This week we studied Poland. Having a brother-in law that is half Polish and an almost-sister-in-law that is also half Polish was just about the extent of my knowledge for all things Poland. I am not familiar with cooking Eastern European food at all so I was excited to get my feet wet and dive head first into Poland. Did you know that almost 6 million Americans claim Polish heritage? Poles are part of the large Slavic group that has been in Europe since the sixth century, although they have endured a constant struggle to maintain its existence as a nation.
The origin of the Polish people is interesting. Apparently, the term "Slav" refers to the group of people using related languages. The word "Pole" derives from the local word for "field" as much of Poland lies on the Great Plain of Northern Europe and there are no major natural barriers to the East and West. The Polish-speaking Roman Catholic majority in the nation we now know as Poland originated with a tribe of western Slavs whose king converted to Christianity in 966. Historians regard the golden age of Poland as the 16th century where the Polish Empire stretched from The Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
Arts and sciences flourished and a political union with Lithuania lasted for years. The 17th century -19th century meant a lot of foreign nations grabbing their share of Poland, Prussia to the west, Russia to the East, and Austria to the South. Then came Hitler in 1939, and Poland fell prey as one of his first victims. Hitler's troops retreaded in 1945 and Poland then fell under Soviet control. As the Nazis left, Hitler gave orders to destroy Warsaw, 90% of the city was left in ruins. 800,000 Poles died there, 200,000 of them during a 9 week uprising against occupying troops in 1945.
Polish legend believes that they actually came to America before most other immigrants. The Poles claim that a Polish Sailor, Jan Komar, acting as the captain of a Danish ship, reached Canada 16 years before Columbus arrived in the New World. There is evidence pointing toward Poles in Jamestown as early as 1608. They were the artisans in the community and staged the first labor strike in America when the English would not let them vote on Jamestown's Laws. There are many Poles who have contributed greatly to society: Marie Curie, Frederick Chopin, Copernicus, Leopold Stokowski, and Artur Rodzinski to name a few.
The food of Poland seems to include and abundance of foods that can be grown in a climate that is very often cold and damp-Cabbage, Beets, Eggs, Potatoes, Pork, Apple, Rye, Wheat, and Barley. This week we cooked a little bit of each of these. We started with a delicious slow cooked Polish Kielbasa simmered for hours with Beer, Brown Sugar, Bacon, Sauerkraut, Apples, and Caraway seeds. Oh my goodness, the aroma of my house after hours of these delicious flavors coming together was magnificent! Next we prepared traditional Polish Perogies with potatoes and cheese filling sautéed in butter and topped with chives. The kids gobbled them up in no time! Lastly we served this with a hearty Pumpernickel rye bread lathered with fresh butter, hmmmm delicious! The star of the show was definitely the Kielbasa and Sauerkraut. We were lucky enough to find traditional family made Polish Kielbasa from a local butcher here in Texas. So much better than the mass produced stuff! We had a few friends over(some Polish) and everyone enjoyed themselves. I was pleased to hear from our dear friends who are Polish that the dishes were spot on in authenticity and taste. We will definitely keep these recipes for future dishes, we thoroughly enjoyed our culinary trip to Poland!
Here are the links to the recipes we used this week:
Portugal is my favorite country in the world. I love the food, the people and the small fishing villages like Nazare.
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