Recipe in Polish. What dishes to try in Poland

If you can say about any cuisine that it warms the soul, then it is definitely Polish cuisine. Eggs, sour cream, cabbage, mushrooms and meat - a lot of meat! – this is what defines Polish cuisine, making it hearty and nutritious, uplifting and giving strength.

Krakow. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theoryclub/

Connoisseurs will find in Polish cuisine traces of the influence of neighboring peoples: Hungarians, Germans, Belarusians, Russians, and even! Well, the uninitiated person will simply salivate from all these various combinations. So, get to the table, sir!

Where to start: Polish soups

As a rule, all meals in Poland begin with soups. And there are a great many of them here. Definitely the most unusual of them is czernina, a soup made from goose blood. In addition to the main ingredient, goose giblet broth, boiled dried fruits, vegetables and spices are added to it. This soup is very popular in Poland.

Goose blood soup - Czernina. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marcins/

Another common soup is Chlodnik. To some, it may resemble borscht due to its bright beetroot color. But this soup is more like our okroshka, only with beet kvass. Kvass is made from beet broth, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, dill and, of course, sour cream are added to it!

Polish cold soup - Kholodnik (chlodnik). Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lokon/

Another Polish soup is żurek, which is made from fermented rye flour with the addition of white sausage, smoked meat, roots and spices. Served with sour cream.

Mushrooms are a frequent guest in Polish cuisine. The abundance of mushrooms in Polish forests in the old days, and now in supermarkets, makes it possible to prepare the so-called mushroom soup (zupa grzybowa), the basis of which is a variety of mushrooms, the range of which varies depending on the season or the taste of the cook.

Polish mushroom soup (zupa grzybowa). Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/domel/

And after a good soup, you can start with the main courses.

Second courses

Polish “pies” (pierogi) are actually dumplings. With meat, sauerkraut, mushrooms or potatoes - they can be boiled or fried, but are equally tasty in any form. They can also be sweet: with cherries, apples and other fruits or even chocolate! Who likes what?

Polish “pies” (pierogi). Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elysepasquale/

Bigos is one of the most famous national dishes outside Poland, somewhat reminiscent of cabbage soup, but in the form of a second course. There are an unlimited number of cooking recipes. It is prepared from meat (usually pork) and sauerkraut, sometimes prunes are added, sometimes mushrooms and sausages, sometimes even rice - there are a lot of options.

Polish national dish is Bigos. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/donotlick/

Poles also love cabbage rolls (gołąbki) stuffed with minced meat and rice, stewed in a weak tomato sauce. Mushrooms and other ingredients (cereals, potatoes, etc.) can also be added to the filling. In general, it is believed that cabbage rolls are a national Polish dish, borrowed from their neighbors (including us).

Polish dish - cabbage rolls (gołąbki). Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matteoantonante/

Polish placki (not to be confused with Ukrainian!) or potato pancakes (placki ziemniaczane) - are prepared from raw grated or boiled and mashed potatoes, fried in butter and served with sour cream or apple sauce.

Polish placki - potato pancakes (placki ziemniaczane). Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aleksandraw/

No collection about Polish cuisine would be complete without mentioning Polish sausages (kielbasa). They are very similar to, but much tastier! They are prepared from several types of meat, sometimes with the addition of cereals or potatoes. There are many types of Polish sausages - garlic, marjoram and other spices make them special.

Polish sausages. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40600430@N07/

Do you still have room for dessert after this meal? Oh, don't say no! - you haven't seen them yet.

Polish desserts

Poland is famous for its soups and hearty main courses, and charming and delicious desserts not only complement it, they make it perfect! Polish sweets are popular among both Poles and non-Poles alike.

Cookies with jam (Kolaczki) are the most famous of them. These are shortbread cookies, folded into an envelope, from which joyfully bright jam or jam, or delicate curd peeks out. In the old days, these cookies were a traditional Christmas treat, but now they are eaten all year round. It’s true that it’s better to eat it fresh - it’s good if there is someone in Poland who can prepare these cookies for you. Well, if not, don’t worry! You can also buy them in local supermarkets. They never stale.

Polish cookies with jam - Kolaczki. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68039559@N03/

Mazurka or mazurek (mazurka\mazurek) is not only a dance, as you might think. This is a wonderful pie, which, like cookies with jam, is baked from shortcrust pastry. It differs in that it is rolled out into a thin layer, divided into segments, and generously coated with different types of fruit jam. It turns out very beautiful and tasty. And when it is lightly sprinkled with powdered sugar, it seems that the Christmas fairy tale has already begun, and it is very close!

Polish pie - mazurek. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85571090@N00/

And of course, the Polish grandmother! Traditionally, this product made from yeast dough was baked for Easter, so it is somewhat reminiscent of our Easter cake: a tall shape, topped with fruit, or chocolate, or creamy glaze. But there are many more ingredients in Polish babka. And among them, of course... vodka! And also a lot of raisins, candied fruits, dried cherries!

Chocolate babka. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bananamondaes/

Recently, curd and chocolate babkas have become increasingly popular. I wonder what kind of babka you would like to try?

It's difficult to end this article on this note. I want to write and write, because Polish cuisine is close to us in its taste combinations, traditions, it is diverse and limitless! Why write, I want to try, try... What about you?

Over the course of many centuries, Polish national cuisine has been formed under Tatar, Turkish, German, French, Italian and Jewish culinary influence. The features of all these cuisines gently merged, boiled and baked together, which ultimately gave rise to the life of national Polish cuisine. It’s not for nothing that the best things come from mixing.

Dishes of Polish national cuisine

Previously, the main basis of Polish cuisine was dishes with a predominance of grain crops, including various porridges, baked goods and other flour dishes. Also, everything that could be obtained in the forest, such as mushrooms or nuts, was used for food. Vegetables were highly valued, especially those that could be stored for a long time. This is how the foundation of delicious Polish cuisine was born. Another feature of hers is her love for using sour cream. And in soup, and in sauce, and in marinade. It's tastier and more satisfying with sour cream. Let's go through the five most popular Polish dishes. There are many more, but we will focus on these five.

Polish soups

Polish tincture

Hot Polish dishes

And how much else is there in Polish cuisine that is delicious or unusual? Well, for example, cabbage rolls, mushroom soup with sour cream, sorcerers, Polish sausages and much, much more are delicious, but I will kindly call the Polish soup Czernina simply unusual (soup made from goose blood and giblets).

Ribs with barbecue sauce, two types of cabbage and rice. This is such a “small” portion. The ribs were simply amazing!
Another variation of Polish soup served in a loaf of bread. This was the most delicious bread plate
Polish mushroom soup in a loaf of bread. The soup was very tasty, thick, with a rich taste and aroma of mushrooms
Polish pancakes with meat filling in a hot frying pan
And we tasted this most tender shank with potatoes, cracklings and cabbage salad in one of the roadside cafe complexes at the exit from the autobahn

Delicious dishes and bon appetit to everyone!

Poland is a country with the richest traditions; people of various nationalities lived here, who wrote their pages in culinary history. Yes, the Poles themselves don’t slurp cabbage soup! People love to eat here, they know how to cook and have been doing it for a long time.

Old cookbooks contain recipes for cooking lampreys: they were valued for their tender meat and served with gingerbread, cherry juice, pepper, cloves, cinnamon and sugar. The secrets of beaver tail dishes are also written down there - it was cooked with vinegar, salt and hot garlic. In them we read about the intricacies of preparing peacocks - these were baked in the oven, first stuffed with pieces of lard and chestnuts. And we learn about the delights of crayfish pudding, which tasted, in the words of the poet, “more tender than Polish panna, and therefore the most tender of all.” These, however, were dishes from the homes of the rich. Although the regular ones weren’t bored either, they knew a lot about food and came up with amazing recipes. Take, for example, “Tatar grass in sugar”, which is... ordinary calamus, growing near every swamp and turned into a glorious delicacy - they ate it so much that it crackled behind the ears. The honey cucumbers served chilled were crunchy, sweet and juicy! Ripe chestnut puree is dense and satisfying. Duck blood soup was often prepared for young men who had been refused a match. Spirited flasks - strips of beef tripe in broth with marjoram. And finally, beer soup - two in one, cheap and cheerful, read and remember: “Boil one and a half liters of beer with cinnamon, cloves and a piece of bread crust. Strain, add sour cream mixed with egg yolks. Eat with crackers and pieces of cottage cheese.” How do you like “pyry with gzik” - baked potatoes with cottage cheese stuffed with salt, caraway seeds, onions and dill? Poznań “dumplings on a rag”, which have collected juice in a vessel tied with a piece of linen? Krakow maczanka - seductive pork neck with caraway seeds and onions, served with sauce and a tender bun? Or bigos, whose devoted slave, among others, was the famous poet Adam Mickiewicz: “The cabbage sweats, steams on the fire, under it a layer of meat languishes in the depths. But then the boiling juices fermented, and drips splashed along the edge with steam, and a very strong aroma spread along the clearing. Ready! Everyone exclaimed three times: “Vivat!” They rushed, armed themselves with spoons for battle, and rammed the copper cauldrons in a ferocious crowd. Where is bigos? Where? Disappeared. Only in the depths of the cauldron, in the faded crater, is the darkness still smoking.” By the way, the bigos also came with a glass of ice-cold vodka, the invention of which the Poles often take credit for, but there’s no point in arguing here - it’s ours. So we prepare a Polish table, invite guests and learn the necessary words: “Smacznego!”, which means: “Bon appetit!” and “Na zdrowie!” - “Greetings!”

Soup “Zurek”

For 6 persons: rye bread - 50 g, rye flour - 0.5 cups, garlic - 6 cloves, bacon - 200 g, Okhotnichye sausages - 500 g, Bavarian white sausages - 200 g, champignons - 200 g, potatoes - 6 pcs., carrots - 1 pc., onions - 1 pc., marjoram - 1 tsp, bay leaf - 2 pcs., allspice peas - 6 pcs., fresh herbs - 100 g, sour cream - 250 g, eggs - 3 pcs., salt, pepper


Pour flour into a jar, pour 50 ml of boiling water over it, stir with a wooden stick. Cut the crust off a slice of rye bread and, breaking it with your hands, add to the flour. Pour in 500 ml of cold water. Peel two cloves of garlic and add to the starter. Mix thoroughly, place the starter in a warm place and leave for 5 days, remembering to stir periodically. Strain. Fry champignons, bacon and onions in a dry frying pan for 3 minutes. Add marjoram, fry until the mushrooms are half cooked, stirring constantly. Pour 3.5 liters of water into a 5 liter saucepan and bring to a boil. Add spices, carrots, chopped sausages, let it boil and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Place fried mushrooms and bacon and potatoes there. Pour in the starter, add the remaining chopped garlic, bring to a boil and cook for 7 minutes. Serve with half a hard-boiled egg, sour cream and fresh herbs.

Pork with prunes

For 6 persons: prunes - 200 g, pork tenderloin - 1.5 kg, celery stalk - 1 pc., carrots - 1 pc., onion - 1 pc., rosemary - 2 sprigs, vegetable oil - 50 ml, salt, ground black pepper


Cut a piece of pork lengthwise and crosswise, as if cutting out a deep pocket. Pour salt and pepper into the “pocket”, put in prunes and tie with thread. Heat oil in a frying pan, season the pork with salt and pepper and fry on all sides until a crust forms. Fry the vegetables in the same pan. Place the pork and vegetables on a baking sheet, add rosemary, place in the oven for 20 minutes, preheated to 180°C. Remove the meat, wrap in foil, let rest and serve.

Polish-style cabbage rolls

For 10 persons: white cabbage - a large head, minced pork - 600 g, champignons - 600 g, buckwheat - 1 glass, onions - 2 pcs., butter - 1.5 tbsp. l., tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l., bay leaf - 2 pcs., cloves - 5 pcs., salt, spices to taste


Place a head of cabbage in boiling water and boil for a couple of minutes. Remove cabbage leaves. Chop the onion, fry in butter, add champignons, salt, spices and continue frying. Then cool. Boil buckwheat until half cooked. Add it to the minced meat, then add onions with mushrooms, salt and spices. Place a small amount of minced meat on cabbage leaves and wrap in “envelopes”. Place a few cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan and place cabbage rolls on top. Pour hot water, add tomato paste, bay leaf, cloves, salt and simmer over low heat until tender.

Lublin Cibulage

For 7 persons: flour - 500 g, dry yeast - 50 g, milk - 250 ml, salt - 2 tsp, sugar - 1 tsp, eggs - 2 pcs., butter - 60 g, onions - 2 pcs., poppy seed - 3 tbsp. l., vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.


Chop the onion not very finely. Pour boiling water over for 2 minutes, stir, drain, fry in vegetable oil, add 1 tsp. salt, poppy seed Beat the egg with warm milk, add flour, yeast, 1 tsp. salt, sugar, melted butter. Knead thoroughly and place in a warm place for an hour. Divide the dough into seven parts, form them into balls, cover with film and leave for 15 minutes. Roll the balls into flat cakes, place on a baking sheet, place 1 tbsp on each flat cake. l. onion filling, cover with film and leave for 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Remove the film from the baking sheet, brush the scones with beaten egg and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Old Polish lard

For 4 persons: pork lard - 500 g, bay leaf - 2 pcs., black peppercorns - 3 pcs., allspice peas - 3 pcs., juniper berries - 3 pcs., onions - 2 pcs., apples - 2 pcs., salt, ground black pepper


Lightly freeze the lard and cut into small cubes. Peel the onion and chop finely. Wash the apples, remove peels and seeds, cut into small cubes. Melt the lard in a preheated saucepan and fry until golden brown, stirring constantly. Roast slowly for 20-25 minutes. Five minutes after the start of cooking, add bay leaves, pepper, juniper berries and apples. Stew the bay leaf and remove. Strain the melted lard through a fine metal colander or sieve. Add the onion to the purified fat and continue to fry until the onion turns light brown. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove the saucepan from the heat, place the still hot lard into the prepared jars, close the lids and let cool. Lard can be served on slices of rye bread with finely chopped fresh dill.

Rollmops with cucumber

For 4 persons: herring fillet - 500 g, carrots - 1 pc., onions - 0.5 pcs., pickled cucumbers - 5 pcs., 9% vinegar - 5 tbsp. l., black peppercorns - 5 pcs., allspice peas - 3 pcs., bay leaf - 1 pc., sugar - 0.5 tbsp. l., salt - 1 tsp., vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. l.


Wash the carrots, peel and cut into cubes. Peel the onion and cut into rings. Cut the cucumbers into 4 long pieces. Boil 230 ml of water, add carrots, onions, peppers, bay leaves, salt, sugar and vinegar. Stir and cool. Add oil. Place a few carrot sticks from the marinade and a slice of cucumber on the wide end of the herring. Roll the herring into a roll and prick with a toothpick. Place the rolls in a jar and pour in the cooled marinade. Cover the jar with parchment, secure with twine and refrigerate for 6 days.

Pies with cheese and potatoes

For 6 persons: flour - 2 cups, 9% vinegar - 1 tbsp. l., vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l., eggs - 1 pc., feta cheese - 80 g, potatoes - 250 g, butter - 30 g, soy sauce - 2 tbsp. l., sour cream - 1 tbsp. l., lard for greaves, salt


Mix egg, salt, vegetable oil and vinegar in a deep bowl. Pour in 250 ml of warm water and whisk. Knead the dough, gradually adding flour. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in film, and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Boil the peeled potatoes until tender, add butter, crush until smooth, and cool. Pour in soy sauce, stir, add sour cream and cheese, stir. Roll out the dough thinly and cut out circles with a diameter of 10 cm. Make pies. Boil them in boiling water for 5-6 minutes, depending on the size. Cut the lard into pieces and fry the cracklings. Serve pies with melted butter and cracklings.

Favorki brushwood for breakfast

For 10 people: flour - 255 g, sour cream 20% - 3 tbsp. l., eggs - 3 pcs., butter - 50 g, baking powder - 0.5 sachet, lemon juice - 1 tbsp. l., vegetable oil - 1 l, salt, powdered sugar


In a bowl, mix flour with sour cream, egg yolks, lemon juice, butter, baking powder, salt and knead the dough. Roll out into a thin layer on a floured surface. Cut strips up to 10 cm long and 3 cm wide. Make a 5 cm long cut in the middle of each and pull out one end to form brushwood. Heat vegetable oil in a saucepan. Check if it is hot enough (throw a piece of dough into the oil, if it floats to the surface and quickly turns golden brown, then you can start baking). Deep fry the brushwood for a few seconds, placing several pieces at a time in the oil. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Sprinkle warm brushwood with powdered sugar and serve.

Quite filling and high in calories. The basis of the dishes are meat products in the form of a variety of sausages, frankfurters, balyks and much more. Ahead of you is a description of Polish dishes. Stay tuned!

Contents of the article:

The cuisine of each country is unique, it carries a piece of information about the people, traditions and culture. During our travels we definitely trynational cuisinethe country in which we are located. For six hours in Warsaw , we managed to do a lot: walk around the city, see main attractions communicate with local residents (he helped us with this Polish phrasebook ), as well as try popular drinks and dishes of Poland. Polish cuisine is very diverse. The first thing that pleased us was the portions! They are inspiring.)

After such lunch (photo 1) in one of the Polish cafes, we hastened to continue our route Kyiv-Warsaw-Berlin.

Soups Polish cuisine

Poles love soups and cook them with pleasure. Which ones are not in Polish cuisine... Borscht, familiar to us, but with the addition of dumplings, cabbage soup, pea soup, rassolnik, cream soups. It was surprising for me to learn that the Poles often serve soups during the holidays. I always considered them ordinary, and not festive, except that after the celebration, the next day, the soup goes quite well! Soups are served not with bread, as we are used to, but with potatoes, sprinkled with pork lard or fat.

The most Polish soup is Żurek, which is usually presented in a pot made of bread. It looks very colorful. It is served with an egg and a small piece of smoked sausage. Very often Poles prepare Zurek for Easter.

Flasks

Traditional Polish dish. This is a soup made from beef or pork tripe. The beef stomach is thoroughly washed, cleaned, and soaked in cold water. Place on fire and bring to a boil. The first water must be drained. In the second, the stomach should be cooked for at least two hours with the addition of bay leaf and marjoram. I made tripes at home a couple of times, only after boiling I also fried them in a frying pan with onions and garlic, it was very tasty. Flaki are served with white bread.

Bigos

And the national Polish cuisine cannot do without stewed sauerkraut. The taste, of course, differs from Ukrainian or German. There are a variety of Bigos preparations. It is based on a mixture of fresh white and sauerkraut with the addition of meat (pork, smoked sausage, pork chops). Mushrooms, tomatoes, prunes, and various spices are also added to Bigos. According to some recipes, there should be equal amounts of meat and cabbage. It is not necessary to add fresh cabbage to Bigos; this is done only to ensure that the dish is not too sour. You can also rinse the sauerkraut thoroughly to avoid this. Bigos is served hot. With white or black bread, often with vodka.

Pies

Polish cuisine is a little similar to Ukrainian, only the dishes are called differently. Pies are a favorite dish of Poles. The first time I saw Polish pies, I was perplexed - “These are dumplings!!” Indeed, in Poland, pies are our favorite dumplings. They are prepared with a variety of fillings: boiled potatoes, onions fried in a frying pan, cottage cheese, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms, meat. Everyone will find pies to their taste!

Desserts of Poland

Polish cuisine will not leave those with a sweet tooth indifferent. Those with a sweet tooth should definitely try the charlotte (apple pie), served with a scoop of ice cream and whipped cream. I really liked it! At Christmas they make a poppy seed cake, and at Easter a mazurek is a round or square shaped cake spread on top with sweet icing and strewn with dried fruits and nuts.

Poland is considered a producer of high-quality vodka. The well-known herbal vodka “Zubrovka”, which is made from bison grass growing in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. In addition to herbal vodka, there is also regular vodka. The most famous brands are “Sobieski”, “Lyuksusova”, “Vyborova”, “Chista de Lux”. In addition to strong alcohol, Polish ladies like to drink liqueurs, tinctures, and beer heated with spices and honey. Honey wine and healing balms are very popular, which are not always possible to drink in doses due to their amazing taste.

There are a lot of types of beer in Poland. The most popular are: “Lech”, “Tatra”, “Zywiec”. Beer in Poland is delicious, savor it to your health!

Where to eat Polish national cuisine in Warsaw

To taste the dishes of the national cuisine of Poland, we visited the establishment "Podwale 25" Kompania Piwna, in the center of Warsaw. Before the trip, we wanted to find an affordable and colorful establishment in the capital of Poland. Our choice fell on this cafe and it did not disappoint us! It is located on Podvalnaya Street 25, not far from the Old Town. After asking the taxi driver, we found him without any problems. On Sunday"Podwale 25" is open from 11:30. We didn’t know this and had to walk for another half an hour until the cafe opened.

Thank you for reading our blog. See you soon on the pages of our.

For many centuries, Poland's gastronomic traditions have been influenced by the surrounding states. Jewish kosher food was assimilated with Polish cuisine during the reign of King Casimir III, who patronized the Jews, sweet dishes came from Austrian cuisine, and gourmet dishes came from the French. Much of what is found on the Polish menu is taken from Lithuanian, Ukrainian and Russian cuisines. At the same time, the people managed to preserve their own national characteristics of cooking.

Specifics of Polish cuisine

In Poland, as in Russia, they love canned and pickled vegetables, but they are prepared according to special recipes, so they have a more pronounced taste. The nutritional value and calorie content of many dishes of Polish cuisine is explained by the fact that the patriarchal-peasant way of life dominated in the country for a long time, so peasants prepared food that supported physical activity, and meat was the main ingredient for cooking.

For meat dishes, tsvikli sauce is usually prepared, consisting of ground horseradish, vegetable oil, ground pepper, vinegar and boiled beets. Having tried it once, you will no longer want to use ketchups, despite the fact that in Poland they are incredibly tasty.

The peculiarities of Polish cuisine include a large variety of soups, which are eaten for lunch and dinner, as well as various salads and appetizers. For dressing use sour cream, mayonnaise, vegetable oil, sauces. In addition, in Poland they like to drink milk and fermented milk products, fruit sweets (marshmallows, jams, marmalade), and among alcoholic drinks they prefer beer, bison and mead.

First courses

People begin their acquaintance with Polish cuisine with soups. Here they prepare borscht and rassolnik, pea and tomato soups, cabbage soup and zurek (it is cooked with sourdough from rye flour). But the most popular is the soup "chernina", which is made from goose giblets and blood. For this you will need: goose giblets (150 g), goose blood (50 ml), 1 tbsp. a spoonful of vinegar, 1 carrot, 1 large onion, parsley root (10-15 g), dried plums and berries (20 g), bay leaf, ground pepper, salt and sugar to taste.

Goose blood is mixed with vinegar, broth is made from 350 ml of water, offal, vegetables and seasonings, then it is filtered and dried fruits are boiled in it. At the same time, lazanka - homemade noodles - is prepared. When the broth boils, return the vegetables to it, add goose blood, spices, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. When serving, sliced ​​giblets, fruits, lazankas are placed on a plate and poured with broth.

What is made from meat?

It is very rare to find a Polish recipe that does not use meat. It is fried, stewed, boiled, grilled, and made into meat rolls. Examples of dishes include pork loin chops with prunes, minced meat zrazy stuffed with pickled vegetables, mushrooms or pieces of smoked meat, duck with buckwheat and apples, baked in the oven.

But nowhere is pork knuckle (golonka) prepared as deliciously as in Poland. First, it is boiled for 1.5 hours along with an onion and a large carrot, then cooled and placed in the marinade for 8-10 hours. For the marinade, dissolve 5 tbsp in 1 liter of light beer. spoons of honey, add 2-4 bay leaves, chili pepper (1 pc.), 15 black peppercorns, 1-2 pcs. cloves, salt to taste. When the shank is marinated, place it on a baking sheet with parchment paper and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour. Golonka is especially good with beer.

Famous bigos

The famous dish of Polish national cuisine - bigos - deserves attention. It is prepared from meat, fresh and sauerkraut, tomatoes. Sometimes mushrooms, prunes, and rice are added to the dish. To prepare bigos according to the classic recipe, you will need: 1 kg of fresh and sauerkraut, 500 g of pork or beef, 250 g of smoked sausages and undercut, 8-10 pieces of mushrooms, salt and seasonings to taste. You will also need a couple of cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons of tomato paste.

Mushrooms, fresh cabbage and sauerkraut are cut into pieces, mixed, seasonings and salt are added, placed in a cauldron and put on fire to simmer. Meat, chicken and sausage are cut into small slices and fried in a frying pan over medium heat. When the meat is ready, transfer it to a cauldron, add chopped garlic and tomato paste and simmer over low heat for another hour. The finished dish should be quite thick and have a slightly sour taste.

Polish "pies", or simply dumplings

You can’t consider yourself an expert in Polish cuisine without trying pierogi. They can have any filling: stewed cabbage, potatoes, mushrooms with fried onions, sweet fruits and even chocolate, but dumplings with minced meat mixed with mushrooms and sauerkraut or with cottage cheese and potatoes are especially popular. The dough is made from 2-3 cups of flour, 1 egg and a cup of boiling water.

To prepare the cottage cheese and potato filling, boil 3 small potatoes and mash them. In a frying pan, melt the fat from a piece of lard and fry one diced onion in it, add it to the puree, add 200 g of fresh cottage cheese of any fat content and mix well. Next, the dough is rolled out into a layer 1-2 mm thick and circles are cut out with a glass. The filling is laid out, dumplings are formed and boiled in salted water for 6 minutes after the water boils. Served with fried onions and cracklings.

Other deli meats

All stories about Polish cuisine would be incomplete without mentioning the delicious smoked sausages, which are prepared according to traditional recipes and smoked over the branches of juniper and fruit trees. Sausages contain several types of meat, sometimes they add cereals or potatoes, various spices, garlic and marjoram. Due to the high quality of the product, Polish sausages are popular all over the world. This is especially true for hunting sausages, which are superior in taste to German sausages.

The recipe for Polish sausages has not changed for decades, but such a famous sausage as cabanos has been prepared according to the same recipe for several hundred years. Other specialty dishes include smoked bacon, ham, pork and chicken fillets, meat pates and many others.

What about the fish?

Poles love fish no less than meat. It’s worth seeing a photo of cooked carp among Polish cuisine recipes, and you’ll immediately want to eat a piece. To do this, the fish is cleaned of husks and entrails, the head is cut off and washed well, then cut into portions. Each piece is salted, sprinkled with pepper and sprinkled with a small amount of lemon juice.

Grease a baking dish with vegetable oil and place carrots and onions cut into pieces on the bottom. Fish is placed on top of them, with a layer of vegetables and spices on top: bay leaf, pepper, sesame. The fish is poured with 500 ml of dark beer, the top of the form is covered with foil and sent to a hot oven for half an hour. When the fish is ready, make the sauce. In a separate frying pan fry 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar until dark, add to it 150 ml of wine vinegar, 1 crushed gingerbread and the juice that was formed when stewing the carp. The sauce is boiled until tender, then filtered and poured over the fish.

What's for dessert?

Desserts are no less tasty in Poland: charlotte with apples, donuts with jam or condensed milk, cheesecakes, rolls with poppy seeds and raisins have long been included in the recipes of dishes in various countries. Kolaczki cookies with jam, which you can make yourself, are very popular in Polish cuisine.

For the dough you will need: 220 g of butter and cottage cheese, one and a half cups of flour, 350 g of any jam, a pinch of salt, and a packet of vanillin or vanilla sugar, powdered sugar for sprinkling. It is better to knead the dough from flour, cottage cheese and butter in the evening and put it in the refrigerator until the morning so that it becomes plastic. In the morning, the dough is rolled out into a layer about 4-5 mm thick and cut into squares with a side of 5 cm. Thick jam or jam is placed in the center of the squares, and the opposite corners are pinched. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes, sprinkle the finished cookies with powdered sugar.

Comparing recipes of Polish cuisine with photos of Russian and Ukrainian dishes, one cannot help but notice the similarities in preparation and flavor combinations. They combined all the best culinary discoveries of European, Slavic and Jewish cuisines, but at the same time retained their national identity.