What Polish foods and brands do you miss when you go to other countries?

It use it in Italian tomato sauces. Its used in Heinz Tomato ketchup

It means that is was used in traditional English cuisine but today people seldom cook it so allspice is sort of forgotten in GB. Right?

I use allspice all the time when I cook.
One of the main spices that Jamaicans use too..
I have never had a problem fining it as it is popular in several stores.
How can you cook without allspice and garlic ?

Allspice is used all the time in UK cuisine but traditionally mostly for baking cakes. Recently I have discovered the joys of a a large spoon of freshly ground allspice added to a slow cooked lamb

Baking cakes ?
Allspice is another name for Jamaican pepper.

I know what allspice is JR thanks. Yes it goes into some cakes.

By that logic, people would have forgotten about cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg etc. Allspice is freely available in its ground form because as Roz says it's traditionally used in cakes, particularly fruit cakes. When I was a kid my mother used to make something called a spice cake which was a dark fruit cake, very low on fruit but heavy on the spices. Really yummy :)) It could be eaten on the day it's made, whilst most British fruit cakes are best left for a couple of days for the flavours to develop. There is a commercially made ground spice mix called 'mixed spice' which is the standard addition to many a British cake recipe and which often contains allspice as one of the ingredients.

Yes thank you Atch fellow cake maker. I always buy it whole and crush it up in a little pestle and mortar. The terpenes smell amazing....

Obviously this spice is not 'forgotten in the uk'. You can buy it in every high street supermarket.

And obviously people in the UK cook.....what a ridiculous statement from pawian. It's true that many people like their 'ready meals' but most of us do cook....without a fistful of salt or weird yellow msg mix thrown liberally into everything too!!! Amazing!

Boy, do they cook! One of my favorite cooking channels is from the UK

youtube.com/channel/UCeKWgImK1RAD9IGjWZqxmIw

Her calzone recipe is especially... just watch it....

Oh that's nice to hear maf....one of my favourite cooking shows is USA 'pioneer woman' where Ree cooks for the 'raaaanch'. My son and I got rather fond of Ree....

obviously you haven't checked this out yet.... youtube.com/watch?v=E304iun-uSk

But still she's very likeable as she.... does whatever it is she's doing....

My favorite (serious) cooking channel is of course Pasta Grannies (middle aged to elderly women from all over Italy making traditional/regional dishes at home)

youtube.com/user/pastagrannies

And I still have a soft spot for the late, great Auntie Fee

youtube.com/user/auntyfee (nb, the audio is NSFW)

Face it guys, Martha Stewart (Martha Helen Kostyra) has the best recipes for Polish foods.
She has Polish ethnicity.
She has endless top of the line Polish recipes available on the internet free just for you to google.
Martha Stewarts Polish Recipes
I think this is where pawian gets some of his recipes.

Wow, like bigos in Poland! Also best when heated several times.


Another wow. Yes, you can buy everything in GB.


You read too fast, I am afraid. Did you recently graduate from a fast reading course? hahahaha . Go back and read my message again - as an intelligent woman, you will certainly find out what I wanted to say about traditional English cuisine. hahahaha


My words exactly. Is calzone a traditional English dish?? hahahaha

'An intelligent woman' oh thanks so much that does put my mind at rest.

Did you watch it? totally worthwhile, it will change how you view food.... maybe forever.

Here she takes on a couple of more traditionally British dishes.... youtube.com/watch?v=4X76xegwzbc

No I don`t watch cookery programmes because I instantly get hungry and have to have a snack which leads to obesity and other problems. The only exception is KochamGotować and my fav video is Worst English Food and Durian Consumption.

Believe me, that won't be a problem with Kay's cooking.... quite the opposite.

Quite the opposite?? I won`t be hungry? Then the programme is worthless.

Trust me.... it's worth it.....

Here too. Flying Tiger sell a good version.


Essential for some things. Has a nice effect on flavour/colour if you put a few into a bottle of vodka or gin.


It's certainly becoming one. Fits nicely into the repertoire of UK cuisine because we have a long tradition of pies.

Then, please watch this....

youtube.com/watch?v=E304iun-uSk

A truly...... i don't know what to say..... you just have to see it for yourself...

I thought it was a spoof at first. The Sheffield accent (almost the same as mine before I escaped) makes it funnier. South Yorkshire has never been a culinary gem. That's why we were all so overjoyed when kebab shops appeared in the mid/late 80s.

Lancashire butter pies from the wrong side of the pennines are an oddity; they do go down well in Poland though.

I miss kotlet schabowy, bigos, kielbasa and the various Polish candies often with a boy's name like Adamek. The kotlet, bigos, kielbasa, etc. can all be found in the major cities where there's Polish people - NYC, Chicago, Newark, etc., but the taste just isnt' the same as in Poland. Especially the kotlety - they're usually beaten to be super flat with some breading added. Here they don't beat them down as much so they're thicker - kind of like a burger and they use way more breading that necessary.

Very true,I always wondered why it tastes so different and chewy even in Polish restaurants.

Thanks...I like to think of myself as 'polyglot'....lol.

Hmmm Polish foods I would miss....I used to go into our excellent Polish shop at the bus station just to get their bread. .... the shop is tiny but has an incredible selection of stuff.

I used to get 'silesian style' and the shop assistant was so impressed with my slavish devotion to her shop and the fact I could say 'dziekuje' that she put my name on the list of very special people that would have a loaf put by for them...

However during lockdown I discovered how to make my own sourdough....so no more Polski Sklep for me.

I do love a good Polish shop.....

Hmm, I heard about people baking their own bread but I thought it is never as good as the one from professionals. What is the truth?

Probably I wouldn`t miss too many things coz most of my fav Polish dishes like pierogis or red beetroot fermented juice can be made with local ingredients. I am not sure about flaki - tripes. Can you buy at least raw tripes in the UK or US?

One thing is out of reach most possibly - carp. I prefer to eat sea fish but carp once or twice a year is OK. Judging from foreigners` contemptuous remarks about it, British or Am shops don`t sell it.

I remember trying to do some Polish dishes for a friend in the US and.... not the same. the little differences in local ingredients add up to major differences in the final product....

For carp, try Asian stores (best carp I've had was at a Vietnamese Tet celebration in Poland).

Aaah, that tiny Koi carp???


No, come on. Pierogis in Polish bars in Chicago are different than native ones??? Impossible.

Not quite....




The flour is different from that in Poland, the ingredients are all a little different... I don't think they'll be quite same as in Poland. It'll be close enough for most but not quite the same...