Bulz

Ingredients

Polenta

• 300 gcoarse maize flour
• 1 litrewater
• 1 tspsalt

Filling

• 300 gbrânză de burduf, or another sharp sheep’s cheese, crumbled
• 60 gbutter, cut into small pieces

To finish

• 100 gbutter
• 6eggs
• smântână, or sour cream

Directions

1. Rain the maize flour into boiling salted water while whisking hard, then cook it over a low heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon, for 30 to 35 minutes until it pulls cleanly away from the sides of the pot.
2. Turn the mămăligă out onto a damp board and leave it until you can handle it. It has to be cool enough to shape but still warm enough to be pliable, because cold mămăligă cracks and will not close around a filling.
3. Wet your hands, take a large handful and flatten it in your palm to about 1.5 cm thick.
4. Put a spoonful of crumbled cheese and a knob of butter in the middle, then bring the mămăligă up around it and roll it into a ball roughly the size of a fist.
5. Seal it thoroughly, checking for cracks. Melting cheese finds any gap at all and runs straight out into the embers.
6. Cook the balls over wood embers, turning them, for 10 to 15 minutes, until a dark crust has formed all over and the cheese inside has melted. In an oven, bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. The crust is the entire point. Bulz is a shepherd’s way of turning yesterday’s mămăligă into something with a fried-cheese shell, and a pale one has missed what it is for.
8. Serve hot with a fried egg on top and a spoonful of sour cream alongside.

Technique

• Brânză de burduf is sharp, salty sheep’s cheese traditionally matured in a sheepskin or in pine bark, and the pine version brings a resinous note worth seeking out.
• Warm polenta, sealed properly, cooked hard enough to crust. Those three things are the recipe.
• It is the Carpathian shepherd’s dish, made from the two things a shepherd always had: maize flour and sheep cheese.

Substitutions

• Feta with a little blue cheese mixed in, which approximates the sharpness of brânză de burduf.
• Telemea, which is milder and needs a little extra salt.

Variations

• Wrapped in a rasher of streaky bacon before grilling.
• Baked in a dish under cream and more cheese until browned.
• With sautéed wild mushrooms folded into the filling.

History

Balls of mămăligă stuffed with sheep cheese and baked or grilled over embers, a shepherd’s dish of the Carpathians.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bulz?

Bulz is a main from Romania: grilled polenta balls stuffed with cheese, butter. Balls of mămăligă stuffed with sheep cheese and baked or grilled over embers, a shepherd’s dish of the Carpathians.

How long does Bulz take to make?

Bulz takes 20 min of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 balls. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Bulz?

Yes, within limits. Feta with a little blue cheese mixed in, which approximates the sharpness of brânză de burduf. Telemea, which is milder and needs a little extra salt.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bulz?

The crust is the entire point. Bulz is a shepherd’s way of turning yesterday’s mămăligă into something with a fried-cheese shell, and a pale one has missed what it is for.