A pungent Romanian garlic sauce of raw garlic pounded with salt and loosened with oil or water (sometimes broth), used as a fiery condiment for grilled meats, fried fish, polenta and roast chicken.
Mujdei is the pungent garlic sauce of the Romanian table, its name from must de ai, 'garlic juice' — crushed garlic loosened with oil, water or broth. A fierce companion to grilled meat and fish, it is country cooking's answer to a sauce.
Raw and ferociously garlicky, it hits sharp and hot up front, then the oil rounds it into a creamy, savory slick. A little goes a long way; smeared on grilled meat it cuts through fat with a bracing pungency.
Crushing garlic ruptures its cells so the enzyme alliinase generates pungent allicin, and pounding with salt both grinds the cloves and draws out their juices into a paste. Oil emulsifies the sauce and mellows the raw bite while carrying the aroma.
Variations
Thinned with broth for serving over fish; made richer with mashed boiled potato or a little bread; some add vinegar or hot pepper for extra bite.
On the Palate
Where Mujdei sits in the Romanian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
8 steps · 10 min
- 14 min
Peel a generous quantity of fresh garlic cloves.
- 21 min
Add a good pinch of coarse salt to act as an abrasive.
- 35 min
Pound the garlic and salt in a mortar into a smooth, sticky paste.
Watch outPound until it turns from chopped bits into a smooth sticky paste that pulls together and clings to the mortar — that stickiness means the cells have burst and released their pungent juice.
- 43 min
Drizzle in oil little by little while pounding, working it into the paste.
Watch outAdd the oil in a thin trickle, not a glug — go too fast and it slicks on top instead of working into a creamy paste.
- 52 min
Loosen to a pourable sauce with water or warm broth, mixing well.
- 62 min
Taste and adjust salt, and add a splash of vinegar if a tangier sauce is wanted.
Watch outAdd the vinegar drop by drop and taste as you go — a splash too much and the raw garlic bite turns sharp and sour.
- 715 min
Let it stand a few minutes for the flavors to meld and mellow slightly.
- 81 min
Serve at room temperature alongside grilled meats, fried fish or polenta.
