Preserving Our Polish Christmas Heritage

Wesołych Świąt 

*  Thanks to Polart for this Christmas Card image

Christmas in Poland was simpler back in the day.  Carols were not sung for weeks ahead. There was no Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and the holiday in general was not as commercial as here, today.  Oh sure, the stores in big cities like Warsaw were crowded and decorated for the holiday.  Vendors on the town squares sold shiny baubles and other decorations.  Folks everywhere rushed to finish their last minute shopping.  All over there was excitement in the air – the anticipation of sacred Christmas traditions and the biggest celebration of the year.  

As the late afternoon turned to dusk, the shoppers headed for home and the busy streets grew empty and quiet.  The feast received its final touches, everyone was dressed up in their finest.   The kids were scanning the sky looking for the first star, which meant that Wigilia was about to begin.

As Peter was growing up, his family always made a significant effort to preserve as much of the heritage as possible.  Nothing began until he saw the first star.  They started by sharing the blessed wafer.  As the family gathered round the table, everyone shared a piece of blessed wafer with everyone else.  The wafer is a symbol of love, friendship and forgiveness, allowing everyone to extend their best wishes for the coming year.

There always was an extra place setting at the table for the lost traveler who might come to the door, and there are small boughs of greens or hay, representing the Mary and Joseph’s stable lodgings for the night.  The supper was meatless and in the olden days consisted of twelve courses, one for each of the apostles.  Poppy seeds were always included as a symbol of peaceful sleep and honey for sweetness and contentment.  

Menus have always varied a bit, according to each family’s customs, but the menu that Peter’s  family followed when he was a boy, included:  

• Herring in Sour Cream
• Clear red barszcz,

• Crepes with a wild mushroom and sauerkraut filling
• White fish in a light butter sauce, served with hard boiled eggs and
        boiled potatoes
• Dried fruit compote
• Poppy seed rolls, nut rolls, honey cake and honey cookies.

After the feasting has ended, and the belt buckles loosened a notch or two,  the family adjourned to the Christmas tree to sing Christmas carols, and open gifts.  The evening was topped off by a visit to the local church for Midnight Mass.

Today, we’ve dropped the herring, swapped the white fish for salmon, and lately given up on the dried fruit compote because it takes a while to prepare.  But those are concessions made to changing food preferences and the practicalities of our modern lives.  The core traditions remain in place. 

When Laura prepares Christmas Eve supper (Wigilia), following these traditions that Peter grew up with, these stuffed crepes are everybody’s favorite part of the meal.  They go really well with a cup of Classic Barszcz, which is a classic way to serve them.  The blend of savory sauerkraut mixed with earthy mushrooms is an amazing combination.  This dish is an ideal starter, whether for Christmas Eve or any other festive meal.  


Yields 8 to 10 crepes

Crepes
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup flour
½ cup water
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix the milk with the eggs, flour, water and salt in a blender or hand mixer at low speed.  Heat a small non-stick skillet which measures 6 to 7 inches across the base (crepe pans are great) and brush or lightly spray the bottom with cooking oil.  Pour a small amount of batter into the medium hot skillet. (For a 6 inch pan use a just under 1/3 cup of batter per crepe.)  Immediately start swirling the pan around so the batter will evenly cover the bottom and put back on the burner.  When the crepe becomes firm on top, maybe 50 to 60 seconds, and just starts to lightly brown on the bottom, flip it over and cook the other side for another 15 seconds or so.   Remove the crepe from the pan and stack on a plate with a sheet of wax paper between crepes to prevent sticking.  Continue this process until all the batter is used – you should get 8 to10 crepes from one batch.

Filling
½ pound sauerkraut
2 tablespoons butter or rendered bacon fat  
1 onion, chopped 
4 ounces mushrooms, sliced
salt and pepper
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 egg beaten
½ cup bread crumbs
3 tablespoons butter

Rinse the sauerkraut thoroughly in a colander.  Squeeze the sauerkraut to remove the excess water.  Place the sauerkraut in a small amount of boiling water.  Cook for 20 minutes and drain.  Heat the butter or bacon fat in a skillet, add the onions and fry until golden.  Add the mushrooms and fry an additional 3 minutes.  Add the sauerkraut and fry until golden.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from the heat and add the egg and sour cream.  Mix well.

Spoon a small amount of the filling into the center of a crepe.  Fold the crepe in envelope fashion to completely encase the filling.  Roll the stuffed crepe in egg and then in bread crumbs.  Gently sauté the crepes in butter until golden on both sides.  Serve either warm.
Smacznego!

Comforting Pork Chops - Polish Style

Witamy!

Pork has been the meat of first choice in Poland for decades and is the basis for a great many comfort food recipes.  We love our pork, grilled, baked, braised, stewed in sour kraut, or almost any way possible.  One of the favorite cuts for serving pork is the common chop.  

In recent years the pork we see in the U.S. is specially bred for leanness so some cuts are definitely less flavorful than the farm-bred pigs to which Babcia was accustomed.  Back in her day, Polish pigs on a pre-WWII farm were fed a diet of potatoes, sour milk, old cabbage, corn, etc., and that’s why the milder Polish hams became so popular all over the world. 

Today, pork is big business everywhere and pigs are specially bred to be disease resistant, leaner and to yield more usable pounds per pig.  So the product we see in our grocery stores is generally leaner.  That’s also why the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) now says that pork roasts and thick chops can be safely cooked to medium rare at a final internal cooked temperature of 145 F° , followed by a three-minute rest time.

All this means that today’s pork is healthier but also has less intense flavor, in our opinion.  So we like to buy bone-in center-cut chops to get the best taste, such as this photo from J Vrola Meat Company. .  




Today’s recipe is one of our favorite ways to prepare chops, especially if there’s too much snow or rain outside to fire up the grill.  Look for the bone in style, maybe with a little fat on the edges, and don’t trim all that goodness away too soon. 

Serves 6
6 medium bone-in, center cut loin chops ½ to ¾ inches thick 
6 tablespoons flour
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
Salt & pepper to taste
1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs  (Panko style are even better)
1 teaspoon fresh marjoram or ½ teaspoon dried
½ cup bacon drippings, shortening, or cooking oil .

Season the flour with salt and pepper to taste.  Season the breadcrumbs with more salt and pepper plus the marjoram.  .

Trim most of the fat off the chops, leaving some for flavor.  Mix the salt and pepper into the flour and the dredge the chops.  Shake off the excess flour and dip chops in the egg mixture.  Roll in breadcrumbs and lightly press the crumbs into the surface of each chop.

Brown the chops well on both sides in the hot fat.  Place chops in one layer in a large baking dish and finish in a pre-heated oven at 325 F ° for 15 to 20 minutes.  Using your instant-read meat thermometer, the chops will be done at 150 to 155F °.  

Serve these chops with red cabbage on the side, or boiled or mashed potatoes, or on a bed of stewed sauerkraut that has been flavored with bits of bacon and caraway seeds.

Smacznego!

Metro Cooking Show Hits Foodie Home Run

The Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show was in DC this weekend.  Celebrity Chefs Guy Fieri and Bobby Flay, local chefs Cathal Armstrong and Todd English, an army of culinary experts and a huge convention hall filled with gourmet vendors all landed at the DC Convention Center this weekend to present a culinary event that was nothing short of foodie heaven!

The show felt somehow re-energized this year…there seemed to be more interesting vendors,  the main halls were laid out better,  there was less pushing and shoving and there were more smiles on the faces of all the foodies who attended.   Amongst the jaw-dropping array of olive oils,  balsamic vinegars,  hot sauces,  spice blends,  razor-sharp knives,  miracle-slick cooking pans,  home remodelers,  bakers,  authors,  choclatiers,  wineries, breweries, etc.,  we saw many truly outstanding products worthy of any foodie’s pantry.

These saucers in foil bags were among the more uniquely packaged products in the show.

 

This Greek dipping sauce was beautifully prepared and a bottle fell into our bag very quickly.

One of our favorite stops was the Anastesia Vodka table with samples of this lovely Oregon-based vodka that was so smooth that it truly gives challenge to our favorite Polish vodkas.

The Taste of Turkey space was a consortium of purveyors of sweets, cook book and all things Turkish.

Lilly’s Gourmet Maple Butter and Artisan Caramels from Choquette were two decedent yummies that we couldn’t pass by for holiday gift giving.

Don’t tell anyone but we made several sneaky passes by Alexian’s Pate table with their three varieties of goose, truffle and duck goodness…sooo good!

And the crowds loved the ingenious tool for perfectly cracking raw eggs.

Local restaurant owner and Chef Cathal Armstrong showed us his grandma’s recipe for the perfect turkey & stuffing.  Everyone learned something new from Chef, including the fact that a turkey can stay warm for almost four hours without drying out.

Only Guy Fieri, the star attraction of this day, could charm the audience into beating up a pork chop with humor and a hammer.  Guy’s show was almost stolen by his “emcee” - local ABC news anchor Leon Harris, as the two traded one-liners better than any open-mike night at a comedy club.

This was truly a fun show.  There were hundreds of samples available for tasting and sipping…in fact more than any sane person should attempt.  But that why this show is a foodie’s best dream.  Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining shows take place in several cities around the U.S. so watch the papers for a date near you – it’s worth it!