Some Traditional Krakow Dishes - Recipes
It
would be a pity not to try the local cuisine when in
Krakow,
Poland's capital of fine food.
And back home you may do some Krakow cooking yourself.
Please see below to find
fairly easy recipes for traditional Krakow dishes.
Christmas Eve Borsch
To get sour beet juice peel and cut into thin slices 3 lbs.
or so of red beets, put into a glass jar, fill it with
lukewarm water, and top with a slice of whole-wheat bread to
hasten the process. Cover the container with gauze and keep
in warm for 4-5 days. After removing carefully the surface
froth pour the clear ruby-red juice into bottles and cork
(it can be stored in cold for months). Cook celery and
parsley root, carrots, leeks, one onion and 4 peeled and
thinly sliced red beets with 10 grains of black pepper, 2
grains of allspice and a little bay leaf. Cook 2-3 oz. of
dried boletus mushrooms with two cups of water in the second
pot. Sieve both the vegetable and the mushroom broth and
blend them together. Add the soured beet juice–3 pint for
every 21 pint of broth, and heat the borsch to the boiling
point. Its color should be rich red, so add fresh beet juice
if necessary. Spice up the borsch to your taste. If too sour
add a bit sugar. Add some dry red wine or lemon juice to
make it more sour, but no vinegar please. Add crushed garlic
clove some 15 minutes before serving. Polish ‘Uszka’ ravioli
with mushroom filling traditionally accompany the Christmas
Eve borsch.
“Krupnik”
barley soup Cut 1lb of beef into small pieces and add
1lb of beef bones. Put into a pot and fill it with 3 and half
pints of water. Cook over low heat for an hour and add assorted
vegetables–carrots, parsley, celery root, leek and one
onion–plus 4 small dried mushrooms (all the stuff cut into
stripes). Carry on with stewing till the meat is tender. Sieve
the broth. Salt 3/4 pint of the broth and cook with 4-6
oz. of pearl barley. Add a tablespoon of butter into cooked
barley and mix with a wooden spoon till it turns white. Pour in
the remaining broth and add 3 potatoes diced into cubes. Stew
for 15-20 minutes. Add the diced meat, mushrooms and vegetables.
Salt to taste. Sprinkle with chopped parsley before serving. You
can use pork instead of beef or replace it with 1/2 lb.
of lean smoked bacon.
Carp in gray sauce. Another Polish Christmas Eve’s
must-eat. You need a living carp of roughly 2 lbs. Kill the
fish and bleed it into a cup with juice of half lemon. Cut
the cleaned carp crosswise into portions. Salt them and
leave in a cool place for 20 minutes. Next, cook the fish in
a flat saucepan covered with 3/4 pint of the stock made of a
sliced celery root and a chopped large onion with a glass of
dry red wine, a piece of thinly peeled lemon rind, several
grains of pepper, 1/3 teaspoon of ground ginger and juice of
1/2 lemon. Lay the cooked fish on a heated platter and keep
warm. Force the stock through a fine metal sieve. Add the
carp blood, a cup of dark beer, 2 teaspoons of sugar, a
tablespoon of butter, 2 oz. ground honey gingerbread, 2 oz.
chopped blanched almonds, 2 oz. raisins, a tablespoon of
butter and pinch of salt. Simmer the sauce over low heat for
10-15 minutes and pour it hot over the fish.
Krakow duck with mushrooms. Cook 2 oz. dried mushrooms in 3
pint of water over low heat in a covered pot until tender. Fine
lean duck, salted, fry in a pan with some butter (or oil or
lard) over high heat till it browns nicely. Next stew covered
over low heat pouring a part of mushroom broth over the duck at
times. When tender take the fowl out, let it cool, and divide
into 4-6 portions. Mix 1 pint sour cream with 11 teaspoon
of flour and add the sauce left in the pan together with finely
chopped boiled mushrooms. Put the sauce over the duck portions
in a pan over low heat and stew 10 minutes. Serve with barley or
rice.
You can also make young goose the same way.
Zrazy collops with mushrooms and cream Cook 2 oz. dried
mushrooms in a pint of water over low heat in a covered pot
until tender. Cut small slices of sirloin or other fine beef
against the grain, batter, and sprinkle with pepper. Fry meat
for a while on butter. Cut the cooked mushrooms into strips. Put
the meat in a saucepan (preferably heatproof casserole) in one
layer, cover with the mushrooms, and pour over the salted
mushroom broth. Stew over low heat for 20 minutes (make sure the
lid fits well). Add 2 lbs. of potatoes cut into thick slices,
shake the saucepan slightly, and leave to cooking over low heat.
Mix 1 pint of sour cream with 11 teaspoon of wheat flour and
pour over the potatoes just before they get tender. Stew covered
for another 15 minutes over very low heat. Serve right away in
the saucepan.
"Golabki"
stuffed cabbage leafs (rice with mushrooms).
Cut the entire cabbage stump out and remove four outer leaves.
Put the rest of the head of cabbage in a pot with boiling water
and cook 15-20 minutes. When it cools to warm, divide into
single leaves and pound their midribs and veins gently. Cook
8-10 oz. rice salted till near-tender, rinse with cold water and
drain on a sieve. Boil 2
oz.
dried wild mushrooms, keep
the stock and chop cooked mushrooms finely. Chop 2 medium onions
fine and brown them lightly in 2 oz. butter. Blend rice,
mushrooms, and onion. Salt and pepper to taste. Put a good deal
of the stuffing on every cabbage leaf, wrap its edges over the
filling, and roll each
golabek
up tightly. Arrange all your golabki
tightly in a stoneware or thick enameled pot. Pour salted
mushroom stock over them adding just enough boiling water to
have golabki submerged, cover with a lid and put in a heated
oven for 15 minutes.
|
It is hearty indeed.
Krakow Restaurants
Krakow is Poland’s Mecca of gourmets thanks to its
many excellent restaurants.
The best of both worlds.
Food festivals
in Krakow
Krakow Foodstuffs
Shopping in Krakow
Everybody’s thirst be to
satisfied.
|
