De la Arad am ajuns in Brasov pentru un veritabil Speck acru – o supa acrisoara de cartofi cu carne de porc si arome de dafin. Cand e vorba despre traditie, Cami stie ce se potriveste cel mai bine zonei si, dupa cum veti vedea, are toate argumentele necesare in acest sens. Tot ea mi-a dat ideea de Crumble cu fructe pentru care ii sunt profund recunoscatoare.

Noi doua ne-am cunoscut la scurt timp dupa ce m-am mutat in Brasov (sa fie vreo 18-19 ani….cine-i mai numara) si pana acum, chiar daca acum ne desparte oaresce distanta, de cate ori am nevoie, Cami este acolo pentru mine. Si ne mai leaga cateva evenimente importante din viata mea de care cu drag imi aduc aminte 😍🥂.

Va las acum in compania ei ca se pricepe sa povesteasca mai bine decat mine –  asa cum puteti vedea pe blogul ei https://www.psi-words.com/ . Si inca ceva: iubeste pisicile!
Multumesc ca mi-ai acceptat provocarea, salutari lui Dan si sa ne vedem sanatosi! Va pup!

Cami e cea din stanga 😎

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From Arad we arrived in Brasov for a real sour Speck – a sour potato soup with pork and bay leaves flavors. When it comes to tradition, Cami knows what best suits the area and, as you will see, has all the necessary arguments in this regard. She also gave me the idea of the fruit crumble for which I am deeply grateful.

The two of us met shortly after I moved to Brasov (to be about 18-19 years old …. who counts) and so far, even we’re far away from each other, how many times I need something, Cami is there for me. And we are connected by some important events in my life which is a pleasure for me to remember 😍🥂.

I leave you now in her company because she’s better at telling stories – she writes on her own blog at https://www.psi-words.com/. And one more thing: she loves cats!
Thank you for accepting my challenge, greetings to Dan and see you healthy! Kisses!

Cami is on the left picture 😎

I thought about what I could bring from the Brașov area in terms of cooking and I started work yesterday, so today I bring you as a gift what is called Speck soup, a sour potato soup with pork, totally atypical in Romanian cuisine and far from the style of our traditional soups, but also far from the famous German bacon and the soup of the same name, just because the Romanians who took this recipe changed it. Somehow not surprising, they added potatoes from the potato country, didn’t they?

German bacon soup is made with dumplings and prosciutto’s German brother and I think it has its roots somewhere long ago. Our soup today was inspired by it, and somehow it can be explained in the conditions in which the Crown was raised by the Teutons and it is said that the tale of the children of Hamelin of the Brothers Grimm somehow tells the story of the city (it is said that the 130 missing children of Hamelin 1284 were taken by a whistle blower and appeared in Transylvania, more precisely in Brașov).

The crown was founded by the Teutons about 70 years earlier than the children in the fairy tale, in 1211 by the “diploma” of the Hungarian king Andrew II, who gave them the right to settle and build the Teutons in the Barassu region, citadel in the way of the Tatar invasions. In fact, the oldest buildings of the city are almost from those times: the church of St. Martin of Strajă and the church of St. Bartholomew. (The first church built by the Teutons was that of Catherine, now extinct under the Black Church and the court of Honterus).

I have known this soup since I was a child, it is taken from my grandmother and mother and is by far my favorite soup, the Romanian or Brașov version to be exact, which keeps milk and bay leaves, between ingredients, but replaces the speck with lean pork and add the vinegar. It is a recipe with very few ingredients, three to be exact, but with a special taste, for me at least.

The ingredients are like this:
– a piece of fat-free pork, somewhere up to 500 grams cut into small pieces for a sip;
– a large onion, finely chopped;
– about 5 diced potatoes;
– a cup of milk,
– 2-3 bay leaves,
– salt and wine vinegar.

Preparation:
In the pot where the soup is made, fry the onion with a little oil (Grandma used homemade lard, from the pork they cut, but also boiled the soup over a wood fire), then add the meat and brown it too. Add water or meat broth, bay leaves and cook until the meat is tender. Then add the potatoes and continue to boil, add salt and, finally, a cup of milk that will change its color from golden to golden white. Leave it on the fire for a few more minutes and, when it is ready, set it aside and add it. We like it more sour, so I put a healthy spoonful of vinegar. The secret in adding vinegar is that the soup does not boil anymore because otherwise the milk would tighten.

It can be served hot or cold (I prefer it as hot as possible) and with it, a story about the town of Corona in Barasu county:

The city founded by the Teutons had its fortress gates at the end of Căldărarilor Street (today Republicii pedestrian street), at the end of Șirului Vămii (currently Mureșenilor), on Neagră street (currently Nicolae Bălcescu, a little above Star store) and near Caterinelor church (Ecaterina gate), the only one left standing). There was also the gate at the horse fair, which disappeared today and was replaced by what we call today the Schei Gate. This was the Corona, which also included the Straja (Cetății hill and Strada Lungă- Brașovechii area) and was the place where the Saxons organized and conducted their business organized in the council of the hundred, with guilds that had the duty to feed and take care of the soldiers in the bastions and gates built to defend the city. The Romanians and Bulgarians who came to help build MarienKirche (the Black Church) had the right to live in the 13 villages of Săcelele and beyond the gate of the horse fair, high on the hills towards Pietrele lui Solomon (this is how Șcheii was born and the June troops there and the name of Schei derives from skiau which meant Slavic). To enter the Crown, Romanians were required to pay taxes.
The Hungarians in the city, a rather minority population, also lived towards the edge of the Crown, more precisely beyond the southern gate, in Blumăna (currently beyond the Dramatic Theater and up to the Civic Center). Much closer to our times there is on the site of the current Hotel Aro Palace a beautiful Hungarian church demolished by the communists and the famous Erdelyi terrace, where the good people gather. And, closer to our times, when the city was part of the Habsburg Empire, the Hungarian signs were seen and remained in the Franciscan abbey on St. John Street (the church called St. Anton although its name is that of John the Baptist) and in the Catholic cathedral on Muresienilor Street.

However, the most dominant influences are Saxon, as can be seen in the Brasov cuisine, a cuisine where the famous stollen intersects, with the taste for cakes with a lot of cream, but also with the well-known “shut up and swallow” promoted by Radu Anton Roman, who has as sources, so to speak, the basic activity of the Romanians from the Săcele / Tărlungeni areas, the shepherding.