Help with Polish recipe - Żurek soup?

All 4 of my grandparents came to the US from Poland. Both of my parents spoke Polish, especially when they didn't want us kids to understand what they were saying. Consequently we learned little Polish - just a few niceties, and some not so nice words.

Anyway, at Easter-time my mother would make this cheese from dry curd cottage cheese. She would place it in cheesecloth and then press it between two heavy rocks for a day or so. It was a tart, crumbly cheese that we would put in our soup with broth made from cream and the kielbasa water. We'd also add kielbasa, hard boiled eggs, horseradish, and pieces of rye bread. If I recall correctly she called it "siteh", or something like that.

My mother has been gone for several years now, and sadly this recipe died with her. As I've gotten older I've become nostalgic for some of the foods from my childhood, and this is one of them.

Does anyone know what this cheese is called and how to make it?

P.S. Sorry for writing such a long post.

The soup sounds like Żurek, Polish sour rye soup, which is made from fermented rye flour and is traditionally served at Easter.

everydayhealthyrecipes.com/polish-zurek-rye-soup-recipe/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_cereal_soup



In Poland this is called Twaróg ( Polish farmer's cheese )

It sounds like your mother was trying to extract any remaining liquid in the cheese by pressing it. Maybe someone else here can help as I've not heard of this method before.

Yup.

We don't put cheese into żurek in my family, but żurek recipes vary a bit depending on the region of Poland. The one your mother made sounds like żurek benedyktyński (the Benedictine sour rye soup).


In Polish it's called "ser biały" (white cheese) or "twaróg".


polonist.com/farmers-cheese-twarog/

Yes, the remaining liquid is called "serwatka" in Polish (in English it's called "whey"). My grandma would hang the cheese in the cheesecloth tied to a knob of a kitchen cupboard and let the liquid drip (it takes a while). It would have such shape:

• 
  serwatka.jpg
  

Btw, as it is mentioned on the site I linked to - you can use twaróg for other Polish traditional food, like pierogi, naleśniki and sernik (cheesecake) :) ❤️


That was of course addressed to mbadach, but it looks like a moderator cut out the quote from my post.

And this was in response to Feniks, who wrote: "It sounds like your mother was trying to extract any remaining liquid in the cheese by pressing it." Sorry, the moderator messed up my post and it can be confusing now :(

All my favourite Polish foods :)


I'm not sure what's going on either. The thread title has been changed to include the words ' Żurek soup', so it now looks like I was suggesting a type of soup that the OP already knew about. There's also a quote in my post that I didn't make.

On other threads I've had quotes removed with the end result that what I was saying no longer made sense.


Interesting. I bet not many people do that anymore.

People did it in the past when such cheese was hard to get in shops or it was awful so people prefered to make their own one. I remember one occassion in 1970s - our mum made such cheese and it was very easy - put sour milk in a cloth and hang it over a container to collect the dripping whey. I wonder if she was so needy for cheese or she tried to make an experiment with the milk we got from our family in the countryside.

@Feniks
Thanks for the recipe links!

The closest equivalent in Germany would probably be Graupensuppe.
Wouldn't you agree, Alien?

"Graupensuppe" is called krupnik in Polish. Is that what you meant?

Must be. I've had krupnik and it's delicious!

I was going to say I looked up pictures of 'Graupensuppe' and thought it looks much closer to krupnik than to żurek.... thought it had too many other ingredients. The best krupnik is made with just a few.

In parts of Southern Germany, they have "Wuerstchensuppe" or "sausage soup",
variously called. Perhaps this is what Poles know as "zurek".

I have never seen a soup similar to żurek in Germany.

No.The distinctive feature of żurek is the use of liquid from fermented grains (żurek is usually made from fermented rye flour known as żur). Bottles are sold in stores. You pour the clear liquid at the top into the soup (and then you can fill the bottle with water and in a few days have more żur). the idea of serving it in a bowl made of bread is more of an affectation than something people do on a regular basis. it's more common in restaurants than in homes.

AFAICT from the wikipedia article it (and/or similar soups from fermented flours) only occurs East of Germany

If you use wheat instead of rye you have 'barszcz biały' (white borsht) which is associated with Easter in many parts of Poland.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_cereal_soup

bottle of żurek.

• 
  4.4ZurekSlaski470.jpg
  

Thanks Maf, Alien!

@Lyzko
Enjoy your meal.

And it's really easy to make at home too. Just put rye flour in an empty jam jar, add a bit of tepid water to make a paste, screw on the lid and leave it for a few days. Same for the barszcz biały of course but with wheat flour. You can put a squashed clove of garlic in it too.

Can you imagine I never remember those differences which flour makes which soup? So complicated...... I must be getting old like Novi...:(:(:(:(

You should. I used to make the starter for żurek myself, now I buy it.

The tetrapak Żurek from Hortex is pretty good if you dilute it down.

Not very Polish, but sometimes I make żurek with mushrooms (pieczarki not grzyby). They're a good match.

I've never seen it but apparently the white version used to be a staple of Romanian cooking and old ladies made it at home and then sold it to neighbors or passers by.

I remember after Poland joined the EU it seemed to disappear from vegetable stands (it wasn't displayed but if you asked for it they'd reach under the counter).

Now it's mostly commercial brands.

I've had it in bary mleczne a few times. Nothing special.

I mean the home version sold in bottles... not the final product.

Looking it up on google it looks like the Romanian equivalent is just the juice (and apparently some people drink it)

• 
  Borș
  

There's something in Scotland called "brose" which is a bit similar. They drink it for health there however you can add whisky and also use it to make a desert with cream and oatmeal.