A quite special regional delicacy is lard kept in salt and well smoked (sometimes with a bit of paprika spread on it). The Saxons used to keep it in the church steeple all year long. The locals from Mărginime smoke it with beech wood smoke and hang it in the pantry on a hook.
This lard goes perfectly with telemea cheese and tomatoes, but the locals from Sibiu prefer eating it in winter as chisătură. Chisătura is a paste of fine cut lard mixed with parsley and red onion. This is the shepherds’ “sandwich” - spread on huge bread slices, it makes your mouth water.
Did you know...?
The fortified churches around Sibiu used to have a Lard Tower? Back in the old days, each Saxon family kept their lard in the tower as the place was cool and windy even in summer; the lard was marked to make sure that no one would dare steal from their neighbour’s chunk.