Expats' Polish food favourites

What can I say - we just live in different worlds : the SMALL difference is that I CAN COOK AND YOU OR YOUR WIFE CAN`T , SORRY THAT YOU MAY MISS SO MANY THINGS IN LIFE .

She most definitely can cook as she learned from her mother, an expert. It doesn't change the fact that she believes almost all the foods are foreign. So I ask again, what's Polish? You were saying sth about game birds, Monia?

Yeah, I'm game for a good night, bird :) Game birds? The ones in Scotland are good but they are in many countries. God didn't earmark them for Poland so what is Polish?

Seanus, there is a lot you can do with a game bird, its all about the stuffing, that's the touch, to make you come back, time and time again. I do find , game birds in PL, less palatable, its all about the breeding, I find the Polish, game birds a little over cooked and covered in too much oil.

Winiary of Kalisz? I read it as "Wien-ary" at first and could not guess what it was :) I cannot develop taste for Winiary recipes and I prefer Knorr packet soups and Maggi soup condiment sauce. "Your mileage may vary", though.

Any preferences as to spice manufacturers, people? I choose Kamis because of local patriotism. The Kamis facilities are located in the "Bermuda triangle" south of Warsaw, just couple kilometers away from my place.

There is no "Polish food", Seanus. Any type of food in Poland was either imported to Poland or is "foreign and made in Poland for the Polish market" :-D. Vegetables?! Italian or American!

Sorry but you left no leeway ;-)

Pataks.

(You can take the boy out of London, but you can't take London out of the boy)

Other than that, fresh local koperek, frozen just won't do any more. Makes regular soup or potatoes into the ambrosia of gods.

Blair's, very very much Blair's.

Much prefer, my " game bird " cooked to perfection and soaked in red wine. On the other hand when it comes to wild game, the type you would normally find in the UK, as they are a bit more meaty, my liquid of choice, would be real ale.

teflcat wrote:


they "survive" by not spending the entire night outside in the cold, rather, they go to their warm, insulated, heated homes.

there is no correlation between salty, fatty and fried Polish food and "survival".

eat enough food, wear a jacket and boots with a hat, you won't "die" when you walk outside in Poland.

How many heavy Polish winters have you already survived yourself, Fuzzy? Meaning, with sustaining temperatures below -10 C?

If half of this year's winter counts.....five.

Oh, and aside from having to walk on avg. 2 hours a day to my classes, I run 4-5 days per week, regardless of weather/temperature/season.

How about :

1 pancakes stuffed with (ground cooked meat mixed with eggs and onion and bun ) filling tossed in bread crumbs and fried until crispy crunch - polish name is known as krokiety ,

2 also pancakes with ground walnut filing mixed with raisins and fried shredded apple pulp , fried in butter until golden brown and served with whipped cream and hot chocolate

3 leniwe pierogi , pyzy , kluski śląskie , ziemniaki puree with lots of butter and sour cream with fresh dill leafs ( koperek)

4 pierogi with wild mushrooms

5 sourkraut soup with sour cream version
6 potato dumplings fried ( placki ziemniacznae

These are simple dishes but I like them , I am not a meat lover myself .Does anyone like those kinds of food ?

Seanus Maybe there are other regions that people make them but it is called here in Poland as polish food among thousands of other dishes . The fact that Celts, Chinese , Native American were doing some food , centuries ago doesn`t mean these dishes are called Polish as the tradition of making them was started few centuries ago .

It is a free country and nobody will hang you for that. You eat what you want, I'll eat what I want and will not have crap talking about unhealthiness of food that helped Poles live together for more than 1000 years. Promote Mr. Hunger elsewhere.

Monia! You've made me hungry! And I hope Sean was just winding you up ;-)

I am too , I wish I could eat these dishes everyday , but unfortunately I have to count calories , oh boy , thats unfair , for some they don`t have to .

She takes the bait so well ;)

Yeah, croquettes are quite good (krokiety). Btw, I just want to point out that naleśniki are crepes and not pancakes. Placki?? Translated as pancakes but they are not pancakes as we know them. Maybe fried pancakes?

Don't even mention that crap ;-)

Antek_Stalich wrote:


my point exactly.

moving on.....

Still after living in Poland all these years, a few things baffle me:
- Galaretka z octem
- Sałatka z śmietanem (who combines sour cream and salad ????
- Karp (dreadful,and why they cannot let these fish live ?)

yes, yes and yes.

galaretka asolutely amazes me. when i see it on the table, i keep thinking it's going to start sliding off the plate all on it's own and run out the door.

polish salad simply isn't salad. it's the equivalent of taco salad. combining a few random things into a vat of mayo does not constitute salad.

karp is a poor man's fish. in Poland, i can eat it once a year if it's fried the right way (want something to taste better, bread it and fry it!) along with good bread and vodka (because when you're drunk, everything tastes better). otherwise, i wouldn't dream of eating that fish.

Sałata ze śmietaną (lettuce salad with sour cream). For example, the Scandinavian make sweet herring and eat marmalade on cheese on toasts, Norwegian pickle they fish in potassium lye, and Swedish allow their fish rot, then eat it. I do not think lettuce with sour cream is that bad. For me, it is delicious!

Nóżki w galarecie w occie (pork leg meat in jelly with vinegar). Would you expect eating pork with sugar? What about British (also Irish) chips with vinegar? THAT sucks! ;-)

Carp. Every fish to be eaten is killed some time, but carp itself is good and delicate.

Ah, now I just have to object. Malt vinegar and salt on chips, with a piece of breaded, deep-fried cod is my idea of heaven. Antek, be aware that we use brow malt vinegar for this. It's not easy to get in Poland, in fact I've only seen it during Lidl's British weeks.

I meant crepes :)


It is different than fruit jelly , this kind of jelly is made when you cook meat .

I must tell you something teflcat and do not take this personally because I generally am an anglophile and am even forcing myself to eat Marmite and Bovril ;-) So:

It is unbelievable experience to see a Brit eating that overcooked fish, one dripping with oil, with overcooked chips dripping with oil and with the stench of malt vinegar, and after having eaten that, hear him saying: "Delicious fish, isn't it?" ;-)

I know, every nation has its specialties :).
There is a French expression (and Belgian cuisine is related to French). The Brits murder their food twice. Once when they slaughter it and second time when they cook it :))))

By the way "French" fries are a Belgian institution (and no the flimsy McDo alternative).

I think the word for savory jelly is aspic.

Sobieski, what about fresh cucumber salad with sour cream and dill? My Polish favourite.

Now I know the problem. You've been to bad fish 'n' chip shops (chippies). On a recent visit to the UK I had the most sublime cod and chips in Cornwall. The fish had been locally caught that day and was covered with a light, eggy batter (some add beer). The chips were crisp and light brown, and everything had been cooked in good, fresh oil. If you go to one of the famous Harry Ramsden chippies, you can even try the (rare now) lard fried variety. I just wish I could take you right now to "Codfathers", the chippie in Saltash, Cornwall. Next time you are in the UK, ask people where the good chippies are.

that's mizeria

Crass generalization. British food is excellent. Next time you go, try decent restaurants or get yourself invited to civilized people's homes for dinner. Go to "Rules" restaurant in Covent Garden, London and then tell me the English murder their food twice. Sorry to sound so aggressive but you touched a raw nerve.

Teflcat; When our family was just doing tourism, we always asked locals for some good place to eat, and I can tell you we love British fish & chips served for example in free-houses. Especially as you do not need to use vinegar if you do not need it. The story I told you above was a group of Englishmen having their lunch with me at a company's premises, with the food certainly brought from a booth. Still, the exclamation "Delicious fish, isn't it!" after eating that crap by the group was amusing to me ;-)


I was interested what sobieski would say about that one.

Yeah, mizeria is very good indeed. Knorr make a good sauce for it. I try to go easy on the mayo but it does give it the taste it needs :)