Photo by Issy Croker
Welcome to a new year of CookbookCorner, which I must say re-starts auspiciously, with a title I have been just longing to bring to you. I read Irina Georgescu’s Danube: Recipes and Stories from Eastern Europe pre-publication, and so I’ve had a long wait to tell you about it. And it is, as my words on the back cover pronounce, an utterly magical book. It's her third, and with it Georgescu scores a hat-trick. I adored her first two, Carpathia and Tava and, if you have the time, I advise you to read the CookbookCorner entries for both, as they’ll give you a feel of what she’s about and the background to the book I’m thrilled to have kicking off 2025 now.
“This is”, Georgescu writes, “a book about the lands of the river Danube meandering eastwards between Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria” and it’s a journey that draws connections just as much as it emphasises diversity. But then, her great skill has always been to highlight the familiar within the unfamiliar and, just as a novelist does with her characters, make her culinary inheritance come to life, with all its rich complexities. Both as a writer and a cook, she illuminates and inspires, and I bask so eagerly in the warm and cosy light she casts around her and us. Her food might emanate from a culture that’s new to you, but she makes it all so instantly approachable; there's a sturdy simplicity to her recipes that makes them bring comfort even from the page. “This”, she declares, "is my mantra for the recipes: quick and bold, just like the people along the Danube” — and it’s quickly and boldly I am compelled into the kitchen. Her food speaks to me so directly, so deeply. Before I leave you with recipe I’ve selected, I should give you an indication of what other joys lie in wait. Frankly, I want to eat everything in the book (just give me time!) but I just have to mention to you — and the order is simply as they appear within it — the Breaded Cheese with Tartar Sauce (Caşcaval Pané); Yeasted Pancakes with Poppy Seeds (Sf. Elena Livenci); Savoury Bread and Butter Pudding with Bacon (Paparǎ); Potato Pancakes with Horseradish Cream and Gherkins (Plǎcinte Eibenthal); Ham Bread Loops (Covrigi cu Șuncǎ); ‘Vitamin’ Soup with Spring Onions, Lettuce and Eggs (Ciorbǎ de Cuie); Leek Stew with Olives (Mâncare de Praz cu Mǎsline); Quince and Rice with Rosemary (Gutui cu Orez); Wide Noodles with Sauerkraut (Tǎiței cu Varzǎ Muratǎ); Apple Roulade with Vanilla Custard (Prǎjiturǎ cu Mere); Walnut and Fennel Seed Cake with Clotted Cream and Poached Quince (Prǎjiturǎ cu Nucǎ); and Gerník Buns with Poppy Seeds, Curd Cheese and Jam (Butte cu Trei Haine). But the recipe I chose to share with you today just had to be the Mǎmǎligǎ la Cuptor. Polenta, or Mǎmǎligǎ is the foundational food of Romania, and this Baked Cornmeal with Sour Cream, Cheese and Eggs (known familiarly there as “shut up and eat”) is just the bowl of winter sunshine we need in our lives right now.
From Danube: Recipes and Stories from Eastern Europe by Irina Georgescu, published by Hardie Grant.
Photos by Issy Croker.
