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Polish
Cuisine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_cuisine
Polish Cuisine (Polish:
kuchnia polska) is a mixture of Slavic culinary traditions.
It is rich in meat, especially chicken and pork, and winter
vegetables (cabbage in the dish bigos), and spices, as well
as different kinds of noodles the most notable of which are
the pierogi. It is related to other Slavic cuisines in usage
of kasza and other cereals. Generally speaking, Polish cuisine
is substantial. The traditional cuisine generally is demanding
and Poles allow themselves a generous amount of time to prepare
and enjoy their festive meals, with some meals (like Christmas
eve or Easter Breakfast) taking a number of days to prepare
in their entirety.
Traditionally, the main meal is eaten at
about 2pm and is usually composed of three courses, starting
with a soup, such as popular bouillon or tomato or more festive
barszcz (beet) or zurek (sour rye meal mash), followed perhaps
in a restaurant by an appetizer of herring (prepared in either
cream, oil, or vinegar). Other popular appetizers are various
cured meats, vegetables or fish in aspic. The main course is
usually meaty including a roast or kotlet schabowy (breaded
pork cutlet). Vegetables, currently replaced by leaf salad,
were not very long ago most commonly served as 'surowka' - shredded
root vegetabes with lemon and sugar (carrot, celeriac, beetroot)
or fermented cabbage (kapusta kwaszona). The sides are usually
boiled potaotes or more tradishionally kasha (cereals). Meals
often conclude with a dessert such as makowiec (poppy seed cake),
or drozdzówka, a type of yeast cake. Other Polish specialities
include chlodnik (a chilled beet or fruit soup for hot days),
golonka (pork knuckles cooked with vegetables), kolduny (meat
dumplings), zrazy (stuffed slices of beef), salceson and flaczki
(tripe).
History
Middle Ages
During the Late Middle Ages the cuisine of Poland was very heavy
and spicy. Two main ingredients were meat (both game and beef)
and cereal. As the territory of Poland was densely forested,
use of mushrooms, forest fruits, nuts and honey was also widespread.
Thanks to close trade relations with Asia, the price of spices
(such as juniper, pepper and nutmeg) was much lower than in
the rest of Europe, and spicy sauces became popular. The usage
of two basic sauces (the jucha czerwona and jucha szara, or
red and white blood in contemporary Polish) remained widespread
at least until 18th century.
The most popular beverages were beer, including
the very lightly-fermented barley-water, podpiwek, and mead
-- however in the 16th century the upper classes started importing
Hungarian wines. After distilled spirits became common in Europe,
vodka became popular, especially among the lower classes.
There is only circumstantial evidence of
vodka's originating in Poland. The development of the distillation
process in France during the 14th century means that the expertise
would most likely have to pass through Germany to reach Poland.
However, the first known recorded use of the word 'vodka' comes
from a Polish document from 1405.
Renaissance
With the ascension of the Italian queen Bona Sforza, the second
wife of Sigismund I of Poland, in 1518, countless cooks were
brought to Poland from Italy and France. Although native vegetable
foods were an ancient and intrinsic part of the cuisine, this
began a period in which vegetables such as lettuce, leek, celeriac
and cabbage were more widely used. Even today, such vegetables
as leeks, carrots and celery are known in Polish as wloszczyzna,
which refers to Wlochy, the Polish name of Italy.
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