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Entree - |
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"Mititei"- Grilled Minced Meat
Rolls
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(By Iulia Motoc -
Professor, University of Bucharest and Senior Emile Noel Fellow )
The "mititei" (meaning, in Romanian,
"something very small"), thus called due to their small size, opposite to
regular sausages, started to be largely prepared and consumed in the second
half of the nineteenth century, primarily as an urban food. The inhabitants of
the suburbs of the cities, especially the capital of Romania, Bucharest, used
to buy second quality meat from the butchers, to ground and mix it with spices
and beef suet and grill it on fire, outside their houses.
In the first half of the
twentieth century, all taverns and restaurants successfully included this meal
on their menus, and thus, the "mititei" have become one of the main culinary
attractions of a city surnamed until today "the Little Paris".
I thank my colleagues and
friends mihaela and jean blajan for this recipe.
Ingredients
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- ½ pound ground
beef meet
- ½ pound ground
pork meat, with fat
- ½ pound ground
mutton meat
- Salt
- Pepper
- Thyme
- Coriander
- Garlic, 5-6 cloves,
chopped and mixed with a tablespoon of warm water
- Baking soda, one
teaspoon
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Directions
- All ingredients are
mixed thoroughly in a large bowl. The bowl is then put in the refrigerator and
left until the next day.
- The second day, the
meat is divided by hand in small grilled minced rolls, of about 3 inches length
and 1 inch thick, which are placed on a plate, greased with vegetable oil, a
¼ of an inch apart one from the other, to avoid sticking. The meat rolls
are then greased with oil also on the above side, using a brush.
- Meanwhile, the grill,
carefully greased with oil, is heated on the stove. The grill can also be
placed on charcoal, in the garden, which will give the meat a beautiful crust
and aroma, allowing all the juices to be kept inside. The baking soda will also
give them fluffiness. The meat rolls are grilled for about 4 to 5 minutes on
each side, and transferred to a plate. They should be served immediately, with
mustard (regular or Dijon mustard) and fresh bread. Fried potatoes can also be
served with this meal.
TIP
If you don't eat all
three kinds of ground meat, you can use any combination of two of them.
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