Mici la Grătar

Mici la Grătar

Recipes with Mici

The classic preparation: mici shaped by hand and grilled over a charcoal fire until the exterior chars and the inside stays juicy. Served with muștar (Romanian sharp mustard) and fresh white bread. This is the terrace version, the one every Romanian knows from summer evenings.

Prep Time

30 min

Cook Time

10 min

Servings

4

Difficulty

Medium

Ingredients

  • 500g beef mince (20% fat)
  • 200g pork mince
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed to a paste
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 100ml cold beef broth
  • 1 tsp dried thyme (cimbru)
  • 1 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Romanian muștar (sharp mustard) to serve
  • Fresh white bread to serve

Steps

1

Combine the beef mince, pork mince, garlic paste, thyme, black pepper, paprika, and salt in a large bowl. Mix with your hands for 3 minutes until the mixture is cohesive and slightly sticky.

2

Dissolve the baking soda in the cold beef broth. Pour over the meat and mix again for 2 minutes. The baking soda is not optional: it raises the pH of the mixture, which makes the mici puff and lighten on the grill.

3

Cover the bowl with cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. Resting the mixture is what allows the baking soda to work through the meat evenly.

4

Light the charcoal grill and wait until the coals are white-grey with no visible flame. Shape the meat into cylinders about 8cm long and 3cm wide, using wet hands to prevent sticking. Aim for compact, uniform shapes.

5

Place the mici on the hot grate directly over the coals. Grill for 4–5 minutes on the first side without moving them. They will stick briefly at first, then release when ready to turn.

6

Turn and grill for 3–4 minutes on the second side. The exterior should have char marks and slight crackling. The mici will have puffed slightly compared to their raw shape. Serve immediately with muștar and bread.

Tips

The cold broth matters. Adding warm liquid starts cooking the fat prematurely and affects the texture. If you have no charcoal, a gas grill on maximum heat is the next-best option, but the smoke from charcoal ash contributes to the flavour in a way that gas cannot replicate. Mici eaten within two minutes of coming off the grill are at their best.