The lasting influence of traditional taste on Polish-Jewish cuisine
PSS Społem Bakery tries to break the Guinness World Record for bread baking with an 11.94-meter-long "chałka" (bread, buns - Polish)
The Taste of Tradition:The Lasting Influence of Jewish Cuisine in Poland
A taste of tradition: the lasting influence of Polish-Jewish cuisine
The cuisine of Ashkenazi Jews living in Central and Eastern Europe before 1939 draws inspiration from various culinary traditions ---- just like the cuisine of other Jewish peoples...
If local dishes conform to kosher principles, then they adapt to the form of kosher cuisine. That is why, "in each particular country, Jews absorb a variety of local dishes while giving them a special character." In addition to this, they used rich scents and spices ---- relics of the East, as well as many onions in rather unexpected combinations, as a pre-war journalist wrote in the illustrated women's weekly Bluszcz (Ivy).
After reading Rebeka Wolff's 19th-century book Polska Kuchnia Koszerna, the emerging image of Polish Jewish cooking is one of rough but delicate and tasty foods. The book was very popular and has been reprinted several times and is now also available in the Digital Library. It offers recipes for completely unknown dishes and provides examples of foods that were once typical of old Polish cuisine (such as the półgęski [half a goose] recently rediscovered by the Poles
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Jewish merchants in Slovenia (1918-1933)
In the 2020s, Professor Edward Pożerski de Pomiane, a famous French foodie of Polish origin, conducted research on the food of the Jewish community in Poland. He found their dishes rich in nutmeg, vanilla and orange peel. His Jewish Cuisine: Modern Ghetto was published in France, which included Polish Jewish recipes that he collected in different Polish cities. In addition to a large number of spices, the recipe includes sweetness and sourness, thanks to the addition of vinegar and lemon, sugar and onions---- This flavor was actually the most popular in Polish cooking during the Baroque period. Wolff thus points out various "principles of taste":
When more dishes are served, they must be diversified. So, for example, before sour fish, sour and savory soups are not suitable, but before fish cooked in butter, such soups are very suitable. After sour vegetables, sour meat is not a match ...
Some dishes are only served on holidays or the Sabbath, as it is easy to guess that Jewish cuisine is full of symbolic references and most holiday dishes have hidden meanings. In very simple terms, kosher cooking is meant to protect everything unhygienic and sinful.
The fact that millions of Jews lived in the historical territory of Poland also influenced Polish cuisine. It is no exaggeration to say that these two culinary cultures are intertwined. Dishes like gołąbki (cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat with sweet and sour tomato gravy) or even potato pancake---s that are popular in everyday life may have Jewish roots. In Poland, especially in Warsaw and Krakow, there are several restaurants specializing in dishes of Polish Jewish tradition, but almost none of these restaurants are kosher.
It's not just Gefilte fish
Carp in the Jewish way of cooking
Gefilte fish is traditionally eaten during the Rosh Hashanah or Rosh Hashanah holidays. Balls made from chopped fish (carp, barracuda and other species) are mixed with seasonings and matzo (a yeast-free and unleavened flat bread made from special flour). In Galicia, these balls are usually prepared in a sweet way and include onions, raisins and almonds. In the north, they season with spicy seasonings. The border between the area where the fish eats sweet and the area where the spicy fish bears the nickname "Gaffitt fish border". Despite the lack of popular recipes, all cooking instructions indicate cold fish in jelly.
Prior to 1939, various roadside hotels and small provincial restaurants in areas with large Jewish populations were known for their excellent "kosher fish" recipes. Many tourists from the surrounding area travel to taste this dish. An iconic recipe for the Polish Christmas table, "kosher carp" is a cousin of gefilte fish (this dish originated in Galicia, not fish balls, and is usually made with a slice of fish).
In the past, carp was very popular in Jewish cuisine. It is prepared with a variety of sweet and sour sauces and seasonings. It is cooked with onions, vinegar, beer, sugar, spices or pepper. Similar seasonings are also used to prepare barracuda, sea bass and c-bladder. There are also many recipes for preparing small fish. Smelting is cooked in beer and vinegar with butter, salt, sugar and spices added. One cannot fail to mention herring---- a vital commodity. Before the war, it was one of the cheapest snacks in hotels. But it also received a great deal of service in Jewish families. There, it is often soaked and added to sweet and sour salads, marinated or fried. There are even herring dumplings.
"Goose pipe" (gęsi pipek)
Goose tube dishes (gęsi pipek)
Kosher cuisine places a high value on goose meat. The so-called gęsi pipek, a dish made from the filling and grilled crust of a goose's neck, is still often served by restaurants specializing in Jewish cuisine. The neck is stuffed with potatoes and onions, or alternately stuffed with kosher beef. It is worth noting that in Galicia, the name gęsi pipek also denotes a food made from cooked goose belly.
The goose is roasted whole, stuffed with apples, sour cabbage (English speakers are known by its German name sauerkraut) or chestnuts, as is the case with ancient Polish recipes (the additional hint in the recipe indicates that "the crust makes the sauce tastier and has a dark brown color"). Goose offal is used to make broth or garlic gravy, and liver is fried in apple and sugar.
In addition, goose lard is indispensable in the kitchen, since the Talmud (Jewish holy scriptures) does not allow meat to be cooked in butter ---- according to the commandment "Do not see a child in the mother's milk". Beef and veal fat cannot be used because it comes from the back of the animal.
Goose fat is used to make delicious peels to cook and is also one of the most popular for preparing meat. It is to smoke half or a quarter of the goose into half a roast goose (półgęsek), a delicacy that was also famous in ancient Polish cuisine (perhaps similar to the roasted goose made by the Cantonese in the flavor of roasted goose--- the translator guessed). The dish is slowly returning to the culinary memory of the Poles ---- a perforated salted goose kept in a barrel for a few days, then rubbed in the bran and ready to cook after a total of eight days. Sour goose, on the other hand, is a spread made by adding veal limbs, vinegar, and seasonings.
Cholent
Cholent
Cholent (Polish: czulent) is a traditional Sabbath dish. In the past, a dish containing all the ingredients of this one-pot food would be taken to a nearby bakery on Friday afternoon. He will water the mixture and put it in the oven overnight. The oven was built specifically to make bile, and it will stay in until noon on Saturday, when it's ready (and very hot). It is known that it is traditionally not allowed to light a fire on the Sabbath. Cholent often included beans, kosher beef, and onions and spices, occasionally adding crushed pieces and potatoes.
Bread and pastries
Krakow bagels
Challah (or chałka, as it is called in Poland) – a braid-shaped yeast pastry – is one of the basic Jewish pastries on Polish territory. It is usually baked for the Sabbath, but not exactly. It also takes on different shapes during some other festivals. For example, for Rosh Hashanah, it is baked in a round shape. Woven pastries are everywhere in Polish bakeries, especially during the Christmas season. Matzo is a yeast-free and unleavened flat bread made from special flour and is usually consumed during Pesach. It is also used in the preparation of a variety of other dishes. For example, it is soaked and fried with eggs.
Bagel is also a type of pastry associated with Jewish cuisine. Bagels are a relative of Krakow obwarzanek (also cooked before baking) and were most likely invented in Krakow, although some sources indicate that Bialystok is its source. The first mention of bagels dates back to the 17th century. On the threshold of the 20th century, Jewish immigrants brought bagels to New York.
Onion cakes
Another pastry is very popular around the Lublin iscebularz in the southeastern region of Poland ("cebula" means onion in Polish). This is a wheat bread with onions that can still be bought in almost every bakery in the area. It is worth noting that thanks to the Jews living in the Old Town of Lublin, it made its home in Polish cuisine. As the name suggests, savory bread is baked with onions and added with poppy seeds. The first records of recipes passed down through generations date back to the 19th century. By the beginning of the 20th century, just before the war, Chebraz had developed into a delicious specialty of the entire Lblin Šchizna region.
Knishes, kugel, holishkes, latkes
Lovebirds
Knishes (a food from Ukraine) are flour or potato dumplings stuffed with a variety of different flavors. These dumplings are baked in the oven until the skin becomes crispy and brown. Most commonly, they are stuffed with onions, chopped liver, or cheese. Ashkenazi Jews used to eat holishkes (also known as gołąbki---- Cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat served with sweet and sour tomato gravy.
Kugel is also one of the traditional Shabbat or holiday dishes. It can be served both as a main course, as a side dish and as a dessert. It is baked with potatoes, eggs, and onions, and is sometimes seasoned with rice or cabbage. The sweet version uses pasta and fruits such as raisins. Similar dishes are also well known in Polish cuisine, especially in eastern Poland ---- although there it is known as the potato babuka (babka ziemniaczana).
It's hard to say where potato pancakes first appeared. One theory claims that they appear in Polish cooking thanks to the Jewish tradition of latkes (potato chips), traditionally consumed during Hanukkah. Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine is also known for many flour dishes, which are very similar to Polish dumplings or (meatloaf) (paszteciki).
Ziems with kosher caviar
Saksuka (cherry blossoms)
Tzimmes is the name of a sweet Jewish dish that is often used as a dessert, although not exactly. The name has entered the Polish word as a name for delicious and rare things. This meaning is explained in the lyrics of a song of the same name, sung by Marta Bizoń to the accompaniment of Leopold Kozłowski.
Tzimmes is associated with the Sabbath and other festive occasions, although only those that are happy in character. In a book titled Kuchnia Żydowska (Jewish Cuisine), Katarzyna Pospieszyńska says: "This sweet and juicy dish is often stewed or baked for a long time until it acquires a golden and gorgeous taste – symbolizing a happy year." There are a variety of tzimmes as main dishes (including meat) and some made only with fruits and vegetables for dessert. In the south and east of Poland, sweetness is made with carrots, sugar, cinnamon, dried fruits and nuts. But tzimmes can also contain tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, apples, pineapples, plums, and boiled beef.
A popular snack is the so-called kosher caviar: chopped chicken liver fried with onions, served with hard-boiled eggs and cumin. This dish is served in restaurants that serve Ashkenazi Jewish food, which often also includes egg salad and onions. Many other dishes that are more or less close to Old Polish cuisine are also popular in Jewish cooking. various meats are baked with sour marinades (also used to prepare fish); Bird meat, veal and beef offal are also popular in both traditions. Meatballs are made with chopped beef and can be fried or baked. There is meat and fish pate. Vegetables have a sweet and sour taste, fruits are served with onions and spices. Ashkenazi Jews also eat pickles---- cucumbers and cabbage, as well as vegetables and fruits marinated in vinegar. The latter is a popular ingredient in fish salad.
soup
Matzo meatball soup
Both Jewish and Polish cuisine is known for offering different kinds of broths, sometimes even referred to as the "kosher penicillin cold". The broth of kneidlach (matzo balls) is made for Passover and other occasions. Kosher cuisine is also familiar with broths, so-called lane kluseczki (literally "pouring small noodles", made by pouring pastries directly into the hot broth), or adding granulated rice wheat (such as oats, buckwheat or millet) or vegetables ---- such as cauliflower, asparagus, and other seasonal ingredients. The broth is also served with kreplach dumplings (stuffed with meat or vegetables depending on preference). Edward Pożerski de Pomiane wrote about kreplach with potatoes, onions and mushrooms.
On Passover, Jews also cooked red borscht with beetroot sour ---- a dish that was also popular among Poles. Rebecca S. Rebeka Wolff proposed a version flavored with sugar, lemon peel, cinnamon and thickened with matzo, "this borscht tastes like a savory wine soup". Other vegetable and meat broths are of course also popular, and they are prepared according to kosher principles. Recipes for lemon and fruit soup cooked by Jews can also be found in history books dedicated to the cuisine of old Poland.
Fruit snack after meal
In addition to plain pies, butter and sugar pies are often baked. There is also yeast cake with crushed almonds, butter cake and babuka stuffed with raisins, poppy seeds, almonds, alak and cinnamon. And, of course, cakes with seasonal fruits such as apples, cherries and currants.
Makagigi (kosher biscuits made from poppy and honey)
Makagiki is also a dish derived from Jewish cuisine. It is made from poppy seeds and nuts, fried in honey or syrup, and is usually made for Purim. There are many sweets that are very familiar to any Pole---- such as apples, rice and pasta with sugar and cinnamon, or sweet cheese dumplings ---- which are also very famous in Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Much like Pascha ---- a cottage cheese, cream and dried fruit dessert that can now be encountered in Polish, Russian and Jewish cuisine.
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Written by Magdalena Kasprzyk-Chevriaux
Magdalena is an educated lawyer and passionate journalist specializing in the history of Polish cuisine. She is the co-author of the book Kapłony i Szczeżuje: Opowieść o Zapomnianej Kuchni Polskiej, published in 2019, a conversation between her and Professor Jaroslaw Dumanovsky. Their discussion noted that Polish cuisine was influenced not only by climate, regional traditions and religious dictates, but also by important historical changes and the whims of the rulers of the time.
Sun Lei English translation
Friday, February 18, 2022
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 Revised
Translated from culture.pl