, gravy-rich sauce.

A traditional Romanian fruit brandy distilled from fermented plums, ranging from a single distillation to double-distilled and sometimes barrel-rested.

A Transylvanian baked casserole of layered sauerkraut (and fresh cabbage), spiced pork mince, and rice, enriched with sour cream.

A Romanian autumn vegetable conserve of roasted eggplant and red peppers slow-cooked with tomato and onion into a thick spread, jarred for winter.