Mici

Ingredients

Meat

• 600 gbeef chuck or neck, minced twice, with at least 20% fat
• 250 glamb shoulder, minced
• 150 gpork belly, minced
• 1 tbspfine salt

Seasoning

• 8garlic cloves, crushed and steeped in 100 ml cold water, then strained
• 200 mlcold jellied beef stock
• 1 tspbicarbonate of soda
• 2 tspground black pepper
• 2 tspground coriander seed
• 1 tspground allspice
• 1 tspdried thyme
• 1 tspsweet paprika
• ½ tspground caraway (optional)

To serve

• strong mustard (muștar)
• white bread
• pickled cucumbers and a cold beer

Directions

1. Mince the meats twice through a 4 mm plate, or have the butcher do it. The mix must stay cold and it must carry fat; lean mici are dry and rubbery.
2. Put the mince in a bowl with the salt and bicarbonate and knead by hand for 8–10 minutes, adding the garlic water and cold stock a splash at a time, until the paste turns sticky, pale and glossy and slaps against the side of the bowl.
3. Work in all the spices and knead 2 minutes more. The mixture should be soft, almost pourable, but hold a shape when squeezed.
4. Cover and rest in the fridge for 12–24 hours. This rest is what gives mici their bounce: the salt and bicarbonate work on the proteins and the spices bloom into the fat.
5. With wet hands, roll 60 g cylinders about 8 cm long and 3 cm thick, or pipe them from a piping bag with a wide plain nozzle, which is how the grills do it.
6. Grill over hot charcoal, 5–6 cm above the coals, for 4–5 minutes a side, turning often and pressing them flat with tongs so they do not curl. Flare-ups are normal; move them rather than dousing them.
7. They are done when the outside is dark and crusted and the inside is springy and visibly juicy, about 70°C (160°F) at the centre.
8. Pile them onto a wooden board and serve at once with mustard smeared straight onto the plate, plain white bread and beer. Mici are eaten with the fingers, standing up.

Technique

• Bicarbonate of soda is not a shortcut; it is in every commercial and traditional recipe and it is what gives mici their characteristic snap and slight springiness.
• The cold jellied stock is the second secret. It melts in the heat and steams the inside, keeping them juicy. Water alone does not do the same job.
• The usual origin story has them invented at Iordache’s inn in Bucharest in the 1880s when the sausage casings ran out. Food historians place them in the wider Balkan family with ćevapi and kebapche, and the inn story is charming but unproven.
• No casing means no barrier: they will fall apart on a cold or dirty grill. Get the bars hot and oiled first.

Substitutions

• No lamb: all beef with pork belly, which is the common Bucharest mix and slightly milder.
• No charcoal: a ridged cast-iron pan, screaming hot, gives an honest crust but none of the smoke.
• No jellied stock: reduce 400 ml beef stock to 200 ml, chill it solid, and use it cold.

Variations

• Mici de vită, all beef, made for those who do not eat pork.
• A fiercer Moldovan mix with far more garlic and less coriander.
• Some grills use sparkling water instead of stock for a lighter, puffier mic.

History

Skinless grilled minced-meat rolls; the origin story credits a Bucharest tavern that ran out of sausage casings in the nineteenth century.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mici?

Mici is a street food from Romania: caseless grilled sausages of mixed meats, garlic; with mustard. Skinless grilled minced-meat rolls; the origin story credits a Bucharest tavern that ran out of sausage casings in the nineteenth century.

How long does Mici take to make?

Mici takes 30 min plus overnight resting of preparation and 15 min of cooking. The recipe makes makes 20 mici, serves 5. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Mici?

Yes, within limits. No lamb: all beef with pork belly, which is the common Bucharest mix and slightly milder. No charcoal: a ridged cast-iron pan, screaming hot, gives an honest crust but none of the smoke. No jellied stock: reduce 400 ml beef stock to 200 ml, chill it solid, and use it cold.

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

Mince the meats twice through a 4 mm plate, or have the butcher do it. The mix must stay cold and it must carry fat; lean mici are dry and rubbery.