Polish cuisine is rich and varied. The penetration of many cultures and the country's complicated history have influenced the character of the dishes. If you look at traditional Polish recipes one can notice the influence of French, German, Russian and Jewish cuisine.
Polish cuisine is considered fatty and rich in flavour, hence not very healthy, although tasty.
The trademarks are pork chops (tradycyjne kotlety schabowe), Polish dumplings (pierogi z serem), pork ribs in honey (żeberka w miodzie) and carefully prepared and baked pork neck (przygotowywana z pieczołowitością, pieczona karkówka).
An important culinary highlight of Polish cuisine is soups, which often serve as an appetiser. Among the whole range of typical Polish soups are the traditional tomato soup (tradycyjna pomidorowa zupa), sourdough soup (żurek na zakwasie), perfectly flavoured red borscht (doskonale przyprawiony barszcz czerwony) and hearty, usually Sunday, chicken broth (rosół z kur).
Pork and local vegetable dishes often co-exist on Polish tables. Beetroot (buraczki), pickles (ogórki kiszone), sauerkraut (kapusta kwaszona) are side dishes without which it is difficult to imagine a Polish lunch or dinner.
It is impossible to describe Polish cuisine without exquisite desserts: gingerbread with spicy notes (piernik z nutą przypraw korzennych), curd with lemon flavour (sernik z cytrynowym posmakiem), carefully prepared poppy seed rolls (makowiec), homemade doughnuts (domowe pączki) and crispy chrust pastries (chrupiące faworki).
Polish tinctures (polskie nalewki), which are made from local fruits and berries, are the perfect accompaniment to every meal. Raspberry, blackberry, cherry and plum infusions are just a few examples of flavours from the rich range of Polish home-made alcoholic beverages.
Are you already drooling and want to cook something from Polish cuisine for dinner? To make it easier for you to understand recipes in Polish, we have prepared a glossary of weights and units of measurement:
Przepis - recipe
Potrawy - dishes
Dag - half a kilo
Deka - 10 grams (in Polish shops you can often hear: Poproszę 20 deka sera, i.e. 200 grams of cheese)
Szklanka - glass
Kubek - cup
Kieliszek - glass
Butelka is a bottle
Łyżka i łyżeczka - tablespoon and teaspoon.
Płaska łyżeczka (lub łyżka) - a teaspoonful (or a tablespoonful).
Czubata łyżka (lub łyżeczka) - a tablespoon (teaspoon) with a spoonful.
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