Mămăligă cu brânză și smântână pairs firm, slowly cooked Romanian cornmeal with salty Telemea and cool sour cream. The cheese and cream are served on or beside the hot mămăligă rather than cooked into it.

Romanian sarmale are small pork-and-rice rolls wrapped in sour cabbage leaves and slowly simmered over shredded cabbage with a little smoked pork, thyme and tomato. They are traditionally served with mămăligă and sour cream.

Plăcintă dobrogeană PGI is made from very thin hand-stretched dough filled with salted soft cheese, gathered into ruffled rolls or coils in a tray, and baked beneath a yogurt-and-egg finish. It is not a flat stack of alternating pastry sheets.

Ciorbă de burtă is a rich Romanian beef-bone broth containing tender strips of beef tripe, finished off the boil with sour cream, egg yolk, garlic and vinegar. The roots flavour the stock and are strained out; carrot-infused oil gives the soup its warm gold colour.

Ciorbă de perișoare is a Romanian vegetable soup soured with borș and finished with lovage, with small pork meatballs containing only sparse embedded grains of rice. Each perișoară must have a smooth minced-pork surface and read visually as at least 90% meat, never as a rice-coated ball or rice ball. The carrot and pepper belong only in the soup base.

Cozonac cu nucă is a tall Romanian enriched holiday loaf with two intertwined dough ropes and a moist walnut-cocoa filling. Long kneading and two complete rises create shreddable strands; every filling ingredient is measured rather than added 'if desired'.

Papanași prăjiți are Romanian fried doughnuts made with well-drained fresh cow's cheese. Each portion is a ring topped with its separately fried small ball, then finished with sour cream and sour cherry preserve; salty Telemea is not used in the dough.

Ciorbă rădăuțeană is a Romanian chicken soup inspired by ciorbă de burtă: a full chicken-and-root broth with boneless shredded meat, garlic and vinegar, finished off the boil with an egg-yolk and sour-cream liaison. The finished bowl contains pale creamy broth, shredded chicken and only fine carrot strips—never a whole drumstick, bone, skin or large root-vegetable chunks.

Romanian mititei, or mici, are springy skinless beef-and-pork sausages kneaded with garlic, thyme, a small amount of bicarbonate and ice-cold beef stock, then rested overnight and grilled hard. They are served with mustard and bread.

Tochitură moldovenească browns pork shoulder and smoked sausage in lard, then gently braises them in their own juices. The meat is plated beside water-cooked mămăligă, a fried egg and grated brined cheese; none of those accompaniments is stirred into the polenta.

Fasole bătută is a smooth Romanian white-bean and garlic purée topped with a separate layer of onions slowly cooked in sunflower oil with paprika and tomato. The onion topping remains visible and is not blended into the beans.

Fasole cu ciolan slowly cooks soaked white beans with a whole smoked pork hock until both are tender, then combines them with a paprika-onion vegetable base. The bay leaves flavour the pot and are removed before serving, never used as garnish.

Drob de miel is a Romanian Easter loaf of chopped lamb offal bound with eggs and abundant spring onion, green garlic, dill and parsley. Whole hard-boiled eggs run through the centre, so every cold slice shows a clear egg core surrounded by herb-flecked offal.

Zacuscă de vinete is a Romanian roasted-eggplant and sweet-red-pepper spread slowly cooked with onion, tomato and sunflower oil until dense and glossy and small beads of oil reappear. Bay leaves and peppercorns are cooking aromatics that are removed completely: the finished spread and serving bowl contain no whole leaves, peppercorns or herb garnish. This home-sized recipe is refrigerated unless processed with a tested canning method.

Romanian salată de vinete is made by charring eggplants directly over flame, draining the flesh well, chopping it with a non-reactive or wooden knife, and slowly emulsifying it with sunflower oil. A little raw onion is folded in at the end; mustard is not part of this traditional oil-based version.

Romanian ardei umpluți are pale sweet peppers loosely filled with a pork-and-beef mixture containing only sparse embedded rice, then gently simmered on the stovetop in a completely smooth, lightly sweet tomato-passata sauce. At an open pepper, the filling must read visually as at least 85-90% minced meat with only occasional rice grains; the sauce contains no loose rice, tomato pieces or vegetable chunks.

Varză à la Cluj is a Transylvanian layered bake of separately cooked sour cabbage, paprika-scented pork, rice, smoked bacon, and sour cream, assembled only after each main component is ready.

Traditional Mucenici Moldovenești are sweet, braided breads shaped like figure eights, flavored with honey and walnuts, celebrating the Romanian tradition of commemorating the 40 Martyrs.

Romanian găluște cu prune are tender potato dumplings wrapped around whole pitted plums, boiled, then rolled in buttery toasted breadcrumbs and cinnamon sugar.

Bulz ciobănesc is a shepherd-style Romanian dish of firm mămăligă shaped into individual parcels around a molten core of brânză de burduf, then grilled or baked until the outside is lightly charred.