Easter is approaching and our thoughts are already running to the rich, family meals, which will not lack lamb or mutton delicacies. The producers of traditional tobaccos are already receiving orders, most of them from Romanians settled abroad.
Constantin Frusinoiu prepares whole cases for Diaspora. SOURCE I. Bunilă
This year, an assortment just launched by a grocery store in Buzău shows signs that it will be very successful. It is a whole lamb cooked in a smokehouse. The Romanian piece weighs over 20 kilograms and has a shelf life of about one month.
The whole leg of lamb is the novelty that a grocery store in Mărăcineni, Buzău county, has introduced in the range of products specific to the Easter holidays. The carcass is cut in such a way that the meat is well penetrated by char and smoke.
“The whole piece of meat I think is 20 kilos. It is ordered for a Romanian family from England. They have a party, for Easter. It also looks very good like this whole. Here they have all the pieces, and tenderloin, and thigh, and rib, and back”says Constantin Frusinoiu, pantry manager.
A pastrami of lamb or whole sheep, baked and smoked, costs around 1,000 lei. It is the first of a series of such smoked products requested by Romanians from the Diaspora, for Easter guests. Customers will receive the parcels in less than a week, then they must be kept at a low temperature.
“By baking, pastrami acquires tenderness and preservation. By baking, the smoke from the flame, from the wood, is preserved and, in this way, if the temperature is right, it can last up to 30 days. This is the secret”says the tobacco manufacturer.
The small factory of traditional delicacies in Buzău produces dozens of kilos of sheep pastrami, loin and pork ham every day. The drier and smoked the pieces of meat, the longer their shelf life.
“Beech wood is used for the smoke it gives off, its aroma. No other wood is used. Beech wood is very good”explains Ilie Macovei, grocery store employee.
In addition to tens of kilograms of sheep pastrami, the Buzău grocery store also delivers babic, small pasta, baked ham and several varieties of smoked sausages to its outlets and abroad.
“A product much sought after by our customers, newer, is the spiced and baked brisket. We also produce pork sausages for orders abroad, we also have popular Pleșcoi sausages, lamb pastrami, babicul”says Constantin Frusinoiu.
Several grocery stores in Buzău send packages with smoked products to Romanians abroad, through courier companies. They arrive in two or three days after placing the order.