Traditional Romanian cuisine – Drob de Miel (Lamb Haggis)

Religion is a big part of Romanian culture and this is often reflected in traditional holiday meals. Lamb haggis is usually cooked for the Easter holiday and has strong religious connotations. In the New Testament, the sacrifice of the lamb symbolizes Jesus’s sacrifice for humankind and the passage from life to death. In honour of this tradition, several meals are cooked from lamb on Easter. Some base their whole Easter menu on lamb.

There are sources that consider this dish to be a reminiscence of nomad sheep herders from the West, who were forced to move from place to place due to drought. The legend says that they used to sacrifice a lamb before leaving in order to protect themselves against evil spirits.

The dish’s resemblance to the Scottish haggis circumscribes it to the type of meals that were convenient and easy to cook after a day of hunting. They were made from giblets cooked in the animal’s stomach.

Ingredients:

One of the many available recipes requires about 500 g of lamb giblets, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 2 raw eggs, a slice of bread soaked in milk, spring onions, parsley, dill, 1 tablespoon of sour cream, salt, pepper, a lamb vane or a pasta sheet and some oil to grease the pot.

Directions:

First you have to boil the giblets in salted water. You leave them to cool and then you mince them together with the slice of bread. You finely chop the onions, parsley and dill and put them over the meat and then add the raw eggs, the cream, salt and pepper. Now, you mix everything together.

Grease the pot with oil. Then was the vane and place it inside. Now you can put half the mix, then the boiled eggs and then, the remaining half of the mix. Wrap the vane around the stuffing and cook in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Those who do not like lamb can make this dish from chicken giblets and chicken breast. The lamb vane can also be replaced by filo pastry or by a pasta sheet.

Sources:

“Romanian Easter recipe: Drob de miel (lamb haggis)”, Romanian Insider, April 13th 2012, Available at: http://www.romania-insider.com/romanian-easter-recipe-drob-de-miel-lamb-haggis/55512/ , Accessed: 08.10.2015.

“Semnificaţia mielului pascal”, Creştin Ortodox, Available at: http://www.crestinortodox.ro/paste/sfintele-pasti/semnificatia-mielului-pascal-71151.html, Accessed: 08.10.2015.

Chiţu, Mădălina, “Drob de miel. Trei modalităţi simple de a găti acest preparat tradiţional popular de Paşte”, Gândul, April 8th 2015, Available at:  http://www.gandul.info/drob-de-miel-trei-modalitati-simple-de-a-gati-acest-preparat-traditional-popular-de-paste-9501088.html, Accessed: 08.10.2015.