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Polish Housewife

Polish recipes served up with tidbits of folklore, customs, and history

Polish Mains & Sides

Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes)

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Polska piątek (Polish Friday) #4
Placki Ziemniaczane, delicious Polish potato pancakes
If you enjoy these two recipes, how about sharing the love and passing this post along to your friends?

I was so thrilled to get my copy of Nela’s Cookbook .  It’s a cookbook written by Nela Rubinstein, wife of famed Polish American pianist Arthur Rubinstein. Her recipes are Polish, Lithuanian, and American. If you’d like to check it out, My Amazon affiliate link is above. I love it.  The cookbook, published in 1983, has drawings illustrating techniques, and it’s written as if it were a food blog.  Every recipe is preceded by a little story; Nela might talk about the source of the recipe, what she serves with it, or some family chuckle related to the dish.

Nela makes her potato pancakes a little differently than other recipes I’ve seen.  She uses no flour – preferring instead to use the potato starch that has drained from the grated potatoes. It was the first recipe I tried from the cookbook.

I made two different recipes – Nela’s and one found on All Recipes.  Before I give you more details, let me say how thrilled I am to have mastered potato pancakes.  I’ve been trying to do this for years, only to end up with the a batter that dissolves in the oil.  Where did I get the crazy idea that I was supposed to use mashed potatoes?  No matter what I added – flour, egg or how I handled the dough – disaster.  Not any more.

First, I made the recipe that uses flour.  Grating the potatoes was time consuming; other than that, it was very easy.

Which method did we prefer?

Now, we make the basic recipe, the first one below. I do use Nela’s suggestion of grating the potatoes and onion with my food processor. To me using flour rather than relying on collecting the potato starch, just makes sense, it’s faster and easier, and a sure thing. The mixture was just a little more cohesive that the one with only potato starch. If I needed to make the pancakes gluten free, it’s nice to have that option, but it’s an option, I’ll save for special GF occasions. I include it here in case you need GF.

You’ll notice in the video that the mixure does get watery as it sits. Just give it a stir and keep on cooking. In this case it also oxidized a bit, turning darker because we took the time to set up the camera, but the color corrected itself as the pancakes cooked. You’ll also see in the video that I turn the pancakes around and over. Before flipping them, I rotate them halfway in the pan because the part in the center always browns faster than the outside edge of the pan.

Can you spot the cameo appearance of by Ellie, one of our two new dogs? She and Rigby joined our household a couple of months ago from Bichon FurKids Rescue.

Finally, let’s get around to serving these crisp and tender creations.   We love potato pancakes topped with Gulasz or Pork Goulash.  Polish friends have told me they like to eat them with sugar and cinnamon, or maybe sour cream.   How about sour cream and a dollop of caviar?  The possibilities are mouth watering.  Oh yeah, plain is really good too.

Smacznego!

Lois

(Amazon pays me a few cents for purchases via these links)
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Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes)

★★★★★ 4.2 from 5 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 25 mins
  • Yield: 9
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A potato pancake recipe that uses flour to thicken

Ingredients

  • 3 potatoes (1.5 pounds)
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 small egg
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • canola oil for frying

Instructions

  1. Peel potatoes and grate on the fine side of the grater
  2. Grate onion
  3. Drain potatoes and onion
  4. In a bowl, beat egg, stirring in flour, salt, and pepper until smooth
  5. Add drained potatoes and onion, stirring until well combined
  6. Heat 1/4 inch oil in frying pan over medium high heat
  7. Add potato batter, 1/4 cup at a time
  8. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter until the pancake is about 1/2 inch thick, I was able to make 3 at a time
  9. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on each side, my frying pan is larger than the largest burner, so I also rotated them half way through each side to keep the middle from cooking and the outside edge from not getting dark enough
  10. Drain on paper towels.

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Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes)

★★★★★ 4.2 from 5 reviews
  • Author: Nela
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Cook Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 25 mins
  • Yield: 9
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A potato pancake thickened with potato starch

Ingredients

  • 3 potatoes (1.5 pounds)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon onion
  • 1 small egg
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • lard for frying

Instructions

  1. Peel and dice the potatoes
  2. Add water to blender or food processor with a steel blade attachment, process the potato and onion in two batches
  3. Using the same water for both batches, process in bursts, so the potatoes are grated finely, but not liquefied
  4. Drain the potato mixture; reserving the water, let the water sit for just a minute, the potato starch will settle to the bottom
  5. Pour off the liquid, being careful to leave the starch in the bowl
  6. Add egg, salt, and potato onion mixture to the starch and combine
  7. Heat lard over medium high heat, drop batter 1/4 cup at a time into hot lard, using the back of the spoon to spread out the batter until pancakes are 1/2 inch thick
  8. Cook until brown on both sides
  9. Drain on paper towels

 

Green Beans Fasolka Szparagowa A La Polonaise

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Without going into a long history lesson, mainly because I’m not qualified to teach it, during the 1800s, a time when Poland was partitioned (divided up and taken over by neighboring countries), many of the Polish elite took residence in France, musician Frederic Chopin and poet Adam Mickiewicz to name just two. This influx of Polish nationals may be how the French became familiar with dishes such as Fasolka Szparagowa A La Polonaise, and how they came to label anything topped with butter and breadcrumbs as A La Polonaise, or in the Polish manner or Polish style. The Poles, they might call this fasolka szparogowa z bulka tarta, green beans with breadcrumbs.

Fasolka Szpargowa A La Polonaise

You’re not limitted to green beans if you have the urge to go A La Polonaise with butter and breadcrumbs. Try this technique on chicken, fish, cauliflower, asparagus, or other vegetables. Cook the vegetables in salted water, seved chilled or warm, topping with bread crumbs that have been browned in a generous amount of butter. You may also choose to add chopped hard boiled egg and herbs such as parsley or dill.

Enjoy Fasolka Szparagowa A La Polonaise. If you find yourself engaging in every mother’s favorite pastime, trying to get your kids to eat more vegetables, butter and bread crumbs couldn’t hurt, right?

Smacznego!

Lois

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Fasolka Szparagowa (Green Beans) A La Polonaise

★★★★★ 4.8 from 4 reviews
  • Prep Time: 20 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 40 mins
  • Yield: serves 4 - 6
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Ingredients

  • 1 pound green beans
  • salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 3 tablespoons bread crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped dill
  • pepper

Instructions

  1. Trim both ends of the green beans
  2. Heat a large pot of boiling salted water
  3. Add the beans to the boiling water, return to a boil, and simmer
  4. Cook the beans for 10 – 20 minutes (they should be al dente, firm but not crunchy)
  5. Remove from heat and drain
  6. Melt butter, when it begins to bubble, add the bread crumbs
  7. Stir and turn the mixture until golden brown
  8. Remove from heat
  9. Add beans to a serving dish and toss with butter and bread crumbs, top with dill
  10. Season as needed with salt and pepper

 

Nalesniki Polish Pancakes

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Readers Rozia and Stan have requested a recipe for Nalesniki, Polish Pancakes. They’ve been on my to do list for some time, so let me bump Nalesniki to the top this week. If American pancakes are your point of comparison, you’ll find the Polish version, closer to the French crepe. They’re very thin and meant to be filled and folded or rolled, not stacked and covered with maple syrup.

Nalesniki with Jam

Nalesniki can be sweet or savory. I can think of a couple of casual restaurants in Poznan that serve them. Pancake Square and Manekin, both serve Nalesniki almost exclusively. As for the savory versions, think of all the things we put in a flour tortilla or flat bread and call it a wrap. This is the same idea, but a very large crepe-like pancake, will be wrapped around the filling, folded into a neat little package to be consumed with a knife and fork. They’re not as portable as wraps. I’ve always found it mesmorizing to watch someone working the the large round grill, expertly spreading the batter, cooking it to perfection, and then folding with great precision. Fillings might include ground beef with cheese and cream sauce or a bolognese and cheese, or kebab meat and fixins. I’ve also added some chopped herbs to the batter and used the Nalesniki as my wrappers for krokiety or croquettes.

Herbed Nalesniki Krokiety Wrappers

A common sweet filling for Nalesniki is jam. Spread the pancake with plum jam, roll it up and you have dessert! Another great idea would be to spread with Nutella and add sliced bananas, fold into a nice rectangle or fold in half and half again for a triangle. Another option would be to thin a soft white cheese like twarog, ricotta, or marscapone with a little cream, add a handful of rasins, and a litte sugar. After wrapping your nalesniki around this sweet cheese filling, you could put it back on the grill to brown the crepe and soften and warm the cheese. You might also try adding half a cup of cocoa powder to the batter to make chocolate pancakes. It’s such a versitle recipe, just waiting for your creative input.

Source: From A Polish Sountry House Kitchen, available on Amazon via my affiliate link

Smacznego!

Lois

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Nalesniki Polish Pancakes

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 5 mins
  • Cook Time: 60 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 5 mins
  • Yield: 15 pancakes
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

Thin crepe-like pancakes with sweet or savory fillings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup flour
  • pinch salt
  • vegetable oil as needed

Instructions

  1. Combine the yogurt, eggs, water, flour, and salt until smooth
  2. Cover and refrigerate for a minimun of 20 minutes or up to two hours
  3. Brush a small frying pan with oil, place over low heat
  4. When the pan is heated, add about 1/4 cup batter, tilt to help it spread
  5. Cook over low heat for about 2 mnutes
  6. Lift up one edge and flip
  7. Cook for 2 more minutes
  8. Adjust as needed, adding a spoon of water if the batter is too thick, adjust the heat if it’s cooking too fast or too slow
  9. Stack the pancake and cover
  10. Serve with desired filling

 

Ogórki Kiszone (Polish Pickles)

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I’ve gone all American on you with the title of this post, Polish Pickles. One lesson I learned from my Polish friends was that pickles are made with vinegar. The preferred method of creating sour little cucumbers in Poland is to preserve them in brine, so these are more correctly referred to a preserved cucumbers rather than pickled cucumbers. If this differs from your family’s English definition of Ogórki Kiszone, I’ll have to refer you to my group of experts in Poznan. I’m just repeating what I’ve been told.

Ogórki Kiszone are much loved, and I was fortunate to be given jars of brine preserved cukes twice. The first jar came from my friend Elzbieta, her mother makes them every year. The second came from a young man, an engineering student at our Poznan’s Politechnika University, and a waiter at our local TGI Fridays. We would chat at Fridays, and occasionally run into each other at a party in our neighborhood. At some point, we got on the subject of Ogórki Kiszone, and the next time I saw him, he brought me a jar of his mother’s preserved cucumbers. Apparently, he had multiple jars stashed in his dorm room. I returned the favor at our next meeting with samples of a few things I’ve been whipping up in the kitchen, almond cookies, and his favorite Bailey’s pinwheels.

One of the things I loved about Polish supermarkets (even little markets) was the pack of veggies they’d put together for soup making and in the summer, for your Ogórki Kiszone. I bought one of these when I tried my hand at this Polish staple in Poznan. It included multiple cloves of garlic, a flowering stem of dill, a piece of horseradish root, and leaves. My research tells me that any of the following leaves can be used: cherry, black currant, raspberry, oak, grape, horseradish, mustard. The leaves contain tannin and are supposed to help the cucumbers stay crisp during the fermentation process. That’s what’s happening to produce the sour taste, lacto-fermentation.

Laco-fermentation doesn’t involve dairy. Lacto refers to lactic acid. All fruits and vegetables have beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus on the surface. In an oxygen-free environment, these bacteria convert sugars into lactic acid, which inhibits harmful bacteria and acts as a preservative. (This is why you want your cucumbers completely submerged, so they’re in an oxygen-free environment.) It’s also what gives fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kambucha, or sourdough bread their characteristic sour flavor.

Below you’ll find the basic process for making one quart of Ogórki Kiszone. Other than the cucumbers and salt, you should feel free to adjust, add to (maybe a bit of chili pepper), or omit on the ingredient list and multiply based on the number of quart jars you’d like to make.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Ogorki Kiszone (Polish Pickles)

★★★★★ 4.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Yield: 1 quart
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

Cucumbers, naturally fermented in a flavorful brine

Ingredients

  • wide mouth 1 quart jar
  • 8 to 10 pickling cucumbers (4-6 inches long), washed and dried
  • 2 tablespoons pickling salt or sea salt
  • 1 quart water
  • 2 teaspoons mustard seeds
  • 2 cloves peeled garlic
  • 1 stem dill, preferably flowering
  • fresh horseradish root, about 1 inch long
  • bay leaf
  • Cherry, grape, blackcurrant, or oak leaf

Instructions

  1. Tightly pack the cucumbers into the sterile jar, you want to squeeze them in, so they’ll stay submerged and not float to the top of the liquid
  2. Add the salt to the water and bring to a boil
  3. Add the mustard seeds, garlic, dill (fold to fit), horseradish, bay leaf, and other leaf if you have one
  4. Fill the jar with the salt water to within 1/4 from the top, all of your ingredients should be covered
  5. Loosely cap the jar with a sterile lid, the lid must be loose to allow the gases produced during fermentation to escape, some brine may seep out, so store where this won’t be a problem
  6. As it ferments, the brine will become cloudy
  7. Depending on your taste, the cucumbers will be ready to eat in 1 to 3 weeks
  8. Fermentation will end after 5-6 weeks, if you have any left at this point, the lids should be tightened to prevent spoilage

 

Befszyk Tatarski (Steak Tartare)

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Befszyk Tatarski (Steak Tartare) is popular in Poland, so much so that you can buy commercially prepared packets for ground beef for tatar. It’s something I hadn’t eaten until I moved to Poland. We enjoyed it in restaurants and our friend Bill made Befszyk Tatarski for us when we dined at his home. We had a fabulous batch when we vacationed in the Czech town of Pilsen with our youngest daughter. We were eating a steak house near our hotel, and they had a special platter for tartar, with a little compartments for the many add-ins that accompany the ground beef, and diners mix it up themselves.

Polish Befszyk Tatarski

The history of Befszyk Tatarski or Steak Tartare, of course, has a couple of interesting stories. The tale with the most Polish roots says that the dish is named after the Tatars (Mongols) nomadic horsemen who often raided Poland, but in 1410 sided with the Polish at the Battle of Grunwald. Legend has it that the Tatars would place raw meat under their saddle to tenderize it, and later slice it up to eat raw because they had no time to stop and cook their meat.

The second version has the dish originating in France about 1900. It didn’t really catch on until the 1950s. Beefsteack à l’Américaine as it was called originally became Beefsteack à la Tartare, for the tartar sauce that was served with the raw beef. Whatever the story, Tatar will bring out strong reactions.

Our usually adventurous gastronome friends, were put off to find out what wasn’t cooking at our house the night we made Tatar. Only one friend, a big fan of anchovies, has had a positive reaction. So choose your dinner guests carefully.

Recipes for Tatar vary of lot, so your might be different than mine and still be authentic and wonderful. The key ingredients are ground or finely diced beef tenderloin (filet mignon), egg yolk (if you don’t eat raw cookie dough, you may want to find pasteurized eggs), salt, pepper, something pickled (pickles, capers, or both), something onion-y (red onion- better raw, shallots, green onion, leek, chives), maybe mushrooms. It might be served with bread or alongside fried potatoes or salad.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Polish Befszyk Tatarski

Befszyk Tatarski (Steak Tartare)

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 30 mins
  • Yield: serves 4
  • Category: Appetizer
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

Easily doubled for larger portions or more servings

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces very fresh, high quality Filet Mignon
  • 1 egg yolk

all of the following are suggestions, season to taste:

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon diced flat leaf parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoon finely diced shallot
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 anchovies
  • 2 tablespoon finely diced dill pickle
  • 2 tablespoon finely diced red onion
  • 2 teaspoons Worcester sauce

Instructions

  1. Place the serving plate in the freezer to chill
  2. Grind of finely dice the beef
  3. Combine all of the ingredients and serve on the chilled platter with toasted bread
  4. Or plate the ingredients and mix table-side

 

Kotlet Schabowy (Polish Pork Cutlet)

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Kotlet Schabowy is similar to the well know Viennese Schnitzel except we’re using pork rather than veal. Poles use the same technique with chicken or turkey breast, pound the meat into thin steaks, dredge in flour, egg, and the breadcrumbs before frying. Use beef and you have something like the American chicken fried steak. Pounding the meat until it’s thin, tenderizes it and insures that it cooks quickly, giving you a moist piece of meat in a crispy coating.

Kotlet Schwabowy

During the first year Ed lived in Poland while I was still working in the US. When we talked via Skype, he often mentioned that someone downstairs seemed to have a carpentry shop in the flat. He would often come home and hear someone hammering away. He assumed they were making furniture. It wasn’t until I moved to Poland and began making Kotlet Schabowy, that he realized the pounding sound was probably coming from the neighbors’ kitchen, not a wood shop.

You can serve Kotlet Schabowy with Mizeria, sautéed mushrooms, or with potato salad, or mashed or boiled potatoes. Sometimes, I’ll make a gravy with sautéed red bell pepper slices, heavily seasoned with black pepper to serve over the top.

How every you serve it, I’m sure you’ll enjoy Kotlet Schabowy.

Smacznego!

Lois

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Kotlet Schwabowy

Kotlet Schabowy (Polish Pork Cutlet)

  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 35 mins
  • Yield: 4 servings
  • Category: Main
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

Thin tenderized pork with a crispy coating

Ingredients

  • 4 boneless pork chops
  • salt and pepper
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/3 cup oil, more if needed

Instructions

  1. Place pork chops on a cutting board and pound them flat, about 1/4 inch thick (they’ll be twice as big after the pounding)
  2. Season the flattened chops with salt and pepper
  3. Set up three plates, put flour in the first, beaten eggs, in the second, and breadcrumbs in the third
  4. Dredge the first cutlet with flour, then dip both sides in egg, then bread crumbs
  5. Set aside and repeat with the three remaining cutlets
  6. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat
  7. Add cutlets to the pan without crowding, it may take more than one batch
  8. Cook about 5 minutes and then turn to cook the other side

Notes

Don’t toss dry, stale bread. Blitz it in the food processor to make your own breadcrumbs, or you can grate the dry bread for the same result.

 

 

 

Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad)

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Even though Polish supermarkets carry produce from all over the globe, it seems to me that Poles tend to eat what’s in season locally, at least to a greater extent than we do here in the US. At a lunch meeting with Polish friends in the fall, one of the ladies remarked, “this will be my last salad until next spring.” The restaurant will likely still be offering a salad on the menu, she just didn’t plan to order it. That line of thinking makes spring and summer the perfect time of year for Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad). 

Mizeria is the Polish word for misery. The taste is wonderful, but it was said to make Queen Bona Sforza, an Italian princess who married Polish King Sigismund I in the 16th century homesick for Italy. The queen is credited with bringing a great variety of vegetables to Poland. The popularity of her Italian imports soon spread beyond the confines of garden at Wawel Castle in Kraków.  I’ve been told that the Polish word for vegetables means “things from Italy” because of the new plants she brought to Poland.

This salad of cucumbers in sour cream is a cool and refreshing side dish. Even in their somewhat wilted state (from the salt and vinegar), they still provide some crunch.

 

I ended up making two batches of Mizeria before this post. The first vinegar I grabbed from my pantry was a fig balsamic vinegar. The color of the balsamic vinegar was so dark that it turned the sour cream brown, not exactly what I was hoping to photograph. So I whipped up a second batch with an apple cider vinegar. Fortunately, we really like this salad, so having two bowls of it is not a problem.

I have to say that for flavor, I preferred the fig balsamic vinegar. It went so nicely with the other tastes and the hint of fig added an interesting note. It sounds a little too Mediterranean for a Polish dish, but it does seem to be in keeping with the trend set by Queen Bona Sforza. Whatever vinegar you chose, I think you’ll enjoy Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad).

Smacznego!

Lois

(Amazon sends me a few cents if you make a purchase via the links below)

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Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad)

Mizeria (Polish Cucumber Salad)

★★★★★ 4.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Total Time: 30 mins
  • Yield: Serves 4
  • Category: Salad
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A refreshing salad of cucumbers in sour cream

Ingredients

  • 2 cucumbers
  • Salt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon finely cut chives or green onions
  • 1 tables finely cut fresh dill
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

  1. For ordinary cucumbers, peel, slice lengthwise and remove the seeds
  2. Slice as thin as possible, no more than 1/8 inch
  3. If you’re using the thin skinned hot house cucumbers, just slice
  4. Spread out the slices and sprinkle with salt
  5. After 20 minutes pat and press with a paper towel
  6. Combine the sour cream, vinegar, chives, dill, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt , and pepper
  7. Chill

Sausage in a Jar (Biała Kiełbasa w Słoikach)

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Many of our friends in Poznań grew up in rural villages and still have family on a farm. Specials occasions such as Easter or a wedding call for slaughtering a hog. We were often the reciepiants of homemade pate and sausages made for these celebrations. My favorite? White sausage in a jar (biała kiełbasa w słoikach)! It’s delicious paired with a good bread.
Sausage in a jar

Major Demel was one known to send us treats like sausages. When Ed told him that I especially liked his white sausage in a jar, that I would have a little bit everyday. Major Demel sent a warning, that I should be sure to have a little vodka with it to protect my liver!

When we weren’t the lucky reciepiants of white sausage in a jar, I could buy it on Saturday morings at Bio/Green (organic) market in Plac Bernardyński. There was an organic butcher that set up shop in a little refrigerated truck. He always had the longest line. Seriously, people would wait for 30 or 40 minutes to buy from this butcher. Thinking back, I don’t remember anyone cutting in front of us in line. Which makes this unique as queing up experiences go in Poland.

I’ve always wanted to find a recipe for white sausage in a jar (biała kiełbasa w słoikach), so that I’d be able to make it myself when we returned home. A search of the internet and I found several recipes to translate. As I read through the ingredients, I realized that the flavors are the same as smalec. You’ll find garlic, salt, marjoram, and pork. The sausage is just more meaty.

Sausage in a Jar

 

The cooking process described in Polish recipes calls for heating the sausage inside the jar three times. It is commonly accepted in Poland that after being cooked three times, that the sausage in a jar in shelf-stable and can be kept for months without refrigeration. The process is known as Tyndallization. Heating will kill bacteria, but not the spores. Leaving the jars at room temperature between heating allows the spores to germinate into bacterial cells which can be destroyed by a subsequent heating. I don’t know a lot about canning, but this doesn’t seem to match modern American thinking on the subject.

I will play it safe and refrigerate my sausage since I’m make a small amount and have room in the refrigerator. I probably shouldn’t worry. I’ve heard stories about my grandmother cooking sausage when they butchered a hog on the ranch. She would pack the cooked meat in a barrel and then pour melted lard over it to fill in any space and seal out any air. I suspect the barrel was kept in the root cellar for months. A long way from modern refrigeration. I faced a similar challenge when I made ajerkoniak. When putting bacteria up against grain alcohol, I trusted the Polish advice and left it in the cupboard.

I’m not sure what it is about this sausage that makes it different for me. Maybe it’s because it’s cooked very slowly, in a very moist environment. I realized one morning as a was warming up some of this sausage to serve with fried eggs for breakfast that it, in appearance anyway, resembled Spam. Spam, the nemmisis of every camping trip I took as a child. Don’t let that put you off. There’s something about using good cuts of meat and delicious spices that set the two worlds apart!

Smacznego!

Lois

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Sausage in a Jar

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Yield: 4 pint jars
  • Category: Main
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Description

A wonderfully seasoned preserved pork

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds pork
  • 1 pound bacon
  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon spoon marjoram
  • 2 teaspoon black pepper
  • A few sprigs of marjoram or thyme

Instructions

  1. Coarsely grind the pork and bacon (or do a fine dice on 1/3 of the pork and mix it with the ground meat)
  2. Run the garlic though a garlic press and add to the raw meat
  3. Add the sugar and seasonings
  4. Boil water and let it cool, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to the meat mixture
  5. Pack the mixture into sterile jars, using the back of a spoon to push out pockets of air
  6. Using a clean cloth or paper towel, wipe the tops of the jars to ensure a good seal
  7. Screw on lids
  8. Place jars in a large pot, add water 3/4 the height of the jars
  9. Bring to a boil, simmer for one hour
  10. Cool, leaving jars at room temp
  11. Repeat the cooking procedure the following day, boiling for 40 minutes, again leaving the jars at room temp
  12. Repeat the cooking process again on the third day, this time boiling for 30 minutes
  13. The white sausage in a jar is now ready to store as you wish

 

 

How to Make Pierogi Ruskie

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pierogi ruski

A Polish friend recently hosted a day of pierogi making.  She invited all the foreigners in our International Book Club. We made this ruskie filing, as well as a sweet filling, and a cold beet soup.  This was the first time I’ve made the pierogi ruskie  with potatoes, onion and cheese.  It would be really difficult to choose, but this may be my favorite.  You can’t beat the combination of flavors, and the filling has enough body that it’s easier to work with.  You can make a plump little dumpling and stretch the dough around the potato mixture without it oozing out.

pierogi ruskie making

A Swede, two Americans, and our Polish teacher

I’ve compared making pierogi to make tamales back in Arizona.  It’s labor intensive, and makes more sense when you’ve got a large group of people to work on it – making the dish perfect for extended family gatherings and holiday meals.

For the most authentic pierogi, try making your own Twarog, Polish farmer’s cheese. It’s really easy!

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Pierogi Ruskie

★★★★ 4 from 4 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Category: Side or Main Dish
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

The most popular pierogi ever, potato with cheese and onion!

Ingredients

for filling:

  • 6 small potatoes, boiled, peeled, and riced
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 cup diced onion
  • 1 1/4 cups ricotta cheese (this is the closest stateside substitute for Polish farmers cheese)
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • smoked bacon, diced, for garnish

for dough:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup boiling water

Instructions

for filling:

  1. Place riced potatoes into a large bowl
  2. Sautee onions in butter until light brown
  3. Lightly toss potatoes, with onion, cheese, soy sauce, and seasonings until combined

for dough:

  1. Place the flour on a clean work surface
  2. Add the salt
  3. Make a well in the top of the flour and add the egg.
  4. Work the egg into the flour
  5. Slowly add the water to the flour mixture, mixing it in as you go
  6. Knead dough until smooth

to assemble:

  1. Brown bacon and reserve
  2. Roll the dough out very thin, approx 1/16 inch
  3. Cut into round circles using a glass or a cookie cutter
  4. Add a spoonful of the filing to the center of each circle, compacting the filling
  5. Fold the dough around the filling, sealing the edges, creating a half circle or crescent shape
  6. When all of the the pierogi are filled, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, cook the pierogi for use a few minutes
  7. Serve with butter and bacon

 

 

My other versions of pierogi:

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves Gołąbki

by 28 Comments

Revisiting one of my first posts for Stuffed Cabbage Leaves, Golabki in Polish. These little bundles of ground beef and rice, wrapped in cabbage and topped in a rich tomato sauce are named after pigeons!

My first exposure to this dish was with Ed’s family. Their part of Pennsylvania is an ethnic and culinary mosaic, as in all of Europe comes to the New World. When my mother and her sister would cook a big meal for our combined families in Arizona, they would have made a big pan of enchiladas.

For my PA in-laws, it would be a roaster full of stuffed cabbage. We could always count on there being cabbage rolls to greet us when we visited. It was the sign of a special occasion.

 

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I fixed this for Ed and one of his colleagues as they prepared to make the initial trip to Poland. We talked with excitement about the travel arrangements, what it might be like, the plans for apartment hunting.

We had pierogi with the stuffed cabbage. I’m embarrassed to say the pierogi were frozen; I had yet to make my first pierogi back then. Things have changed! I make a pretty good pierogi ruskie now.

Novice that I was at the time with Polish cuisine, I still stand by this recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Leaves. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Smacznego!

Lois
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Heritage Cookbook

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Stuffed cabbage leaves

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves Gołąbki

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Polish Housewife
  • Prep Time: 45 mins
  • Cook Time: 90 mins
  • Total Time: 2 hours 15 mins
  • Yield: serves 8
  • Category: Main
  • Cuisine: Polish
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Description

A Polish favorite, meat and rice filling in cabbage with tomato sauce

Ingredients

  • 2/3 c. white rice
  • 2 heads green cabbage
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 lb. ground beef
  • 1 c. chopped onion
  • 1 t. salt
  • 1/4 t. pepper
  • 8 slices bacon, cut in 1-inch pieces
  • 2 16-oz. cans tomatoes
  • 2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions

  1. Cook rice according to package directions, cool
  2. Remove core from cabbage; run hot water into cored area to help in removing outer leaves
  3. Remove 8 – 12 leaves from each head of cabbage, chop remaining cabbage and place in two baking dishes (or a large dutch oven), sprinkle with salt
  4. Boil cabbage leaves until limp, about 5 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water
  5. Cut about 2 inches of the heavy center vein from the leaves
  6. Cook bacon with 1/2 c. onion till bacon is crisp
  7. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, and bay leaf, simmer, covered, while preparing the rest of the dish, remove bay leaves before adding to dish
  8. Combine cooked rice, egg, ground beef, the remaining 1/2 c. onion, 1 t. salt, and pepper; mix well
  9. Place about 1/4 c. rice mixture in center of each cabbage leaf; fold in sides and roll ends over rice
  10. Place rolls, seam side down, on top of chopped cabbage
  11. Pour tomato mixture over cabbage rolls
  12. Cover; bake at 350 degrees from 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours
  13. Freezes well