Mici and Kürtőskalács Party at Székely Home

Yesterday we went to Szilvi's house in District 22 (Nagytéteny) for a grill party. Her half-brothers Zoli and Domi were there, whom we had not met before, as well as Zoli's girl-friend Anett.  When we were in Transylvania with Szilvi's family last month we enjoyed a similar picnic, especially savoring the mici (meetch) and kürtőskalács.

Wikipedia says: "Mici is a traditional Romanian dish of grilled ground meat rolls made from a mixture of beef, lamb and pork and spices such as garlic, black pepper, thyme, coriander, anise, savory and sometimes a touch of paprika. Sodium bicarbonate and broth or water are also added to the mixture. It is best served accompanied by mustard and beer. Ideally the mustard should not be overly tart, lest it interferes with the taste of the mititei. The dish is very popular in Romania." We love it!

Szilvi's Mom, Mária and Dad, Domi kept three grills going for the mici, chicken legs, pork ribs, and mushrooms. With bread, cole slaw, mustard, and beer--an excellent menu! 

We hope to replicate this when we are in the U.S.  

Part of the group relaxing in the shade

After we had our fill of the meat, we began making the kürtőskalács. In the Hungarian-English dictionary, kürtőskalács is defined as "pastry horn". Perhaps a better translation is "chimney bread". It is made with a sweetened bread dough containing a hint of orange and lemon zest. Earlier Mária give Cindy and Joanna the recipe, where of course nothing is precisely measured. They just observed and wrote down the list of ingredients as she mixed. Then came our lesson in making the kürtőskalács. Lots of oil keeps things from sticking.

Mária rolling out the dough before putting it on the kürtőskalács dowels.

Slowly rolling the dough onto the dowel...

Before going over the fire, the dough is rolled in a mixture of sugar and vanilla sugar.

then roasted slowly over the grill

The finished product... Delicious!

We bought one of these kürtőskalács makers earlier this month, so we can try out our new skill at our cottage time with our kids and grand kids this summer. 

Soon enough it was time to say goodbye, and for some it was a last goodbye. What a great time we had, thanks to the hospitality of Szilvi and her family!