Our Culinary Past

• PostEagle
• March 10, 2024
• Our Polonia
• 0 Comments

The history of culinary art is as old as the history of Poland. Mention of famous Polish feasts has come down to us from a thousand years ago, from the days of the reign of Poland’s first crowned king, Boleslaw Chrobry (Boleslaw the Brave). Poland’s monarch was host to Otto III, ruler of half of Europe, and as a token of affection (as was meticulously noted down by the conscientious chronicler of the day) Boleslaw made Otto a gift of all the gold, silver, and tin platters on which the food had been brought to the tables for the sumptuous feast.

Further evidence of the value attached to culinary art is given by the fact that in 1352 a post was established in the royal court, that of master of the royal kitchens. He was responsible for the meals served in the royal chambers, and moreover, also personally in charge of the chest containing all the spices which were indeed precious in those days. This office was introduced by King Casimir the Great who, the history books say, “found a Poland made of wood and left one made of masonry,” and the office persisted in the Polish royal court until the end of the 16th century. It was more than 300 years old when, amazingly, Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of King Henry VIII of England, had to be contented with a breakfast consisting of a pork flitch and a jug of beer. The meals served at the court of her daughter, the illustrious Queen Elizabeth, were not any different.

Up to the mid-l6th century in Poland the dining was good, though the dishes were rather simple … bouillon, barszcz (beetroot soup), zur (a kind of sour soup), boiled meat, collops, sausages, tripe, bigos hultajski “Rogue’s bigos’’ (a sauerkraut and meat dish), kolduny (boiled meat turnovers), pierogi (dumplings) and kluski (noodles). At more sumptuous feasts guests were served goose boiled in cream and mushrooms or goose cooked with vegetables in a black gravy which was “colored” – so the story goes – with a wisp of burnt straw. Sugar was not yet known and the dishes were sweetened with honey.

A noticeable change in the preparation of dishes and in the composition of menus in general came about when the second wife of King Sigismund I, Bona Sforza d’Aragona, came to Poland from her native Italy. It was precisely at this time, in mid-16th century, that vegetables began to be introduced into Poland and descriptions of feasts appeared in memoirs. One of the most famous feasts was given by King Sigismund III Vasa (whose statue stands in Castle Square in Warsaw) in honor of the Papal legate, Caetini. Another famous banquet was given a century later in honor of the marriage of Maria Kazimiera, mademoiselle de La Grange d’Arquien, to the future King of Poland, Jan Sobieski, who was to defeat the Turks at the battle of Vienna, and who built the Royal Palace at Wilanow near Warsaw; Sobieski was later to introduce potatoes into Poland. A description of that banquet has come down to our times and of the dishes which were served then … fish dishes – baked salmon; meat dishes – roast bison (the largest herds of this rare animal are still to be seen in Bialowieza Forest and in forests near Pszczyna), roasted meat of the now extinct aurochs (bos primigenius) and the buffalo (bos bubalus), bear’s paws, beaver tails, elk’s nostrils, venison sausage served with a yellow saffron sauce, or a red sauce of sour cherries, a black sauce made of damson cheese, or a grey sauce made of onions, and many others.

The dining was excellent not only at the royal court in Poland. Records from as far back as 1364 tell us about a sumptuous feast at the home of a wealthy burgher, by the name of Wierzynek, who feted European monarchs who had come to the Royal Wawel Castle in Cracow for the opening of the Jagiellonian University, one of the first universities in this part of the continent. Though the feasting in Poland was never on the scale of that of ancient Rome, or the France of Louis XIV, XV and XVI, the tables of Polish great nobles were famous for their refinement and elegance. The dishes served were not only Polish courses but also vegetables introduced from Italy or meats and sauces prepared in the French manner. Many specialties were brought to Poland from the East …  Russian borsch, Ukrainian-style borsch, Lithuanian chlodnik (cold soup), kulebiak (cabbage and mushroom loaf), and the famous kolduny (kind of turnovers with meat), to mention but a few. This was accompanied with drinks such as old-type beer, or a mead prepared by fermentation of wild bee honey, and with wegrzyn, a Hungarian white wine of the Tokay family.

Polish vodkas and fruit liqueurs, always served very chilled, were beverages which accompanied appetizers, as aperitifs, whereas all dishes with meat prepared Polish style, such as beef collops, hare in cream, or wild boar roast, were served with a dry wine.

A great speciality of the Old Polish cuisine, was its desserts, and even whole feasts of desserts, the famous “sweet suppers,” usually given by a bridegroom-to-be on the eve of his marriage. The confectioners in those days were truly masters of their trade who could transform a laden table by the magic of their art into a colorful garden lane with trees joining together in green garlands of branches, leading into a town street with palaces, castles, columns and triumphal arches. All of this embellished not only with human figures and animals but also with an enormous coat of arms of the host or of an honored guest. The confectioners truly excelled in the art of the cuisine, and what is more were veritable poets, artists, sculptors, and heraldists

The traditions of the masters of the kitchen have survived in Poland to this very day. The small town of Jedrzejow, on the route from Warsaw to Cracow, has a museum of sun dials. A visit to the museum is worthwhile for there one may see all sorts of instruments once used to measure time. But there is another reason as well. The custodian of the museum is Doctor Tadeusz Przypkowski, secretary of the chapter of the “Pomian Order”, the world’s highest award for chefs.

How did the peasants and the not-very-wealthy burghers fare daily? How did the common folk of Poland eat? Very little is to be found in the historical annals on this topic. Most probably, until the time when early vegetables imported from Italy and France began to appear on the tables of the wealthy aristocracy, the peasants ate in a fashion similar to that of the nobility or the landlords, but, of course, much more frugally.

Thus, the courses consisted of bouillon, various types of barszcz (beetroot and beet-top soups), zur (sour soup), kapusniak (sauerkraut soup), zalewajka and sacierka (noodle soup), fish, salted meats, kluski (noodles), kasze (cereals) and, of course, mushrooms, a favorite national dish. Such a menu from the folk cuisine with some variations and changes depending on regional customs, has survived to this day, especially as the fertile soil of the fields and forests provides a great variety of comestibles.

No article regarding Polish cuisine is complete without mentioning mushrooms. Several dozen types of mushrooms grow wild in Polish forests. These were served boiled, stewed, pan-fried or sauteed. Mushrooms were also pickled and marinated. Dried mushrooms were used extensively as a condiment.

Cucumbers are another Polish speciality served in a wide variety of ways … fresh sliced cucumbers seasoned with pepper, with honey, or with cream (mizeria, sliced cucumbers with cream, is a classic Polish salad served with chicken with “Polish stuffing”).

These traditions of both the Old Polish cuisine and folk cuisine are still very much in evidence in present-day Poland.

. . . SEE YOU SOON, GOD BE WILLING . . . .