This is going to be a different article than my usual recipes, but I thought it would be fun to know what we usually serve (and eat) at a traditional Romanian wedding. I always talk about how amazing the wedding menu at Romanian weddings looks, and my friends are always amazed at the quantity of food served. Last weekend I celebrated my sister getting married, and this is how the idea for this article was born.
In Romania, weddings are a big thing. They last for a long time – if you are in Bucharest expect to party until the early hours of the morning. In Transylvania, weddings are usually held during the day, whilst in the south of the country and in Bucharest, they start at 7 pm and last all night. The Romanian wedding menu is vast and includes traditional Romanian dishes, usually modernised by the chefs. Unless you take part in a wedding in a village, you will enjoy a very traditional Romanian wedding menu there.
The dishes are different but follow the same structure: a large appetiser, soup, sarmale, fish, steak, wedding cake, and a dessert selection. In Transylvania where my sister’s wedding took place, sarmale are not usually served on the wedding menu. However, in Bucharest, where I attended a few weddings, it never misses. The bride and groom have to keep in mind that they will have 3, maybe even 4 generations attending the wedding, so the dishes have to appeal to everyone. It’s very rare that a Romanian wedding menu will have exotic dishes such as seafood, though the chefs will go creative with the traditional dishes.
The courses are usually served two hours apart. In between, the guests are invited to dance, to make space for more food.
The Appetiser at a Romanian Wedding
The appetiser has always been my favourite dish at a wedding. This is because it’s not only one single dish but a selection of at least ten different bites. It includes traditional appetisers, such as the classic carp roe salad and the aubergine salad, but also more modern twists such as olive and truffle mousse, or cured salmon. My sister chose the following for her appetiser: sesame sprinkled chicken meatballs, cured smoked duck breast, chicken goujon, carp roe salad, beef wellington with a herb crust, a trio of cheeses with basil, roast aubergine salad with caramelised onions, olives and butter mousse with truffles, cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, and pork greaves. If you think that is a lot of food… it is! But it’s just the appetiser!
The Soup
Next, you will usually be served a hot soup in Transylvania or a hot appetiser in the south. The type of soup will most likely be something that everyone likes, such as chicken or beef ciorba. My sister opted for a traditional rustic beef soup with sour cream and green chilli peppers served on the side.
The Fish
Next, we have the fish course. When it comes to the actual fish chosen, most of the time it will be a classic Romanian variety, that it’s easy to find in the waters of our country. The options include river trout, perch, gilt-head bream or sea bass. Very rare you will find salmon at a Romanian wedding. The fish has to be lean, without fat, cooked and served without any bones.
At my sister’s wedding, she opted for a file of perch baked under the grill, served with rice and a Bearnaise sauce.
The Main Course
The main course is the star of the Romanian wedding menu and it can be one of two ways. Either two meats, a side dish, sauce and salad, or one type of meat, three side dishes, one sauce and salad. Usually, on the two meats option, there is a pork one and a poultry one, to make everyone happy at the table. My sister’s wedding had the first option. She served pork shank, turkey breast in a Parmesan crust, mashed potatoes with truffles, wild mushroom sauce and pickles salad.
You may think this is the final dish of the Romanian wedding menu, but no, there’s another one. After the main course, we usually serve a very traditional dish, such as sarmale, pork ribs, pork steak, or pork knuckle and cabbage. In the south of the country sarmale is the traditional choice. In Transylvania, it is the pork steak. If you are wondering why I am not talking in this article about Moldova as well, that is because I haven’t attended any weddings there and I don’t know what the region’s choice is.
The Dessert
The wedding cake is where the couple can go wild and pick whatever flavours they fancy. There is no traditional Romanian wedding cake, so the options on this course are infinite. My sister went for a noisette wedding cake, very light, made with hazelnut cream, layers of chocolate sponge, covered in fondant.
Besides the wedding cake, the wedding menu will finish with either a dessert bar (quite new, mostly present at posh weddings in Bucharest) or platters of cakes placed on the tables. In Romania, platters of cakes are very important and are served on many occasions. Usually, families will buy a varied platter for small family celebrations, and even for Christmas or Easter dinners. So, it’s very normal that it will be present on the wedding menu as well. My sister opted for some light options, including walnut cake, fruit baskets, profiteroles, islers, and macarons.
When it comes to drinks, there is usually an open bar with soft and alcoholic drinks, including classic cocktails such as gin and tonic or mojito.
As you can see, a Romanian wedding is a great foodie experience. Someone asked me, after I posted on Twitter the menu, how one gets invited to a Romanian wedding? And the answer is easy, my friend. Just make a Romanian friend. 😊
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