Polish national cuisine

WooPeeA

POLISH NATIONAL CUISINE

I know that some of you want to taste Polish national food available in Ireland. So there's something I can reccomend..

Polish cuisine has elements taken from the cooking traditions of the many national groups that lived in the country side by side for centuries, notably the Jews, Ukrainians, Belarussians and Lithuanians. There are also some Russian, German, Czech and Austrian influences as well as dishes from more distant regions: Italy, France and the Middle East. source



FOOD

Pierogi
Stuffed dumplings of unleavened dough and varying ingredients. Easy to cook, but unfortunately I don't know how to do that. :P

You can find them on the shelfs with Polish food or in the fridger in many supermarkets. There are many kinds of it.

Pierogi z miesem - with meat
Pierogi z soczewica - with lentil [Veg]
Pierogi z kapusta (i grzybami) - with sauerkraut/cabbage (and mashrooms) [Veg]

Pour a little bit fried onion and oil over it.

There's also Pierogi z serem (with farm cheese) which is sweet. Good with cream and cocoa. It's also suitable for vegetarians.






Kielbasa

One Polish well known is excellent smoked meats - kiełbasa. Very popular throughout the world, made after traditional recipes and smoked over juniper or fruit-tree twigs.

Perfect for BBQ!






Polish bread

Cheap and pretty good. I haven't seen anything like that in the supermarkets, but you can ask for Polish bread in every Polish food store. You can find one in your area.






Sweets

Pastries and cakes are a traditional type of dessert in Poland. Most often they are made from yeast dough (baba, drożdżowe) but there are also Swiss-roll types with poppyseed (makowiec), dried fruit and nut fillings (rolada), mazurek, apple Charlottes (szarlotka), cheesecakes (sernik) and gingerbreads (piernik). Doughnuts (pączki) with rose conserve are another favourite. source

Paczek:


Szarlotka:


Sernik with chocolade and oranges:





DRINKS

There's not much of Polish drinks available in Ireland, except beer and vodka. You can buy them in almost every supermarket including Tesco, Dunes Stores etc.

Polish and European beer are stronger than Irish or British. There's more alkohol in it (about 5% even to 7%) and it's bitter. One of the most popular are Tyskie, Lech, Zubr and Okocim. It costs about 2,00-2,50 Euro per can/bottle.

The most popular vodka are Wyborowa, Pan Tadeusz and Chopin.

brendanyumo

Polish food...yuk!! No thanks.

Thanks for that WoopeeA!

Unfortunately the Perogi I've seen aren't veggie they contain pork fat

I want to make nice bread, I'm confused by the range of flours available.
What are these different flours for?

http://www.bdsklep.pl/index.php?cPath=237_124_97

Also what is this http://www.bdsklep.pl/index.php?cPath=237_124_101?

I'd love to know how you use Barley groats and buckwheat http://www.bdsklep.pl/index.php?cPath=237_124_99 in your cooking? I'd like to try them.

What is the best brand of kwaśna śmietana in your opinion?

As a veggie what does a typical dinner look like for you?

btw supervalus has a good range of Polish Juices and soft drink.

Talliesin

brendanyumo wrote: »

Polish food...yuk!! No thanks.

Could you elaborate on what it is about Polish foods that you haven't enjoyed? I'm particularly interested in how you found such different things to be unpleasant - was there a similarity in any way in what you disliked about the baking, the meat, the vegetable dishes and the sweets, or is it just a coincidence that you didn't like them all?

I wouldn't even bother Tallesin, anyone who can say Yuk to this



....well clearly their opinion isn't up to much.

tman

I've only tried Lech and Bison Vodka so far, both were pretty damn tasty from what I can remember.
Pierogi sounds pretty damn tasty, I'll have to try that sometime...

WooPeeA

Moonbaby wrote: »

I want to make nice bread, I'm confused by the range of flours available.
What are these different flours for?

http://www.bdsklep.pl/index.php?cPath=237_124_97

I think the 3rd one is made for cakes as "tort" means cake in Polish. The last two are the potatos flours.

I really don't know what is the difference between the others..

Also what is this http://www.bdsklep.pl/index.php?cPath=237_124_101?

It's breadcrumbs, dried and crumble bread or breadroll. They are rolling a meat or pancakes over it before frying to make them crunch.

I'd love to know how you use Barley groats and buckwheat http://www.bdsklep.pl/index.php?cPath=237_124_99 in your cooking? I'd like to try them.

Don't know, I'm not the biggest fan of Barley groats and buckwheat. But I'll find something for you.

As a veggie what does a typical dinner look like for you?

Well, my typical dinner look like spaghetti or tofu. I love Chinese and Italian cuisine.

Polish food is not very friendly for vegetarians. There's much more meals with meat or fish than vegetables. I like a little fried pierogi with lentil. I like potato pancakes and the soups: tomato soup, mashrooms soup or onion soup with noodles or rise.

Oh, and scrambled eggs if I'm hurry or lazy.

WooPeeA

WooPeeA wrote: »

It's breadcrumbs, dried and crumble bread or breadroll. They are rolling a meat or pancakes over it before frying to make them crunch.

OOuuhh Crunchy pancakes sound interesting!

Thanks W

Mr Magnolia

Great post WooPeeA.

/applies stars

Alun

Yes, great post! There are loads of Polish shops opening up all over the place .. we've got one here in Bray, but I always find them a little daunting, not knowing what a lot of things are. I'm reasonably brave when selecting sausages and meats, but there are all kinds of things in packets, jars and cans that mystify me, I must say! Luckily some of the things have labels that contain a language I understand (usually German) so at least I can get some idea of what it is.

Faith

brendanyumo wrote: »

Polish food...yuk!! No thanks.

brendanyumo, unless you plan on backing sweeping statements like that up with your opinion, please don't bother posting.

teetotaller

If I could advice you something - If you never tried polish food before - don't buy ready to eat food in jars in Dunnes Stores - Bigos, klopsiki etc - It doesn't taste the same as home made food and it is not as good as fresh meal. Of course u won't be sick after eating this , but u may have bad opinion in general about polish food.

There are very good pierogi in freezers in DS, Tesco - I like pierogi with meat and pierogi with strawberries.

If you like to try new food - don't be afraid to go to polish shop and ask for advice.

u can get very tasty sousages ( kielbasa) that is something different to that what u can get in irish shops. I can also reccomend white cheese (twarog mazurski)

also very good ham - it is foiled but not sliced and my favourite one is (poledwica sopocka) made by Morliny.

generally if I get any polish meat here it is (sokolow) or (morliny) brand.


You can try some of polish sweets. in DS and Tesco you can get very good (ptasie mleczko) of WEDEL ( Wedel is most famous polish sweets producer. English translation for Ptasie mleczko is birds milk


also very tasty are wafers with chocolate - PRINCE POLO.



so

Try just once you won't loose much if you spend just few euro for something different.


I know that polish names can make you very carefull with choosing this kind of food, but Poland is as well EU country so we have all EU standards.


Let us know if you tried something and if it was tasty.

PS
My Irish friends visited with me my family house in Poland they spent there over one week- and they enjoyed their stay. They tried plenty of different things, drunk sea of polish beer and when they were going back to Ireland they bought a lot of polish sweets, sousages etc to share it with their families.



and last thing - polish bread - it is different than irish - there is no soda - u should TRY it

WooPeeA

Great advices teetotaller!! You're absolutely right with the Wedel, it's well known brand. Their chocolates and candies are amazing!!

watna

I'm very wary of Polish food tbh. I have a Polish room mate and she eats a lot of very strange smelling stuff from packets and jars. I usually cook everything from scratch so I find a lot of what she eats very unappetizing!

However, the food you posted looks lovely. I guess she just isn't too healthy and doesn't eat fresh Polish food. I may investigate getting some fresher stuff!

s&mbarbie

Pierogi are delicious. as are crokiet (savoury stuffed pancakes), If you want to try non packaged polish food there is a polish restaurant on capel street called Gospoda Polska, food is good though the service can be hit and miss

teetotaller

watna wrote: »

I'm very wary of Polish food tbh. I have a Polish room mate and she eats a lot of very strange smelling stuff from packets and jars. I usually cook everything from scratch so I find a lot of what she eats very unappetizing!

However, the food you posted looks lovely. I guess she just isn't too healthy and doesn't eat fresh Polish food. I may investigate getting some fresher stuff!

I never ate any healthy ready to eat food form jars....
Plenty of people can't cook or are just lazy that's why they buy something that is similar to home made food but it is not the same.!! and it doesn't look well.

Polish traditional kitchen smells lovely and also looks very nice for eyes. Usually european food smells ok apart to that what u can find in Asia like any pigs ears, dogs insects etc

brendanyumo

Faith wrote: »

brendanyumo, unless you plan on backing sweeping statements like that up with your opinion, please don't bother posting.

i'll post and say what i like.that's my opinion and its one that's shared by many people.

Stark

I lived with a Polish girl for a while as well and I have to admit, what she typically cooked with looked none too appetising. I was scared to open the fridge at times, the worst find being pickled chicken bits in a jar.

The food posted above looks much nicer though and I had some OKOCIM beer last night, yummy.

teetotaller

Stark wrote: »

I was scared to open the fridge at times, the worst find being pickled chicken bits in a jar.

hehe many of polish people has the same felling while looking at fridges in shops and finding irish sousages that small ones with pink colour

it is kind of food that we never saw before coming to ireland/uk and for many of us it is not tasty.

If I was to judge Irish food on the cookery of my housemates, I wouldn't be too impressed. I've lived with two men who survived on breakfast rolls and pasta/bread in milk and sugar! Out of cheapness / a refusal to learn to look after themselves.

How do you eat twarog mazurski? It is bland to my tastebuds, the only thing I can think to do with is use in is stuffed pasta or with other cheeses for pizza.

I don't think asking for help in a Polish food is going to do much good, from my expierence the staff just aren't friendly or helpful. I suppose they have so much of a market in central europeans that they look on pesky me as an unnecessary pain in the hole.
Which is why I really appreciate these recommendations.

teetotaller

Moonbaby wrote: »

How do you eat twarog mazurski? It is bland to my tastebuds, the only thing I can think to do with is use in is stuffed pasta or with other cheeses for pizza.

don't even try to put white cheese onto pizza - it will be like burnt philadelphia on pizza


how to eat twarog ?

so - u can slice it and put on fresh baguette, than add just a little of salt and sliced tomato

or u can do a pasta - take fork, mix twarog with cream, add some salt and pepper, add small pieces of radish and chive. and it is ready to eat

u can also add twarog to pancakes

blend twarog with vanilia sugar and cream , add raisins
put pasta on pancake and roll it


>>>smacznego<<<<!!


foiled twarog mazurski is good to eat for a period of about one month,
ensure that it has quite long expiry date as sometimes it may be a little sour if too old.

Faith

brendanyumo wrote: »

i'll post and say what i like.that's my opinion and its one that's shared by many people.

This is a privately owned website, you do not have freedom of speech. I've warned you once already. Do not drag this thread off topic again or you'll get a one week ban.

Talliesin

brendanyumo wrote: »

i'll post and say what i like.that's my opinion and its one that's shared by many people.

I don't like any Indian food except nan bread.

I therefore have an opinion that Indian food is not nice to eat.

However:

1. I've based this on tasting quite a few different Indian foods.
2. I won't assume that I would dislike an Indian food I haven't tasted yet if it's notably different from those I have tasted.
3. I can express the reasons I dislike them in more detail than misspelling "yuck".
4. I understand that my disliking flavours popular in Indian cuisine is not a rational reason to dismiss Indian cuisine in general, just a reason to personally avoid it, and I therefore have little of value to add to a thread about Indian cuisine (i.e. disliking a cuisine does not automatically make me an idiot).

Hence, it's possible to share opinions similar to yours yet not agree at all with your posts in the slightest.

Can you actually say something about Polish food?

---

In the meantime, my partner and I came across some Polish sausages that tasted quite a bit like Danish pølser. As we very much miss pølser when not in Denmark we were obviously quite excited at this find, but we forget what they were. Anyone got an idea which sausages these were. (We've also found other Polish sausages to be good, but not comparable to pølser in the same way).

teetotaller

teetotaller wrote: »

u can also add twarog to pancakes

blend twarog with vanilia sugar and cream , add raisins
put pasta on pancake and roll it


>>>smacznego<<<<!!

This is definitely on my next to do list.
I'm going through a pancake phase.

Dziekuje!

The Sweeper

I used to work with a couple of Polish people in Dublin and we socialised together as well, so we tried a lot of Polish food. I found some concepts that matched concepts in Irish food - lots of carbohydrate, for instance - and others that were very different, like pickling. (Not much pickling in traditional Irish food, apart from the brining of meats.)

I loved the dried and smoked meats and the dumplings (and naturally the beer and the vodka). I can't say I'll ever get used to the tradition of drinking neat vodka with your dinner as a palate cleanser though...

teetotaller

Talliesin wrote: »

I don't like any Indian food except nan bread.


In the meantime, my partner and I came across some Polish sausages that tasted quite a bit like Danish pølser. As we very much miss pølser when not in Denmark we were obviously quite excited at this find, but we forget what they were. Anyone got an idea which sausages these were. (We've also found other Polish sausages to be good, but not comparable to pølser in the same way).

I'm not sure what are u talking about - does it looks and taste like hot dogs sousages ? if yes - try "parowki" of Morliny - but be aware of getting parowki with ser ( cheese)

other thing - it may be "Kabanosy" - but I'm not sure.



@Moonbaby - u can do one more thing - add to pasta small pieces of strawberries
it taste lovely then

Talliesin

teetotaller wrote: »

I'm not sure what are u talking about - does it looks and taste like hot dogs sousages ?

Yes, but the hot dogs you get in Denmark, not the ones you get here.

teetotaller wrote: »

other thing - it may be "Kabanosy" - but I'm not sure.

Definitely not those ones. Thanks though, and I'll take a look at the others.

olaola

A friend of mine from the states used to make 'Perogies' at Christmas. But he called them Pologies - he reckoned the name was lost in translation. The recipe was handed down to him, but we used to make a HUGE batch of them and freeze them in little bags.
Boil spuds, add onion and sauerkraut and make the pasta. Assemble them and boil them. Then when you wanted to cook them fry them up with sauerkraut, onions & butter. They were soooooo good.

I'd love to try them again. Could anyone recommend a Polish restaurant in Dublin. And when I get there... what do I order?!

teetotaller

http://monikascatering.com/about_us.htm

They are looking at the moment for a new place as they had to move out from bleu note (capel street)

they have good offer of catering all the time. I ate there dinner and I will come back to them !


there is in a city centre ( Dublin) Gospoda Polska - but I don't recommend them they have a lot of probles with work law, and they are not paying to their employees - ****y place in 2 words.

I don't know any other places around dublin unfortunately.

brendanyumo

Faith wrote: »

This is a privately owned website, you do not have freedom of speech. I've warned you once already. Do not drag this thread off topic again or you'll get a one week ban.

I Dont have freedom of speech???? Is this for real.Are you communist??? You'd be used to banning people for expressing their opinions then.:mad:

Stark

And what do communists ban people from? Anyway, I'm sure if Faith was a communist she'd want boards.ie to become a state owned website rather than boasting that it's privately owned.

Pssst, try calling her a "fascist"

brendanyumo

Stark wrote: »

And what do communists ban people from? Anyway, I'm sure if Faith was a communist she'd want boards.ie to become a state owned website rather than boasting that it's privately owned.

Pssst, try calling her a "fascist"

Communists don't usually ban people,they usually kill them. Checkout,Mao,Stalin....facists are pussycats in comparison.
If i'm banned it'll be a badge of honour!

Stark

So you think Faith is going to kill you now? You might need to see a counsellor about that paranoia.

Faith

brendanyumo wrote: »

If i'm banned it'll be a badge of honour!

Grand so, I hope you wear your badge with pride. You're banned from Food & Drink for 2 weeks. The extra week is for calling me a communist. As Stark said, I'm clearly a fascist.

Back on topic now please .

xiaosu

Poland and "Polish food" has to be the most boring topic ever.I've never heard of a Polish restaurant.I'm bored with all things polish.Sometimes walking around Dublin i feel like i'm in a godforsaken place like gadansk.Enough already!!

Faith

Gosh, I wonder who you are :rolleyes:.

Chong

This thread has been brilliant apart from that brendan dude. I cant wait to taste some this polish food, I am off to krakow next month also going to warsaw and wroclaw.

Roll on the dumplings.

teetotaller

hi
Dear Moderators
could u please remove all off topic posts from this thread ? including this one here ?

Thank you

we are talking about food, not STALIN !!

Faith

I'm leaving them there so others can see what's not acceptable. It also helps keep things transparent, so users can see that there's no great "Mod conspiracy".

lolli

Hey thanks for that. My boyfriend is from Czech. I'll try find something nice to cook for him

WooPeeA

lolli wrote: »

Hey thanks for that. My boyfriend is from Czech. I'll try find something nice to cook for him

Check this out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_cuisine

Mr Magnolia

Willstev wrote: »

This thread has been brilliant apart from that brendan dude.

That brendan dude and all his alt accounts have been permanently site-banned from Boards.ie

I cant wait to taste some this polish food, I am off to krakow next month also going to warsaw and wroclaw.

Roll on the dumplings.

I envy you. Enjoy the trip.

I think I'll enjoy a couple of cold Tyskie this evening.

WooPeeA

POLISH NATIONAL CUISINE [vol 2]

As many people has seemed to be interested in that thread I decided to create the PART 2 which include new food, drinks and sweets.

Smacznego!


FOOD

Naleśniki
Pancake that can be served as a main dish. They can be served sweet usually with fresh fruits (e.g Bilberry), Powidła, fruit jam. Also with variety of savory fillings e.g. fried chicken or even tuna with different additions like cheese potatoes or ham. In Poland Naleśniki are also used for making croquettes.

Naleśniki z serem - with farm cheese
Naleśniki z dżemem - with jam/marmalade
Naleśniki z budyniem - with pudding
Naleśniki ze szpinakiem - with spinach


Naleśniki with farm cheese decorated by suzette:


Naleśniki with fruits:




Soups

Polish cuisine is full of many kinds of soups. They are served with potatos, vegetables, rice or grits (depend of the soup). There are few of them:

Pomidorowa - tomato soup
Rosół - chicken soup
Ogórkowa - cucumber soup
Grzybowa - mushroom soup
Krupnik - barley or vegetable soup; depend of region.
Barszcz czerwony - beet soup
Barszcz biały - horseradish soup, served with hard-boiled eggs and kiełbasa

Rosół with vegetables:



Gołąbki

Gołąbki is a hearty traditional Polish dish consisting of boiled cabbage leaves stuffed with ground beef, chopped onions, and rice or barley, baked in a spicy tomato sauce; similar to a Cabbage roll.

Gołąbki rolls are usually fist-sized when fully stuffed or rolled. Spiced Pork is sometimes used instead of, or in addition to, beef.





SWEETS

Makowiec

Makowiec is a traditional Polish cake usually baked around Christmas and Easter. The cake consists of dough with a filling of poppy seeds, raisins, milk, butter, orange peel and nuts such as walnuts or almonds. The cake can be finished with a glaze made of powdered sugar and lemon juice.




Faworki

Traditional Polish sweet crispy fried pastry in the shape of thin twisted ribbons, deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Most often they are eaten in time of carnival and on Fat Thursday the last Thursday before Lent - not to be confused with Fat Tuesday or (Mardi Gras) the day before Ash Wednesday.






DRINKS

Żubrówka /ʐub'rufka/ (also known in English as Bison Grass Vodka) is a brand of dry herb-flavoured vodka distilled from rye, 40% alcohol (80 proof). The raw rectified spirit is then mixed with a tincture made of Hierochloe odorata, often called bison grass. This grass grows in the Białowieża Forest, which is partly in Poland and partly in Belarus. A blade of this grass can be found in every bottle of genuine Żubrówka and is the reason for its particular taste, aroma, and yellowish colour.


Żołądkowa Gorzka (en: Bitter Stomach Vodka) is trade mark of polish dry brand vodka produced since 1957. Among many other prizes, it received prestigious Oskar FMCG 2006 award in brand vodkas category as well as CoolBrands award and Gold medal on Poznan International Fair POLAGRA 2000

Against its name, Żołądkowa Gorzka is sweet, amber-colour vodka with specific, root smell and herbal flavour. Bitter Stomach Vodka (except of traditional taste) is produced two variants:

• Bitter Stomach Vodka with Mint (Wódka Żołądkowa Gorzka z Miętą)
• Bitter Root Stomach Vodka with Honey (Wódka Żołądkowa Gorzka Korzenna z Miodem)

teetotaller

teetotaller wrote: »

u can also add twarog to pancakes

blend twarog with vanilia sugar and cream , add raisins
put pasta on pancake and roll it


>>>smacznego<<<<!!


foiled twarog mazurski is good to eat for a period of about one month,
ensure that it has quite long expiry date as sometimes it may be a little sour if too old.

I was going to mention that I tried this and while it was great on pancakes.
I did'nt like the twarog on it own, but maybe the cheese was old.
But then again I always think that Irish milk is better than anyone elses.

Thanks for that again Whoopea!

The bison grass is really interesting....I'm going to try that.

Do you eat Avjar? I like it and I just wondered how you are suppose to eat it....I use it as a dip.
It might not be Polish, alot of the food in my eastern european foodstore seems to be from the Ukraine.

WooPeeA

I think Avjar is not Polish. I've never heard of it.

teetotaller

what's avjar? I've never heard about this before

It is roast red pepper, aubergine (oberżyna), garlic, olive oil and chilli salsa. Apparently people spread it on bread.

Kintarō Hattori

Been to Poland almost a dozen times at this stage so just adding my two cents.

Gołąbki when done right is absolutely delicous. While you may think stuffed cabbage isn't all that appealing it can be lovely.

I'm always surprised and disappointed that Żołądkowa Gorzka isn't available here when Żubrówka (which isn't as nice) is available everywhere. I currently have three bottles of Żołądkowa Gorzka sitting on the shelf at home, original, mint and honey! I was in Jelenia Gora about two weeks ago and tried a beer called 'Strong', it was very tastey and at 7% dangerous.

teetotaller

u can get zoladkowa gorzka in dublin in some off-licences

I'm pretty sure that I saw it in Molloys in Coolmine D15

herya

As far as I know adjar comes from the Balkans (Croatia etc.).

Thanks for the tip on gorzka zoladkowa!