Crown of pork ribs served with baked potatoes and goose liver pate are two of the recommended dishes for the night between years, by a known chef in western Alba Iulia, Cosmin Toma, to respect the tradition that says, according to him, will make you fly through luck throughout the year and be wealthy.

Known for his inventiveness and the way he reinterprets traditional dishes, Cosmin Toma opted this year as well for a special form of pork dish, named by the chef "Crown of pork crown ribs served with baked potatoes".

The required ingredients are: pork ribs - 1.5 kg, potatoes - 400g, oil - 200 ml, ginger beer - 300 ml, cognac - 100 ml, honey - 50g, black lemon - 50g, salt and pepper.

"The pork ribs are left to marinate with the beer, 100 ml of oil, cognac, the honey and powdered black lemon. You add pepper. Leave to cool for approximately 3 hours. You peel the potatoes, wash and cut in quarter slices. From the marinated ribs you can make a crown, tightly bound, with kitchen string. You add salt and pepper to the potatoes, mix well and introduce in the rib crown. You put them in the oven, at medium temperature, for two hours, carefully spraying the ribs with the marinated sauce from the tray", chef Cosmin Toma explained.

Regarding the goose liver pate, Cosmin Toma prepares it from 1 kg of goose liver, 100g butter, 1 white onion, 50 ml cognac, 100 ml of sweet sour cream, salt and pepper.

"You wash the goose pate, you dry it out, after which you wipe it with a kitchen towel. You cut the onion in cubes, which you then fry in 50 g of butter, after which you add the liver. You leave it for a few seconds to fry, after which you add cognac. You leave it another 10 minutes for it to boil, after which you add the sweet cream and pepper. You let it another 5 minutes to boil, after which you remove it from the fire, add salt and take it through the blender, adding the remaining butter", Cosmin Toma said.

After placing it on a stand or a plate, Cosmin Toma also adds on top a layer of orange jelly.

He also says that it's good to eat fish on New Year's Eve.

"An old wives' tale says that just as the fish carefully swims in the water, you too will pass troubles and misfortune more easily. For New Year's Eve you can also eat pita (dough-bread ed. n) greased with red onion, so that you will go through life and hardships more easily. The red onion symbolizes wealth and fortune", Cosmin Toma showed.AGERPRES(RO - author: Marinela Brumar, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Catalin Cristian Trandafir, editor: Maria Voican)