How to cook mititei - Moldovan beef sausages

The beautiful and melodious name of a dish can sometimes scare away the complexity of the cooking process or the selection of ingredients. But, as for mititei in Moldavian style, you may not be afraid of such difficulties! This common dish of national Moldavian cuisine consists of oblong cutlets (sausages) that are baked on the grill. Traditionally, the casing is not used when forming sausages. Minced meat is prepared from lamb or beef; a combination of these types of meat is also acceptable. In modern conditions, created at home with the help of new models of household appliances, it is permissible to prepare Moldovan cuisine in an air fryer or oven with the “grill” mode selected.

Freshly prepared mititei are so aromatic and appetizing that you won’t have to invite your family to the table for too long. Juicy and delicate-tasting sausages, prepared at home, can even replace everyone’s favorite kebab.

Cooking process

Small cutlets-sausages “Mititei” are a dish of Moldavian-Romanian origin. Romanian mititei are more spicy, Moldavian ones are juicier, in my opinion. Do not confuse mititei with cutlets, they taste completely different. In any case, we must try.

Traditionally, fatty beef is used as minced meat for Moldavian mititi, but if you haven’t found one, then pork fat will be very useful.

So, Moldavian mititei.

Pass the meat and lard through a meat grinder along with the garlic.

Please note that starch and baking soda are added to the minced meat. Moreover, baking soda is one of the main components. If garlic is not suitable for you, you can replace it with onions. Many housewives add both onions and garlic.

Another question. Milk or mineral water? Try two options and find the best one for you. I added milk. The essence of the liquid is the juiciness of the finished mititi.

So, add soda, starch, milk. Salt and pepper to taste.

Just mixing the minced meat is not good; you need to beat it for at least 10 minutes.

Use both hands to gather all the meat into a ball and throw it back into the bowl. Thanks to beating the minced meat, the mititei will remain dense and elastic sausages, and not cutlets that can fall apart right in the frying pan.

A very important point! This minced meat is not immediately formed into sausages! The minced meat needs to sit in the refrigerator overnight or at least 5 hours.

Then form the sausages either by hand or with a special attachment on a sausage grinder. To be honest, I just didn’t find her at home and was very upset. Using the nozzle, the sausages are the same size and even.

Then fry the sausages on the grill or frying pan on all sides until crusty.

Very juicy and very tasty small Moldavian sausages mititei are ready.

Culinary certificate

What kind of dish is this with such a mysterious name? Let's figure it out.

Mititei is a national Moldavian dish, which is juicy sausages without casing, made from minced lamb or beef (as well as their combination) and a certain bouquet of herbs and spices.

Traditionally, they are baked on the grill or grater. But in modern conditions, they can be cooked in a convection oven, oven or on a grill pan. Outwardly, mititei are somewhat reminiscent of kebabs, but in fact, these are 2 completely different dishes that have their own individual taste characteristics.

Ready-made mititei exude an incredibly alluring aroma that is impossible to resist. If you follow the cooking technology, you will certainly get juicy, incredibly tasty and tender sausages that can outshine even everyone’s favorite traditional kebab.

Classic recipe

How to cook mititei in Moldavian style:

1. Wash the meat tenderloin, dry it using paper kitchen towels, and then cut into small pieces. Sprinkle them with salt, cover with a cloth and set aside for 1.5 hours;
2. Then the meat should be minced twice. It will be enough to skip fresh lard once;
3. Peel, wash and chop the head of garlic using a special press;
4. In a deep container, combine the chopped meat, lard, all the necessary spices and garlic. Then add a little cold water to these ingredients and knead the minced meat into a homogeneous mixture. During the kneading process, do not forget to forcefully beat it on the work surface. Place the prepared minced meat in a cool place for another 1.5 hours;
5. After the specified time has passed, proceed to forming the sausages. Wet your hands in vegetable oil (this is necessary so that the meat does not stick to your hands), take a small amount of minced meat and form an oblong sausage, 7-8 cm long and no more than 2 cm wide;
6. Grease the grill grate with vegetable oil or rub it with a piece of lard. Place the formed products on it and fry them over hot coals until browned. Please note that mititei fry quite quickly. It is very important not to dry them out. Juiciness is their main advantage.

Ingredients

• beef pulp – 1 kg;
• onions – 3 pieces;
• garlic cloves – 4-5 pieces;
• starch – 1 tablespoon;
• baking soda – 1 tablespoon;
• vinegar - 2 tablespoons;
• dried thyme (thyme) – 1 teaspoon;
• paprika and a mixture of ground peppers - 1 teaspoon each;
• salt - to your taste;
• meat broth - 1 glass;
• vegetable oil (for frying) – 50-60 ml;
• black peppercorns – 5-6 pieces;
• water – 1 glass.

• Preparation time: 02:00
• Cooking time: 00:45
• Number of servings: 6
• Difficulty: medium

Preparation

The classic recipe for preparing mititeev involves using only beef meat. But many, based on their preferences, add other types - pork, lamb. See for yourself how convenient it is for you, you can take two types of meat in equal proportions.

1. Wash the pulp, dry it, and now a very important point is to chop it correctly. If you do this in a blender, then spin the meat pieces for a long time, since we need to get minced meat that is elastic in consistency. If you pass the pulp through a meat grinder, you will need to do this twice. Transfer the minced meat into a bowl.

2. Peel the onions and wash them. Grind two onions in a blender or meat grinder and add to the minced meat. We will need one onion later.
3. Peel the garlic cloves, wash and pass through a garlic press.
4. Now add starch, soda, vinegar, garlic, all the specified spices and salt to taste to the minced meat. A particularly important component is soda; it is the main secret of preparing mititei; as a result, they turn out very juicy.
5. Gradually add meat broth to the minced meat, knead it and beat it thoroughly.

The result should be a homogeneous and sticky meat mass; if you scoop up the minced meat with a spoon and turn it over, it will not fall off. It is this consistency that ensures that the formed sausages will keep their shape perfectly.

• The finished mass must be sent to a cold place for maturation. In the original Moldavian recipe, this requires 10-12 hours, so it is best to prepare the minced meat for mititei in the evening and put it in the refrigerator overnight. If you don’t have such time, keep it in the cold for at least 1-1.5 hours.
• After the required time has passed, begin sculpting the mitites. Generously grease your palms with vegetable oil, pinch off a little minced meat, first form it into a flat cake, and then make a sausage at least 10 cm long.

• Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the mititei on all sides until golden brown.
• Place the fried sausages in a saucepan and add black peppercorns. Cut one onion into half rings and sprinkle mititei on top. Pour in a glass of well-salted water, place the saucepan on the fire and bring the liquid to a boil. Now reduce the heat to low, cover the dish with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Appetizing Moldavian-style mititei are ready, serve them with a vegetable side dish.
Read also:  12 great recipes for making hearty and tasty brizoli

It is better to leave mashed potatoes, pasta and porridge for ordinary cutlets; do not serve them with mititei (although you can do so if necessary). Moldavian sausages are best paired with:

• Cabbage in any form - stewed, salted, pickled, fresh cabbage salad with cucumber and herbs.
• Green peas, canned or stewed. The second option is very simple to prepare; just buy a package of frozen peas and fry them with onions (or green onions).
• Salted or pickled cucumbers with chopped onions.
• Any salads made from fresh vegetables.

The word “mititei” is not familiar to every housewife, even if she has extensive experience and experience. Because we don’t often cook dishes from other national cuisines of the world. And mititei are small sausages that are traditionally served in Moldova and Romania; They are prepared from beef and without casing. So, if you have once again bought meat and are planning to fry a cutlet, do not rush, study our recipe with photos and prepare better mititei.

And if you have the opportunity to have lunch in a Moldovan restaurant and order mititei, they will definitely have a smoky taste, because according to the traditional recipe they are cooked on the grill or grater. Ever seen a grater? This is such a thick lattice made of iron. It is lubricated with oil, lard or other fat and placed over hot charcoal. Mititei are placed on top and fried. Hardwood deciduous trees (dogwood, walnut, beech) are used as firewood for coals.

Secrets from the Chef

• To ensure that the sausages do not fall apart during cooking and keep their shape, the minced meat must be thoroughly kneaded and beaten, and then cooled thoroughly.
• If during kneading you notice that the minced meat is dry and not juicy enough, add a few tablespoons of meat broth or mineral water to it.
• If the minced meat, on the contrary, turns out to be too liquid, then its viscosity can be increased using regular potato starch. It is enough to add 1-1.5 teaspoons of starch and knead everything thoroughly.
• When baking mititei in the oven, place a bowl of water under a baking sheet (rack). This will keep the dish juicy and prevent the cooked sausages from burning.

The Moldovan dish is usually served with homemade tomato sauce. You can prepare it from either fresh tomatoes or tomato paste.

Mititei, Moldovan sausages

Mititei is a type of sausage without casing, a dish of Moldavian and Romanian cuisine. They are traditionally cooked on a grater. In a recipe adapted for home use, you can fry the mititei in a frying pan.

The consistency of mititei should be dense and slightly grainy, as they are prepared from beef or lamb. They should not resemble cutlets, kupats, meatballs, etc. The main condition for proper preparation is long kneading and beating of the minced meat. This ensures that the mititei will not fall apart during frying, but will turn out elastic and dense.

Today I will share with you a recipe for mititi with spicy tomato sauce. We will cook it from beef with the addition of a small amount of lard, which will give the minced meat juiciness. “Sausage cutlets” will turn out juicy, very tasty and aromatic, and a sauce made from ground tomatoes and chili will add piquancy to them.

Ingredients

• beef – 500 g
• lard – 50 g
• garlic - 2 teeth.
• soda – 0.5 tsp.
• starch - 1 tbsp. l.
• thyme (thyme) – 0.5 tsp.
• ground black pepper – 1/4 tsp.
• salt - a little more than 0.5 tsp.
• sparkling water – 100 ml

• vegetable oil – 2 tbsp. l.
• garlic - 2 teeth.
• hot pepper – 1/2 pod
• large onion – 1 pc.
• tomatoes – 200 g
• tomato paste – 1 tbsp. l.
• water – 100 ml
• salt, sugar and black pepper - to taste
• bay leaf – 2 pcs.

Preparation

First you need to prepare the minced meat. The meat must be fresh, not frozen. Cut off large veins, cut into small pieces and pass through a meat grinder with a fine grid once along with the lard.

Stir starch and soda into the minced meat. The starch will thicken the minced meat, making them a little rubbery. Soda, on the contrary, will loosen it (there is no need to extinguish it with anything, it will then be extinguished by itself with mineral water).

Season the minced meat well with salt and pepper, add thyme, as well as a couple of cloves of garlic, passed through a press.

While kneading gradually, pour in highly carbonated mineral water. Then knock it hard - on the tabletop at least 30-40 times! With each beating, the minced meat will become more elastic and dense (I recommend frying one cutlet as a test so that you can understand what the mitites will be like based on salt and spices). And leave the minced meat in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. To do this, fry diced onion, as well as slices of garlic and chili pepper in a saucepan. Simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes. Then add tomatoes (grate without skin) and tomato paste (dilute in 100 ml of water). Boil by 2 times. At the very end add a few laurel leaves. The sauce should be thick and not sour, a little sweet and spicy.

Now you can begin to form the mitites themselves. If your meat grinder has a special attachment for sausages, then use it. If not, it will be more difficult; you will have to sculpt oblong sausages with your hands dipped in oil - 2-3 cm in diameter and 7-8 cm in length. In principle, it is quite possible to handle a small amount of minced meat by hand.

Fry over high heat on all sides until golden brown (I used a grill pan). If you have the opportunity to cook mititei on a barbecue grill, they will become saturated with smoke and will turn out even tastier.

Place the fried sausages in a baking dish. Pour over the sauce and bake for 15 minutes in the oven.

In principle, you can cook without tomato sauce, then after the mititei have been fried, you need to simmer them for a short time (about 5 minutes) in a frying pan with the addition of a small (!) amount of water so that they steam.

Traditionally, sausages are served with hominy, stewed cabbage or green peas and onions. But you can serve it with mashed potatoes, or just like that - with a glass of homemade red wine. Bon appetit!

Recipe 6: homemade mititei (with photo)

Mititei in Moldavian style is a traditional dish of Moldavian and Romanian cuisine. Moreover, it is believed that Romanian mititei differ from Moldavian ones in having a sharper taste, due to the abundant addition of spices and seasonings. Mititei are grilled sausages made from ground beef or lamb seasoned with a lot of spices.

In public catering places, mititee is fried on a grater - a special grill over an open fire; at home, an ordinary grill pan will be enough to prepare them, although in this case, you will not be able to get the characteristic smoky smell. In its composition and preparation technology, mititei are very similar to Turkish lula kebab.

Unlike lula kebab, soda and cream must be added to mititei. The first ingredient adds fluffiness, while the second makes Moldavian sausages juicy.

Moldavian-style mititei, a step-by-step recipe with photos of which I want to offer you, will be cooked in a frying pan, or you can lay them out on a baking sheet in the form of a lattice and bake them in the oven.

• Beef - 700-800 gr.,
• Lard - 200 gr.,
• Garlic - 2 cloves,
• Onions - 1 pc.,
• Spices: Provençal herbs, thyme, black pepper, turmeric,
• Salt - to taste
• Soda - half a teaspoon,
• Cream - 4 tbsp. spoons,
• Corn starch - 1 teaspoon,
• Fresh herbs for serving,
• Sunflower oil for frying.

After all the ingredients are prepared, you can begin preparing the Moldavian mititei. Rinse a piece of beef tenderloin without veins and cut into pieces.

Peel the onion. Cut it into several pieces. Peel the garlic cloves and remove the skin from the lard.

Pass the beef pieces through a meat grinder.

Follow the meat with the onion, lard and garlic.

Combine the main ingredients for the mititei in one bowl.

To make Moldavian sausages more juicy, since beef is considered a dry and bland meat, add cream to the minced meat for mititei. If there is no cream, replace it with yogurt, sour cream or milk.

Add spices and salt. Spices include coriander, ground black pepper and Provençal herbs - dried savory, basil, thyme.

Using the tip of a teaspoon, add soda to the minced meat for mititei in Moldavian style. Thanks to the baking soda, the mititei will become more fluffy during frying. Moreover, you can’t feel the soda at all in the finished product and you shouldn’t be afraid to add it to the minced meat.

All that remains is to add starch. It is advisable to use cornstarch, but if you don't have it, substitute potato starch. Since eggs are not used in minced meat for mititei, starch will give it some viscosity and the meat sausages will keep their shape perfectly during frying.

Knead the minced meat for mititei well with your hands for 5-6 minutes.

The longer the minced meat is kneaded, the denser and more viscous it will become. While kneading the minced meat, it is allowed to beat it against the bottom and walls of the plate. The finished minced beef for Moldavian sausages now needs to be sent to a cold place (in the refrigerator) for 5-6 hours, ideally, or at least 1-2 hours. That is why it is cooked in the evening, and mititei is fried early in the morning. Now that the minced meat has brewed, you can start sculpting the mititei.

You can shape the mititeem either with your hands or with the help of a special attachment for a meat grinder in the form of a tube for making homemade sausage. In my opinion, it’s easier to mold them by hand. Wet your hands with water. Take some minced meat and with wet hands roll it into sausages 8-9 cm long and 2 cm thick. Now heat the grill pan with a small amount of sunflower oil.

Place the finished Moldavian-style mititee in a frying pan. After one side of the mititei is fried, turn them over with a spatula. Fry this side too until golden brown.

Place the finished Moldavian beef mititei on a plate covered with napkins. After 2-3 minutes, when they give up excess fat, transfer them to a plate with vegetables. Enjoy your meal. I will be glad if you liked this recipe for mititeev and find it useful.