Un fel de ghid de calatorie (Aventuri pe Dunare)/ A kind of travel guide (Danube adventures)
Updated: Mar 28, 2021
Odata ce am fost eliberati de sub gheara asupritoare a carantinei, am hotarat ca o mica vacanta nu ar strica, iar intrucat virusul ne limita posibilitatile de a pleca in afara tarii, am decis ca cea mai buna alegere ar fi la mare si in delta, simultan. Probabil ca va intrebati unde e mancarea! Nu va faceti griji ca ajungem si acolo. Dar datorita faptului ca acesta este un blog special, astazi va voi prezenta 3 retete in loc de una.
Calatoria mea catre ”Rezervatia naturala a biosferei Delta Dunarii” a inceput cu 10 ore uluitoare de mers cu masina si de stat inghesuit in locuri inguste, dar in cele din urma am ajuns la Tulcea. ( In poza aceasta se poate observa portul din Tulcea, locul unde am realizat cat de mare e Dunarea)

De asemenea, si drumul spre Delta Dunarii e destul de pitoresc.
Dar, acum, am sa trec la partea care intereseaza pe toata lumea, adica mancarea! Totusi, ca sa aveti un punct de pornire, sau mai bine spus niste poze de pornire pentru o viitoare calatorie in delta, am sa las mai jos o galerie de poze din delta, adica literalmente din inima deltei. Pozele sunt facute cu telefonul, asa ca nu au toate cea mai buna rezolutie, dar am avut o deosebita grija sa le selectez pe cele cu o calitate mai buna a imaginii. Enjoy!
Acum sa trecem la partea interesanta... mancarea! Pentru o mai buna organizare, am sa impart sectiunea de mancare in doua parti:
Preparate locale
Retete
Preparate locale:
Primul preparat pe care il voi prezenta va fi salata de icre. Acest preparat va fi prezent si la sectiunea de retete. Salata de icre poate fi facuta din multe tipuri de icre, precum:
icre de crap
icre de stiuca
icre de hering
Acuma, fie vorba intre noi, salata de icre poate fi facuta din mai multe tipuri de icre, dar cele de stiuca si cele de crap sunt preferatele mele.

Acestea sunt icre de crap. Daaa... recunosc, nu-s foarte bine aranjate in farfurie, dar asta e tot ce am putut sa fac, avand in vedere ca icrele au fost facute de un localnic, iar eu mancasem deja din ele.
Pentru felul I, in meniul localnicilor se afla storceagul de peste, un fel de ciorba pescareasca, adesea facuta din crap si somn, eventual si stiuca.(merge foarte bine amestecata cu mujdei)

Iar felul principal a fost peste prajit si mamaliga.

Fapt interesant: Mie imi place pestele, dar cand ma gandesc la cate oase trebuie sa scot, deja ma doare capul...... dar ciudat, in delta, pestii nu prea au oase, aproape ca nu trebuia sa alegi nici un os.
Retete:
Salata de icre
Mujdei
Saramura de peste
Pentru salata de icre veti avea nevoie de:
icre de crap,stiuca, hering sau orice fel de icre mai putin caviar
lamaie
ulei
apa minerala
sare
Pentru inceput, icrele trebuie sa fie sarate, dar in cazul nefericit in care peretele unei saline si icrele contin aceeasi cantitate de sare, icrele se vor pune in lapte (nu in apa) pana cand ajung la cantitatea de sare potrivita. Apoi, icrele se freaca cu ulei pana cand incep sa aiba o anumita consistenta, apoi se pune lamaie dupa gust, apa minerala treptat pana cand lingura cu care ati amestecat va sta dreapta cand o lasati in compozitie. Acum puteti servi o delicioasa salata de icre.
Pentru mujdei veti avea nevoie de:
usturoi
sare
ulei
otet
Optional:
boia
apa minerala
iaurt
chefir
sana
lapte batut
smantana
Cu o presa pentru usturoi se sfarama usturoiul se adauga sare si se zdrobeste si mai mult cu un pistil din lemn pana cand atinge o consistenta pastoasa, apoi se freaca cu ulei, cam de vreo 4-5 ori se adauga ulei apoi foarte putin otet si inca odata ulei, iar baza pentru mujdei e gata.

Mai mult sau mai putin asa ar trebui sa arate baza pentru mujdei. Bineinteles ca puteti sa folositi mujdeiul pe post de sos si in acest stadiu, dar mai puteti sa-l imbunatatiti si sa-i mariti volumul daca adaugati niste sana sau chefir sau chiar apa minerala, ca, de ce nu?
Iar acum, piesa de rezistenta...
Pentru saramura de pastrav aveti nevoie de:
5-6 pastravi... sau mai multi, depinde
mult mujdei, foarte mult (pe principiul `` mai mult, mai bine``)
vreo 2-3 ardei iuti (in functie de cat de iute vreti sa fie saramura), ( daca nu aveti ardei iute proaspat, puteti folosi si murat... credeti-ma, functioneaza!)
sare,piper
apa fierbinte ( 2 ture)
niste patrunjel pentru aspect
putin ulei de floarea soarelui
Mod de preparare:
Pentru inceput, pastravii trebuie copti pe gratar sau pe o tigaie de tip grill cu sare. Asta inseamna ca inainte sa puneti pestele pe gratar aruncati sare intr-o cantitate considerabila pe gratar, iar apoi asezati pestele.

Dupa ce pestele s-a copt bine se lasa putin la raci. Se da excesul de sare jos si se taie in bucati astfel incat sa incapa intr-un bol.
In timp ce se coace pestele, puneti doua oale cu apa la fiert, cam de marimea bolului in care urmeaza sa puneti pestele. Dupa ce ati pus pestele in bol, se toarna prima tura de apa fierbinte. Invartiti pestele prin apa cu o lingura, apoi aruncati apa. Dupa aceasta etapa se pune putin ulei peste peste, sare si piper negru. Se toarna a doua tura de apa fierbinte, se pune un capac peste si se lasa asa pana e gata mujdeiul ( recomand sa folositi cam 3-4 capatani de usturoi, in functie de marime). Tot in acest stadiu se feliaza si ardeiul iute.

Odata terminat mujdeiul, acesta impreuna cu ardeiul iute se amesteca cu zeama in care a stat pestele si se amesteca astfel in cat sa cuprinda uniform pestele.

Saramura este gata si numai buna de servit alaturi de o mamaliguta la ceaun.
Mai sus aveti sugestia de plating.... in poza :))))
Spor la gatit si pofta buna!
This is the english version of the recipe:
Once we were freed from the oppressive clutches of quarantine, we decided that a short vacation would not hurt, and since the virus limits our chances of going abroad, we decided that the best choice would be at sea and in the delta, simultaneous. You're probably wondering where the food is! Don't worry we'll get there. But due to the fact that this is a special blog, today I will present 3 recipes instead of one. My journey to the "Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve" began with an amazing 10 hours of driving and cramping in narrow places, but finally I arrived in Tulcea. (In this picture you can see the port of Tulcea, the place where I realized how big the Danube is)

But, now, I'm going to move on to the part that interests everyone, which is food! However, in order to have a starting point, or rather some starting pictures for a future trip in the delta, I will leave below a gallery of pictures from the delta, that is literally from the heart of the delta. The pictures are taken with the phone, so they don't all have the best resolution, but I took special care to select the ones with a better image quality. Enjoy! (For the gallery, please go up to the point where you can see pictures of swans and water:))
Now let's move on to the interesting part ... the food! For a better organization, I will divide the food section into two parts: 1. Local dishes 2. Recipes
Local dishes:
The first dish I will present will be caviar salad. This preparation will also be present in the recipes section. Caviar salad can be made from many types of caviar, such as:
- carp caviar
- pike caviar
- herring caviar
Now, be it between us, caviar salad can be made from several types of caviar, but pike and carp are my favorites.

These are carp eggs. Yeah ... I admit, they're not very well arranged on the plate, but that's all I could do, given that the eggs were made by a local, and I had already eaten them.
For the first course, in the menu of the locals there is the fish soup, often made of carp and catfish, possibly also pike (it goes very well mixed with mujdei)

Interesting fact: I like fish, but when I think about how many bones I have to remove, my head already hurts ...... but strangely, in the delta, fish don't have many bones, you almost didn't have to choose any bone .
Recipes:
Caviar salad
Mujdei (garlic sauce)
Fish brine
For caviar salad you will need: -carp, pike, herring or any kind of caviar except caviar (caviar from sturgeon) -Lemon -oil -mineral water -salt For the beginning, the caviar should be salted, but in the unfortunate event that the wall of a salt mine and the caviar contain the same amount of salt, the caviar will be put in milk (not water) until they reach the right amount of salt. Then, the eggs are rubbed with oil until they start to have a certain consistency, then lemon is added to taste, mineral water gradually until the spoon you mixed with will stay straight when you leave it in the composition. Now you can serve a delicious caviar salad.
For mujdei you will need: -garlic -salt -oil -vinegar Optional: -paprika -mineral water -yogurt -kefir -sana -buttermilk -sour cream Crush the garlic with a garlic press, add salt and crush it even more with a wooden pestle until it reaches a pasty consistency, then rub with oil, about 4-5 times add oil then very little vinegar and oil again, and the base for the mujdei is ready.

This is more or less what the base for mujdei should look like. Of course you can use the mujdei as a sauce at this stage, but you can also improve it and increase its volume if you add some sana or kefir or even mineral water, because, why not?
And now, the star of this special blog...
For trout brine you need:
-5-6 trout ... or more, it depends
-much mujdei, very much (on the principle `` more, better``)
-about 2-3 hot peppers (depending on how hot you want the brine to be), (if you don't have fresh ---hot peppers, you can also use pickled ones ... believe me, it works!)
-salt
-pepper
-hot water (2 laps)
-some parsley for appearance
-a little sunflower oil
Preparation:
For the beginning, the trout should be grilled or on a grill pan with salt. This means that before putting the fish on the grill, throw a considerable amount of salt on the grill, and then place the fish.

After the fish is well cooked, leave it to cool for a while. Put the excess salt down and cut into pieces so that it fits in a bowl.

While the fish is cooking, put two pots of water to boil, about the size of the bowl in which you are going to put the fish. After you put the fish in the bowl, pour the first round of hot water. Spoon the fish through the water with a spoon, then discard the water. After this stage, add a little oil over the fish, salt and black pepper. Pour a second round of hot water, put a lid on and leave it until the mujdei is ready (I recommend using about 20-30 cloves of garlic, depending on size). Also at this stage, slice the hot pepper.

Once the mujdei is finished, it is mixed with the hot pepper with the juice in which the fish was placed and mixed in such a way as to cover the fish evenly.
The brine is ready and only good to serve with a polenta in a cauldron.

Above you have the suggestion of plating .... in the picture :))))
Bon appetit!