Homemade Mici – the famous Romanian garlicky meat sausages

These mici (will translate as “small” and pronounced “Meech”) are such a Romanian barbecue staple and there is no bbq without these tasty little ones.

Generally, people purchase them from local butchers ( available now here in the UK) but they are so easy to make at home, so why not give them a try?!

If you are a Romanian or have visited Romania, you know what I am saying and if you are not a Romanian or never visited Romania, or never met a Romanian, then, you must try these mici.

They are small sausages with no casing but the difference is that ….. they’re so different in many ways. They’re super, super nice! Ideal for picnic too especially to grill freshly there and then.

The best ones are the homemade obviously as they’re the real stuff. You know what’s in and that is an absolute must as far as I believe. No need to add anything nasty for those to be the ‘real stuff’. Many people buy them ready made because they think they’re fancy to prepare. They are not, not at all!!
Keep the recipe simple and you’ll see how beautiful they’ll turn out.

Traditionally the recipe calls for quite a bit of fat but I have made them with super lean ( just 5% fat) pork mince and 5% fat content beef mince. The result?! Simply gorgeous, super juicy and absolutely delicious mici.
But there is not to say that are no secrets to making those little ones, there are!

The secret to making and preparing mici….

The fat content isn’t the secret to getting nice juicy and super tender mici, not at all.

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The very secret to good mici are a couple of things :

• The moisture level – need to add liquids to the mixture (see ingredients)

• soda bicarbonate and the beer (the star ingredients)

• fire (need to be cooked on fairly rapid fire) and this is the key to success.

Cooking mici….

• Mici need and must be cooked on a pretty rapid fire and this is to keep them juicy and tender. It’s a must.

• For the best results they need cooking fresh (within a few hours) pretty much as soon as they are made. No need to rest more than a couple of hours but if no choice can be made the night before, shaped and kept in the fridge.

More tips when having Mici… things you must know to enjoy those most …

There are more secrets to these amazing casing free sausages.

• They must me served with fresh bread, mustard and a cold, cold super good pint of beer.
Once you have all these in place you’re good to go.

Mici only ask for a few ingredients, again one of those recipes that only require a handful of ingredients and nothing more.

Here’s the recipe folks, and I’ve had quite a few requests for this recipe (sorry for the wait folks) but here it is now, so let’s start rolling these yummy meaty open sausages.

Before getting these done, here are some more nice BBQ side dishes that yu may like to make in addition to enjoty a real feast. This courgette salad is a superb addition to any BBQ as well as this cabbage and carrot salad or why not try this potato salad that is also to die for. Enjoy folks!

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5 from 5 votes

Homemade mici – romanian garlicky meat open sausages

These garlicky delicious meaty open sausages are such a Romanian staple and no BBQ will ever happen without them. With just a few ingredients, they are to die for especially when served with mustard and a cold, cold beer! Perfect for hot, hot weather.

Course BBQ, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine Ramona’s Cuisine, Romanian

Keyword casing free sausages, mici, mince meat, romanian mici, sausage rolls, sausages

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 8 minutes

Resting Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 28 minutes

Servings 16 pieces

Calories 166kcal

Author Ramona Sebastian

Cost £5

Ingredients

• 500 g ground beef I used 5% fat content
• 500 g ground pork I used 5% fat content
• 180 ml beef stock ideally homemade * see recipe notes
• 50 ml beer
• 1 tsp soda bicarbonate
• 1 tsp salt
• 3-4 cloves garlic grated and made into a paste
• 1 tsp thyme dry or fresh
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin optional
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper or chilli flakes optional

Metric – US Imperial

Instructions

• Place the meat into a bowl, you can give it another whizz into food processor for a double grinding but don’t worry if you don’t fancy doing this. There is another solution – extra mixing/kneading.
• In a larger mug I mix the beef stock with a beer so that be carbonate spices seasoning salt pepper and give it a good good stir until the salt has dissolved entirely.
• Add this liquid mixture to the meat and mix really well until the mixture becomes almost a paste. And this is your double grinding technique
• You can now work with a dash of oil or water to form the sausages into their shapes. A little touch of oil takes you a long way so just grease your palms with a tiny dash of oil or, use a bit of water. I always use oil. It helps with preventing them from sticking. Place all on a plate or a little tray, something that can easily be placed in the fridge.
• Transfer the sausages in the fridge to rest for 2 to 4 hours but you can leave them overnight too, it’s absolutely okay.
• Place them onto a hot grill or in a hot pan and cook them on each side ( x 2) for no longer than 4 min.
• Serve in a fresh bun (just like a hotdog with mustard and a cold glass of beer. Heavenly!

Notes

Preparing the homemade stock:

• To make the beef or lamb stock at home I always choose oxtail or lamb neck and boil these for a good few hours. They can be made separate or mixed it really does not matter especially if you add lamp made to the Mici

• If you don’t eat pork replaced this by lamb but if you do, feel free to mixing all three meat to a ratio of 2:1:1 meaning 2 parts of beef, 1 part pork and 1 lamb. It’s a sensational one.

• needless to say that I always add chilli flakes to spice things up a little or serve them with a nice and spicy mustard.

• Resting time it’s an important step as they will soak in all the spices and all flavours will blend in nicely.

• Mici can be grilled, ideally on the charcoal grill but a gas or electric grill would do the job too. They can be even fried in a pan or baked in the oven.

• to check whether Mici are cooked to perfection while on the grill tap them harder with a fork and if they are bouncy, they are ready.

 

Did you prepare these delicious open sausages also known as mici ?

 

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Have a wonderful day! 

 

Enjoy!

 

Nutrition

Calories: 166kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 45mg | Sodium: 286mg | Potassium: 197mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 19IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 1mg