Mămăligă is a dish consisting of a
porridge made out of wheat of yellow
maize traditional for
Romania and
Moldova. It is better known to the rest of the world in its
Italian form named ''
polenta''.
In Transylvania and in Carpathia mămăligă is also called ''puliszka''. This version of recipe is roasted in oven after boiling, with ''juhtúró'', a sheep's cheese and some bacons.
History
Historically a
peasant food, it was often used as a substitute for bread or even as a
staple food in the poor rural areas. However, in the last decades it has emerged as an upscale dish available in the finest restaurants.
Roman influence
Historically,
porridge is the oldest form of consumption of grains in the whole of humanity, long before the bread. Originally, the seeds used to prepare slurries were very diverse as
millet or
einkorn.
Before the introduction of maize in Europe in the 16th century, the mămăligă have been composed with flour of millet, which was already prepared under the Romans known to pulmentum. Moreover, the Romans ate so much that the Greeks called ''pultiphagonides'', which means ''porridge eaters''.
Corn's introduction in Romania
Corn was introduced in Spain by
Hernán Cortés and spread in Europe in the 16th century. Corn requires a good amount of heat and humidity. The Danube Valley is one of Europe's regions ideal for growing wheat.
A Hungarian scholar declare the arrival of corn in Temesvar, in the Banat since 1692.
Therefore, the mămăligă of millet will be replaced gradually by the mămăligă of corn. The corn then becomes a first-rate food, including the fight against famine that prevailed even in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The historian Nicolae Iorga said that farmers of Principality of Romania grow corn since the early to mid 17th century.
Etienne Ignace Raicevich a Ragusan, consul of the Empire in Bucharest in the third quarter of the 18th century, wrote that corn was introduced only ''da poco tempo''.
The existence of the corn's mămăligă is attested since 1873 in the edition of Larousse, a french dictionnary: mamaliga s. f. Boiled corn meal, in the Danubian principalities.
Preparation
Traditionally, ''mămăliga'' is cooked by boiling water, salt and cornmeal in a special-shaped cast iron pot called ''ceaun'' or ''tuci''. When cooked peasant-style and used as a bread substitute, ''mămăliga'' is supposed to be much thicker than the regular Italian polenta to the point that it can be cut in slices, like bread. When cooked for other purposes, ''mămăligă'' can be much softer, sometimes almost to the consistency of porridge. Because ''mămăligă'' sticks to metal surfaces, it can be cut with a string into slices, and is eaten by holding it with the hand, just like bread would be.
''Mămăligă'' is often served with sour cream and cheese on the side (''mămăliguţă cu brânză şi smântână'') or crushed in a bowl of hot milk (''mămăliguţă cu lapte''). Sometimes slices of ''mămăligă'' are pan-fried in oil or in lard, the result being a sort of corn pone.
Since ''mămăliga'' can be used as an alternate for bread in many Romanian and Moldovan dishes, there are quite a few which are either based on ''mămăligă'', or include it as an ingredient or side dish. Arguably, the most popular of them is sarmale (a type of cabbage roll with ''mămăligă''.
Another very popular Romanian dish based on ''mămăligă'' is called bulz, and consists of ''mămăligă'' with cheese and butter and roasted in the oven.
Balmoş (sometimes spelled balmuş) is another ''mămăligă''-like traditional Romanian dish, but is more elaborate. Unlike ''mămăligă'' (where the cornmeal is boiled in water) when making ''balmoş'' the cornmeal must be boiled in sheep milk. Other ingredients, such as butter, sour cream, ''telemea'' (a type of feta cheese), ''caş'' (a type of fresh curdled ewe cheese without whey, which is sometimes called "green cheese" in English), ''urdă'' (a type of curdled cheese obtained by boiling and curdling the whey left from ''caş''), etc., are added to the mixture at certain times during the cooking process. It is a specialty dish of the Romanian of old shepherds, and nowadays very few people still know how to make a proper ''balmoş''.
''Mămăliga'' is a versatile food: various recipes of ''mămăligă''-based dishes may include milk, butter, various types of cheese, eggs, sausages (usually fried, grilled or oven-roasted), bacon, mushrooms, ham, fish etc. ''Mămăliga'' is a fat-free, cholesterol-free, high-fiber food. It can be used as a healthy alternative to more refined carbohydrates such as white bread, pasta or hulled rice.
Trivia
A gruel made of cornmeal, water, milk, butter, salt and sugar is called in Romanian ''cir de mămăligă''. If it is exceedingly thin and made only of cornmeal, water and salt it is called ''mieşniţă'' or ''terci''.
Depending on the context, ''mălai'' is the Romanian word for either:
*The Romanian version of cornmeal
*Any type of cereals or edible grains (much like the English corn), but this use of the word is becoming increasingly obsolete
Corn flour (i.e., maize flour) is called in Romanian ''mălai'' or ''făină de mălai''.
Before the arrival of maize in Eastern Europe, ''mămăliga'' was made of millet flour, but nowadays millet ''mămăligă'' is no longer made.
It is necessary to exercise caution when preparing. There is a risk of splattering and it is extremely hot, and can cause burns.
Mămăligă in literature
In ''
Dracula'' by
Bram Stoker, in chapter 1 it's written :"''I had for breakfast more paprika, and a sort of porridge of maize flour which they said was "mamaliga", and egg-plant stuffed with forcemeat, a very excellent dish, which they call "impletata".''"
In the french novel, Carpathian Castle by Jules Verne : ''À ceux‑ci, Jonas [propriétaire d'une auberge en Transylvanie] offrait cette sorte de bouillie ou gâteau de maïs, connue sous le nom de mamaliga, qui n'est point désagréable, quand on l'imbibe de lait fraîchement tiré''.
In the french novel, Capitaine Conan by Roger Vercel : ''la table grasse où traînaient des guenilles, où durcissait un morceau de mamaliga, cette coriace galette de maïs qui nous avait tant déçus, car à sa couleur nous la croyions pétrie de beurre et d'œufs''.
Similar dishes
Its analogue in
Bulgaria is called
kachamak () and is served mainly with white brine cheese (сирене;
sirene) or fried pieces of pork fat with parts of the skin (пръжки; prăzhki).
See also
Bulz
Cocoloşi
References
External links
BBC News, Coming up: Food from the new EU
Category:Porridges
Category:Staple foods
Category:Romanian dishes
Category:Moldovan dishes
bg:Мамалига
ca:Mămăligă
de:Mămăligă
es:Mămăligă
fr:Mămăligă
he:ממליגה
pl:Mamałyga
ro:Mămăligă
ru:Мамалыга
uk:Кулеша
![Borat (OST) - Magic Mamaliga [Dubstech Minimal Edit] Fruity Loops FL 9 + ziped FLP Soundtrack](http://web.archive.org./web/20120320172940im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DJoZSHnVeB0/0.jpg "Borat (OST) - Magic Mamaliga [Dubstech Minimal Edit] Fruity Loops FL 9 + ziped FLP Soundtrack")
