Polish cuisine
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Polish cuisine is a mixture of Slavic and foreign culinary traditions.
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History
Middle Ages
During the Late Middle Ages the cuisine of Poland was very heavy and spicy. Two main ingredients were meat (both game and beef) and cereal. As the territory of Poland was densely forested, use of mushrooms, forest fruits, nuts and honey was also widespread.
Thanks to close trade relations with the East, the price of spices (such as juniper, pepper and nutmeg) was much lower than in the rest of Europe, and spicy sauces became popular. One purpose was to neutralize the odour of imperfectly-preserved meat.
The most popular beverages were beer, including the very lightly-fermented barley-water, podpiwek, and mead -- however in the 16th century the upper classes started importing Hungarian and Silesian wines. After distilled spirits became common in Europe, vodka became popular, especially among the lower classes.
Renaissance
With the ascension of queen Bona Sforza, the 2nd wife of Sigismund I of Poland, in 1518, countless cooks were brought to Poland from Italy and France. Although native vegetable foods were an ancient and intrinsic part of the cuisine, this began a period in which vegetables such as lettuce, leek, celery and cabbage were more widely used. Even today, such vegetables as leeks, carrots and celery are known in Polish as włoszczyzna, which refers to Włochy, the Polish name of Italy.
The Republic
Until the Partitions, Poland was one of the largest countries in the world, encompassing many regions with their own, distinctive culinary traditions. Among the most influential in that period were Lithuanian, Turkish and Hungarian cuisine. With the subsequent decline of Poland, and the grain production crisis that followed the Deluge, potatoes began to replace the traditional use of cereal. Also, because of numerous wars with the Ottoman Empire, coffee became popular.
Partitions
Under the partitions, the cuisine of Poland became heavily influenced by cuisines of the surrounding empires. This included Russian and German cuisines, but also the culinary traditions of most nations of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In the Russian-occupied part of the country, tea displaced the then-popular coffee.
The 19th Century also saw the creation of the first Polish cook-book, by Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa, who based her work on the 18th Century diaries of the szlachta.
Famous all-national dishes
soup
- flaki - beef or pork tripe stew with marjoram
- żur - soured rye flour soup with white sausage and/or hard-boiled egg
- barszcz - beetroot soup, ubiquitous among Slavic nations
- czernina - duck blood soup
- rosół z kury - clear chicken soup
- zupa grzybowa - mushroom soup made of various species of mushroom
- zupa ogórkowa - soup of sour, salted cucumbers, often with pork
- chłodnik - cold soup made of soured milk, young beet leaves, beets, radishes, cucumbers and chopped fresh dill
- żurek - dense soup based on rosół; usually with added potatoes, meat, eggs, carrots (a variable and often improvisational dish)
main course
- pierogi - dumplings, usually filled with sauerkraut and/or mushrooms, meat, potato and/or savory cheese, sweet curd cheese with a touch of vanilla, or blueberries or other fruits -- optionally topped with sour cream, and sugar for the sweet versions
- bigos - a stew of sauerkraut and meat, similar to the French choucroute, but generally less acidic and including unfermented white cabbage
- kotlet schabowy - a pork chop, similar to the Austrian Wiener Schnitzel but usually thicker
- kasza gryczna ze skwarkami - buckwheat cereal with chopped, fried lard
- kaczka z jabłkami - roast duck with apples
- sztuka mięsa - a meat dish similar to the French ragout
- golonka - stewed pork knuckle
- gulasz - Goulash
- gołąbki - white cabbage leaves stuffed with spiced minced meat and rice
- placki kartoflane - potato pancakes
- pyzy - potato dumplings served by themselves or stuffed with minced meat or white cheese
- naleśniki - similar to crepes, and filled similarly to pierogies, sometimes savory, but often with sweet curd cheese and/or fruit, and optionally topped with (sour) cream and sugar.
desserts
- kutia - traditional Christmas dish, made of poppy seeds, wheat, nuts and delicacies
- makowiec - poppyseed cake
- syrop z cebuli - syrup made of onion and sugar, basically a medicament
- chałka - sweet white wheat bread of Jewish origin
- pączek - donut with rose marmelade and other fruit fillings.
- krówki - milk toffee candies
ingredients
- kapusta kiszona - sauerkraut
- ogórek kiszony - salted sour cucumber, a pickle prepared in a similar way to sauerkraut
- kiełbasa - polish sausage, comes in a wide variety of versions
beverages
- miód pitny - mead
- podpiwek - very lightly alcoholic beer made of crumbled dark bread
- wino proste - a variety of alcoholic beverages made of fruit extracts and spirit, countless types and names of which exist
Regional cuisine
A list of dishes popular in certain regions of Poland:
Galicja
- prażonki (duszonki)
- strudel jabłkowy - apple cake, identical to Austrian apfelstrudel
- piszyngier - kind of a cake
Eastern Poland
Kresy
- babka żółtkowa - yolk and yeast cake
- bliny gryczane
- cepeliny -
- chłodnik - cold soup made of soured milk, young beet leaves, beets, radishes, cucumbers and chopped fresh dill
- grzyby po żmudzku - mushrooms Samogitian style
- kawior z bakłażana - "caviar" of egg-plant
- kreple z lejka -
- kugiel ze skwarkami -
- kutia - traditional Christmas dish, made of poppy seeds, wheat, nuts and delicacies
- melszpejz zaparzany z jabłek -
- pieczeń wiedźmy -
- szodo -
- tort ziemniaczany - potato cake
- zrazy wołyńskie -
- żeberka wieprzowe po żmudzku -
Podlasie
- babka ziemniaczana -
- cebulniaczki -
- chleb biebrzański -
- kartacze -
- kiszka ziemniaczana - potato sausage
- okoń smażony, w zalewie octowej - perch fried in vinegar
- zucielki -
North
- szpekucha - small dumplings stuffed with lard and fried onion
Masovia (including Warsaw)
- baba warszawska - yeast cake
- bułka z pieczarkami - a bun filled with a champignon (field mushroom) stew
- flaczki z pulpetami (po warszawsku) - tripe stew with marjoram and small meat noodles
- kawior po żydowsku - "Jewish caviar" - chopped calf or poultry liver with garlic
- pączki - donuts with rose marmelade
- pyzy z mięsem -
- zrazy wołowe -
- zupa grzybowa po kurpiowsku (z gąsek) - mushroom soup made of Tricholoma equestre, a large mushroom with a cereal-like flavor.
Masuria
- kartacz
Pomerania
- pierniki - gingerbread
Silesia
- knysza
- makówki or moczka - traditional Christmas dessert
- rolada z modro kapusto - meat roll with red cabbage
Tatra mountains
- kwaśnica - meat and sauerkraut stew
- śliwowica łącka - (read: [shlee-voh-veetsa won-tskah]) strong (70% of alcohol) plum brandy
- oscypek - hard, salty cheese from nonpasteurized sheep milk
Wielkopolska (Greater Poland)
- kluchy z łacha -
- kaczka z pyzami i modrą kapustą -
- rogale świętomarcińskie - croissants filled with poppy seeds, almonds, nuts and raisins, traditionally eaten around Nov 11 (St. Martin's day)
See also:
External link:
- short summary on the Polish Cuisine (http://www.polemb.or.th/2_6_4en.html)de:Polnische Küche