http://www.rozrywka.stetinum.pl/pl/wiadomosci/kulinarny_szczecin_wiadomosci/regionalne_przysmaki_na_walachAccording to a social research Omnimas, held by TNS OBOP, the Poles at the age of 15 and more, for the question ‘Which cuisine do they value the most? ” in most cases they answered Polish . Over 90% of them as favourite dishes have indicated the Polish traditional food. The next most frequently mentioned cuisines are Italian (about 27%) and Exotic (about 17%). Certainly we can regard ourselves as food patriots. Furthermore, the research has revealed also that even being abroad, we prefer to eat some dishes similar to Polish or prepare the meal individually. In Ireland and UK, the number of Polish shops and bakeries is growing.
Nevertheless our knowledge about tradition and customs is surprisingly poor. As a national meal we indicate bigos, żurek, pork chop, oscypek or marinated herring but regional food we rarely mention . And it's a pity because almost every year in external competitions our local food wins a lot of prizes. For this reason I would like to present some of the extraordinary regional food and encourage you to go in search of some new and unusual tastes of Poland.
Raków it is the only place in Poland where you can taste such a strange dish as dzionie. It is an old traditional paschal recipe sneaked by Polish housewives from Jews. It is a bowel stuffed by matzah (wheat cake) and a little bit of meat and bouillon. It looks like a sausage but it tastes definitely better. The recipe is a great and guarded secret.
Smolcorze is th
e next uncommon dish which has won a first award in Polish regional contest in 2005. Fresh mushrooms fried with homemade butter and aromatic herbs after the process of cooling becomes quite tough and looks like lard. It is a delicious additive to fresh and crunchy bread.
Smolcorze is th
e next uncommon dish which has won a first award in Polish regional contest in 2005. Fresh mushrooms fried with homemade butter and aromatic herbs after the process of cooling becomes quite tough and looks like lard. It is a delicious additive to fresh and crunchy bread.
Potato donut is something which you can fall in love with. It has nothing in common with the taste of fat buds that we know very well. Filled with rose jam donut is a real tidbit during the Christmas and local festivities. Other traditional delicacies from the region of Kielce are crumbly cake called Sadloki that took its name from fat. It sounds a little bit fatty but in fact sadloki are not more caloric than donuts.
In Poland we 
have hundreds of unusual and surprising dishes. I started my culinary journey two years ago and I am still impressed by the Polish
cuisine.
have hundreds of unusual and surprising dishes. I started my culinary journey two years ago and I am still impressed by the Polishcuisine.
I used informations from:
http://wiadomosci.mediarun.pl/artykul/badania-badania,kuchnia-polska-ulubiona-kuchnia- polakow,4849,2,1,1.html
http://www.money.pl/gospodarka/wiadomosci/artykul/ polacy;za;granica;wybieraja;swojskosc,81,0,215889.html
from a book "Przewodnik po produktach regionalnych Ziemi Daleszycko-Rakowskiej"
Photos of regional food: Jan Kuczyński
Do you know any unusual or even forgotten Polish dish?
Would you like to try some of the dishes that I’ve described?
Hm, I'm also a guy whose knowledge about tradition is suprisingly poor. You've mentioned all the dishes I would have if somebody asked me about our food. But it's superb that you've gave us a list of those unusual testes. Dzionie (I'm saying it out loud all the time now, hehe) seem to be sooo tasteful and I'd kill to get one right now. What about Silesian potato dumplings? Maybe those aren't so unusual, but still, you don't get to eat them very often.
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody have any place to recommend with that kind of food? In Warsaw, of course.
hm unfortunately I'm not supposed that we have such a regional restaurant in Warsaw. Once a half of year Warsaw is organizing a day of folklore. Apart from a folk art and craft they offer also some rustic dishes.
ReplyDeleteI have tasted "dzionie", donuts... in Raków during an annual fest called Saint Tekla. It is a great event but I don't recommend to stay to the end of festival because as a rule it is ending by the clash:)
As time goes by more and more dishes become extinct. Polish food changes. People’s eating habits change. People have less and less time to eat and prepare food. However, one can also notice that there is demand for food that was eaten long time ago and that is already forgotten. It is something worth trying. Although I do not know any names of specific forgotten food I am a great supporter of the food that became extinct.
ReplyDeleteThose described dishes seem very interesting and worth trying. I am a person who likes to try specialties and things that are very rare. I would not hesitate to try all the above mentioned food. Most interesting for me would be definitely Potato donut.
At this moment I don't remember any unusual or forgotten Polish dishes but I agree with Hubert that Polish food changes. Certainly for some 30-40 years I will be able to mention a few which we eat now.
ReplyDeleteI would like try some of dishes that you described, when we can meet for testing it:)??
For those who love potatoe donuts I recommend kluski śląskie (silesian dumplings?) and kartacze - a speciality in the north-eastern regions: a ball made of potatoes with meat filling - quite big and very tasty.
ReplyDeleteAlso we forget about the great meads (miody pitne) we produce.
Do you know that polish cuisine is becoming more and more popular abroad? You can see polish food shops in many western countries. The locals do buy there and are quite satisfied!
I have to disagree with Hubert because, in my opinion more and more people try to celebrate eating. It begins to be fashionable. For example some who really love it, use websites as slowfood.pl to look for good restaurants.
ReplyDeleteWhat more, polish traditional cuisine is promoted in media. In television there are some programs like Rewolucje Kuchenne or Wsciekle Gary, back to basics in polish cooking and shows that many traditional not have to be fat and stodgy. Unfortunately i don' t know any of mentioned in presentation dishes. Now i know what i have to try.
Personally i really like venison, which is not very popular for young people, who think how i can deer or boar, so lovely animals. I also like how they look, but also value how they taste.
I cannot agree with you guys. There are few traditional Polish restaurants in Warsaw, but you have to know where to search for them.
ReplyDeleteIn example: “Pod Czerwonym Wieprzem” on Żelazna street (more info: http://www.czerwonywieprz.pl/) it’s a traditional Polish restaurant designed as a PRL style. Nice place.
That’s true, unfortunately Polish food become forgotten due to fatty and stodgy dishes. Most of people know only few of traditional meals which are really ‘hevy’. I think every one of us has seen the book: “Kuchnia Polska” – every grandma has it. When you look inside you can find hundreds of receipts for an healthy food. Just use your creativity.
In my whole life I’ve seen few really strange regional dishes. ‘Kartacze’ famous in Podlaskie, ‘Wodzionka’ came from Silesia, ‘Korpiele z blachy’ it looks like crazy beetroot but I’ve no idea where does it come from and of course ‘Bimber” - country famous.
I agree with Tomasz. In Warsaw we have many polish restaurants. Among them we have a restaurant, Belvedere in the New Orangery of the Warsaw Royal Bath Gardens (http://www.belvedere.com.pl/). They serve traditional Polish food, but there often give different local dishes. The chef is working to have light meals and traditional. The restaurant is not cheap, but I think that every fan of Polish food should come to arrive once there.Here you can see how changes in Polish food.
ReplyDeleteOf course we have in Warsaw hundreds of restaurants which are specialized in Polish cuisine but it doesn’t mean that they are called as Slow Food restaurants. How I sad in my presentation Slow Food is an organization that means they have some rules and criteria of awarding a quality symbols. Serving Polish food doesn’t mean that they have a certificate of regional. I have read on SF website that to receive a Slow Food certificate it is absolutely essential to have at least three dishes prepared in accordance with traditional recipe, in a special way etc. It is not so easy. The same situation is in Italy. Since 2009 pizza Napolitana has received a special certificate ( as Polish oscypek) which means that only pizzas which followed special guidelines (particular ingredients and methods of processing etc.) could be called "traditional Italian pizzas". Owing to it we can be sure that food we are eating tastes property and traditionally.
ReplyDeleteI love Polish food!
ReplyDeleteHas the flavor of the soil. I lived in England for several years and really missed me very Polish bread, stew, or lovebirds.
Despite the fact that all the products to create these dishes are available there, the taste is totally different.
Very happy to try new dishes, and looking at these pictures, I'm hungry:)
I would love to try this "strange dish" called dzionie but I have never visited Raków so far. Although at the first reasonable oppurtunity I'll go there for sure.
ReplyDeletePersonally for the best polish meal I would choose dumplings. I love them I can eat them anytime, anywhere. That's why I'm looking forward to Christmas every single year.
But you know what. I read today cookbook excerpts of Maciej Kuroń and at the end of this book there is an interview with his father. He said that the meals we all prepare for our families at home, even if they're not strictly polish they're become traditional. I agree.
and one more thing:);
ps. I support s4480's idea:) let's organize meeting, each one of us will make some of our fave polish dishes:)What do you think;)// After reading this presentation I'm hungry already..
In my opinion pork is the most common meat in traditional Polish cuisine ;)
ReplyDeleteFor me meat is to "heavy" I prefer Polish desert, because bakeries in Poland will have many deserts to choose and they are delicious... like sernik, apple tarts (szarlotka), a sponge cake with a poppyseed filling (makowiec), or éclairs (eklerka).
About places where we can find some of our traditional polish meals I know a few restaurants. Most of them are located in Zakopane:) If someone is going to visit this city soon I highly recommend the small place run by Mr. Ryśek:) It's opposite to the mountain called Nosal. They serve fresh delicious and not very expensive food. It's worth to go there not just because of tasty meals but mostly because of great atmosphere which prevails there:)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little boy, my grandmother used to prepare "Parowańce" which are small donuts made of yeast-cake and steamed. Grandma usually served it filled with fresh berries. Do you know this goody?
ReplyDeleteWhen I have been to Mazuras Lakes I have tried "Kiszka ziemniaczana". It was delicious!!! It was looking like a sausage but in side you could find mashed potatoes with some smoked meat and fried onion. It tasted similar to Russian dumplings or even better:) Fat but very tasty like almost all Polish cuisine...
ReplyDeleteI am not a big fun of Polish dishes because they are to heavy and I don't feel well later on. I'd rather prefer Asian food, I mean Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, ext..
My grandmother cooks it until today! It's my treat from childhood. And did you eat pyzy from Warsaw Praga? The original contains onion, pork and marjoram It's hard to get them, but it's worth it to eat.
ReplyDeleteI can recommend mentioned above by @kniaz "kiszka ziemniaczana" from Podlasie.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion every bigos, żurek, pork chop, oscypek or marinated herring has it's variations in diffrent regions, so our common dishes do not taste the same in whole Poland.
I'm not a cook and don't like to cook, but like to eat :D For me the best of is the Polish food and I love it. This is reason why I often traveling to Polish mountain. They have a great food for example "żurek w chlebie", or "oscypek".
ReplyDeleteI'm not interested with cooking and don't know any forgotten Polish dish and also never try dishes described by you but it looks very delicious :)
I am not really a good cook, but you can call me epicure ;) To be ohnest sometimes I prefer not to know what I eat, because such knowledge could influence my good taste. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of any forgotten meals etc.
ReplyDeleteFrom the once you mentioned in your text I would taste with pleasure Potato Donuts.