Tochitură is one of the main festive dishes of Moldova. It is served at weddings, at village feast days and at family tables, always with hot mămăligă, brânză and a fried egg. It is a meat dish in which everything is hearty, filling and openly rustic: pork, smoked meat, onion, garlic and wine.

How tochitură came about and how it differs from goulash

At first sight tochitură looks like goulash, but it is cooked differently. The meat is first fried without oil in its own fat and then simmered only briefly, with a little wine. There is little sauce, thick and dark. A classic tochitură contains not only pork but also smoked sausage or smoked meat, and sometimes liver.

The dish is meant to be served with mămăligă, which soaks up the sauce and softens the richness. Without mămăligă tochitură loses half its point.

Which meat to take

Pork neck or shoulder suits best: it has veins of fat and stays juicy after long cooking. Belly gives too much fat and lean loin dries out. Choose chilled meat of a nice pink colour, not sticky on the surface.

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Smoked sausage and garlic

Smoked meats are what make tochitură tochitură. Homemade sausages, smoked belly or any good smoked sausage will do. Slice it into rounds and add it halfway through cooking so that it gives its smoke to the meat and does not overcook.

You need a lot of garlic, five or six cloves. Add it near the end, otherwise it turns bitter. The bay leaf and black pepper round out the flavour. You can compare sausages on our page about sausages.

Frying and simmering

The secret of tochitură is to let the meat brown properly first and only then simmer. Heat the pan until very hot, put in the meat and do not touch it for two or three minutes until a crust forms. Then stir. You can pour off the extra fat, but leave two or three spoons: everything else cooks in it.

Add the onion when the meat has already browned. Then the tomato paste, then the wine. The wine should reduce by a third, and only then do you cover. Simmer on the lowest heat.

Mămăligă, egg and cheese

Tochitură is served on hot mămăligă: put a piece of mămăligă on the plate, the meat with sauce on top, and beside it a fried egg and crumbled brânză. The egg is fried so that the yolk stays runny: it mixes with the sauce.

You can buy the eggs and the cheese in advance. Here is what is in the catalogues now:

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We told how to make mămăligă in a separate recipe.

What to drink with tochitură

In Moldova tochitură is usually washed down with home-made red or white wine. A dry red wine with soft tannins suits too. For those who do not drink, a slightly sour compote or kvass goes well.

How to save money

Tochitură is a dish for several meals: a kilo of meat makes six portions, and on the second day it is even better. Buy meat on promotion and freeze it in portions. Smoked meats can be replaced with ordinary sausage, and mămăligă made from cheap cornmeal. Use the leftover sauce for fried eggs or potatoes.