Polish Christmas table

Thought I'd start in time for celebrations

I've seen a few posts that mention what people have at Christmas and it always gives me fond memories of Christmas Eve. However, we didn't have fish as a lot of people said but we did have 12 dishes/varieties of food (all very yummy). It was mainly plates of different meat and hot dishes and all the different breads.

I can't remember having things for a sweet, which is surprising considering Polish have a sweet tooth.

I do remember it taking all day to prepare and had to be done before night fall - my aunt used to flap if they got behind - i learnt a few words i wasn't meant to (lol).

What do others do at Christmas. I get the best of both - still have a nice meal on Christmas Eve and Christmas day.

I would love to know how its still celebrated.

Less than more Polish familes have actually 12 dishes on Christmas table.

I remeber the tree going up on Christmas eve - never allowed before that. The meal was like yours.

I've discovered that the dishes served on Christmas Eve vary in different regions - my family is from Lwow and we have red barszcz with uska, pierogi, fried and jellied fish and then compote and cakes. Mum hates kutia so I've never tried it but that should be there too apparently! My godmother is from Warszawa and she has zurek instead of barszcz and I don't think they have pierogi either.

Anyway, what they all have in common is that they don't contain any meat.

the best dish on christmas is karp

gross. :(

kluski z makiem are the best. :D

dont take the ****.

karp, uszka w barszczu, sos grzybowy z roladą...
mmmmmmmmm :]

I heard a story about one of my father's old colleagues.

He was the son of Polish immigrants. He had known nothing of his family in Poland until he was approaching middle age. He was spending his first Christmas with his new found family in Poland and thoroughly enjoying himself, until they told him...

It was his job to kill the carp.

dont get it? whats so hard about it? I execute about 4 of those delicious fish every xmas :P

We don't kill carp here. We are delicate people.
I've eviscerated my fair share of fish, but aren't carp really cute?
In any case, they are not said to be the tastiest of fish. (Blasphemy?)

I heard a lot of it comming for british. It might have something to do with tastes and different cousine.

But to be perfectly blunt with you, when it comes to foods and cousine I wouldnt be realy listening to what english say :P

Polish food is great.
You listening, Ronek?

I nearly forgot to add.
I love to sit on the second or third day of xmas over a delicious karp, with plate full of uszka and a pint of bear xD


I am donkey but you dont seem to be listening me as well xD

I just happend to met a lot of english students in my lifetime who came here on an exchange and got to hear all sort of different comments on our food.

I do know one thing for a fact:]
brits may puke after trying flaczki.

I am reading your words and almost nodding (as donkeys do).
I don't listen to what many of my fellow English have to say about food either.


Probably. My grandfather used to eat some weird stuff that no-one here would touch nowadays.
I'm one of the few who's willing to try almost anything - it doesn't mean I'd neccesarily enjoy it though.

About the CARP: my young colleague / flatmate says he'll only eat a little bit of the fish, just to be polite. Youngsters, eh?

I myself love all sorts of fish so when xmas come, I eat carp in excess.
Although I think what the problem might be, It's a bit like with lamb...
you need to know which carp is proper to prepare and how to do it so it tastes great cuz if made by a bad cook it can taste like gum.

carp is awful, in my opinion.... it is so sticky and tasteless. there are many more kinds tasty fish like salmon etc but it is a tradition so you have to eat it every year... my favourite dishes on xmas are uszka and pierogi z kapustą i grzybami.

i wouldnt recommend kompot either:)

carp is crappy no matter how you cook it.. i never could stand it.. besides it is full of mercury as all bottom feeders are.

now, flaki are delish. :D


what's wrong with compote?

also I expect the rivers in Poland are less polluted than the ones in the UK. I presume Carp is fished from a river ?

I love sea bass.......its my all time favourite fish atm :)

well. traditional christams kompot is made from dried fruit and it tastes very bad...
flaki are not a christmas dish!
and carp is fished from a lake/pond but nowadays rather froma a fishfarm or something like that:)

mostly from lakes and ponds.

which part of Lwow ? My family also is from there ... a place called Zloczow; we have the following ... barscz with uszka, two types of pierogi one with sourkraut the other with potato/cheese (Ruskie), variety of fish usually carp in jelly, pike in jelly herring etc

i think what is served on Christmas Eve depends on which part of Poland one is from ... eg. my wife is from Wroclaw and they also have mushroom soup.


only recently has the ban on meat been lifted for Wigilia (Xmas Eve), but we still maintain the meat free meal.

Now this is the most delicious mushroom soup I ever made:

Mushroom Soup

2 T Butter
2 Cups chopped onions
Light Salt

Melt butter in soup pan with salt and sauté onions until transluscent.

Add: 12 oz. sliced mushrooms
½ cup chicken stock
1 T. soy sauce
1 t. dill weed
1 T. paprika

Toss together and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until
the mushrooms have cooked well. Turn off heat.

Sauce to thicken:

2 T. butter
3 T. flour
1 Cup HOT milk

In another pan melt butter, add flour and stir about 2-3 minutes…..don’t burn. Add hot milk slowly and keep stirring to avoid lumps. Cook until thickened.

Add the sauce to the mushroom mixture and stir in.

Then add 1-1/2 cups of HOT chicken stock. Remove from heat and reheat when ready to eat.

Just before serving add: 2 t. lemon juice
¼ cup fresh parsley
½ cup sour cream

Don’t boil after adding the sour cream or the soup might curdle.

Christmas Eve is a beautiful tradition. It is a lot of work to prepare all the special dishes. That's why a lot of polish restaurants in Chicago offer the whole set of Wigilia dishes as a take out order. You may order it for 10 people or 20, even for two, whatever. It is very good too.

I've been to Wigilia like this and I did not know that that's what the hostess did! (until later) :)

I made the mushroom soup - Delicious.

that's right


I would. we drink it only once a year, it's different but quite tasty, I really like it although I couldn't drink it in the summer:D. maybe you have to be used to that taste, a bit specific indeed

If she is from Wrocław than there is a very high possibility that her parents were also from the parts of todays Ukraine or Belarus. Maybe Lvov area? :)


But I heard that they also have tripe’s in their cuisine? Hmm.. Either way, when it comes to British cuisine, it still remains a mystery for me. While in the Uk I watched one of those British "100 best whatever" program concerning British cuisine and the top 3 where full English breakfast, curry and.... beans on toast!(why make beans on toast a separate dish - you already have those in full English breakfast?) I think that most Polish people know a little to nothing about British food. I really would try it! if only I knew what is worth trying!