| Polish Cuisine
The most traditional Polish recipes are passed down from generation
to generation. These recipes are especially popular during Easter
and Christmas and are an important aspect of the seasonal holiday
calendar. Every Pole remembers the smell of żurek, borsch and
dumplings with mushrooms prepared in the family home.
The main thing which Poles living abroad are truly missing
is Polish cuisine.
Many people in the West are unaware of the richness of Polish cuisine
and its long history. There is no time in today’s life for
preparing complicated, time consuming dishes. It is easier to buy
ready made bread rather then bake it at home on cabbage and horseradish
leaves. Poles miss bigos, tripe and other dishes, which they recall
from their childhood or know only from the tales of older people.
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Culinary customs
The Catholic Church has always had a big impact on Polish
cuisine – long periods of Lent were mixed with Catholic holidays
celebrated with rich feasts. Both Easter and Christmas are high
points of the religious and culinary year. Even today it is
a busy time for every housewife, despite the fact that most of the
dishes can be bought as ready meals in stores. However nothing can
compete with home made meals prepared according to proven traditional
recipes passed from generation to generation.
One of the most traditional Polish holiday meals is: Christmas Eve
carp in grey sauce, Eastern Mazurek – decorated cake and traditional
borsch, which used to be made of borsch weed. Over time the borsch
weed has been replaced with beetroots combined with meat, fish,
vegetable or mushroom stock. Simple borsch based on mushroom stock
is still the traditional Christmas Eve dish in Poland.
Probably the most traditional Polish dish is bigos. In old times
bigos was a crucial meal of hunting. Bigos was prepared on a bonfire
in stone pan. Its major ingredients were either sauerkraut pickled
on beetroot stock or sweet pickled cabbage, or possibly both of
them mixed together. All kinds of sausages were cooked together
with beetroot; however venison and hare meat, were added towards
the end cooking.
The polish menu has always been rich in all kinds of meat, many
of which were served whole including: baked pig stuffed with kasha,
whole deer and wild pigs and also roasts made from birds and fish.
Old Polish spices were: salt, garlic, horseradish, vinegar and honey.
Soups are also an essential part of Polish cuisine. Historically
an extremely popular soup has been made from beef and pork stomachs
(tripe) called flaki. By these days white borsch and żurek
have more funs gained thanks to an original, slightly sour, refreshing
taste.
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Did you know that...
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Traditional Polish seasonings and accompaniments
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