Mititei
(Romanian grilled fresh sausages)
Image
by Wikipedia: Nicubunu
Makes 20 to 25 sausages, or 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
- Ground beef or lamb -- 1 pound
- Ground pork -- 1 pound
- Garlic, minced -- 3 or 4 cloves
- Paprika -- 1 tablespoon
- Coriander -- 1 tablespoon
- Caraway seeds -- 2 teaspoons
- Baking soda -- 2 teaspoons
- Salt and pepper -- to season
- Olive oil -- 3 tablespoons
- Lemon juice -- 1 tablespoon
Method
- Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl and knead until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but preferably overnight, to allow flavors to meld.
- Using wetted hands, form small sausages about 4 inches long and 1 inch thick with the meat mixture.
- Grill the sausages over hot coals until browned on both sides and cooked through.
- Serve with mustard and cold beer.
Mititei Variations
- Other Cooking Methods: Mititei can also be grilled on the stove top in a grill pan or pan fried in a skillet or even baked in a 400°F oven.
- Spices and Other Flavorings: While garlic, paprika and coriander are the most common spices for mititei, other flavorings can be used as well. Try minced onion, thyme, hot pepper flakes, dill, cloves, cumin or marjoram.
- Mititei can also be formed into patties and cooked as burgers or rolled into balls for tasty meatballs.






method
"Mici" is pronounced "mitch".
Usually the mixture is kept way longer than one hour, overnight or even one day; during all this time it's kneaded 3 or 4 times.
Not too many herbs or spices are added, definitely no onion.
Pork is a recent addition, originally it was a mutton/beef mixture.
A compulsory ingredient is beef stock (for the recipe above, about 1 cup).