Learn about 10 Polish foods
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| Hello everyone. My name is Marzena and today, we will talk about something really yummy which is 10 Polish Foods. So here we go. |
| The first one is definitely my favorite one which is, |
| 1. Barszcz “borsch” |
| So in English, you usually say “borsch” and we do eat borsch on special occasions. We don’t eat it every day. We don’t even eat it every week unless you buy yourself instant one but you don’t really make it. You make it, at least in my house once a year and that’s a very, very special occasion, Christmas and we make it with no meat. |
| So for example, you can say, |
| Podczas Wigilii je się barszcz czerwony. “On Christmas Eve, one eats red borsch.” Which is totally true. Red Borsch or Barszcz, barszcz czerwony, generally barszcz; it’s a special food for Christmas, actually for Christmas Eve. And you don’t really need to add this red part because when you say Barszcz, it’s kind of obvious it’s red. We do have another one which we called white barszcz or biały barszcz, and that one is usually served for Easter. And if you just say borsch or barszcz, it’s always the red one. And it’s very clear. There was almost nothing inside except from uszka, which means "ear" or "ears". And it’s usually it’s something like Pierogi, kind of like the dumplings with mushrooms inside which you put inside of Barszcz. Please try it at home. Very yummy! |
| 2 Another one is very time-consuming. So not a lot of people actually make a proper one but it’s “bigos” and in English, you usually say bigos as well which is basically like a stew made out of chopped cabbage and sauerkraut and meat. You put mushrooms inside and you can put some other things like sausages and stuff. It really differs between different like houses and that’s how my mom made it. Sometimes you put plums as well and the thing is that, it takes time to make it. I mean like, it really takes time to make it. So well, one could say, |
| Bigos gotuje się ponad tydzień. “It takes over a week to cook bigos which is true. If you want to do it the traditional way, it really takes up to two weeks to make it. If you wanted to do it the fast way, some people put like some, I don’t know, something to change the color. So it changes faster and then put some kind of spices to make it – to make the taste more similar but it’s not as good. You really need to take your time. That’s why we don’t make it very often but once we do, we make a big, big, big bowl of bigos, which is delicious. |
| Another one is something that reminds me of my childhood and it’s, |
| Budyń, “pudding” |
| 3. Budyń is a special kind of polished pudding, so Budyń, pudding. It’s not exactly the same. So you can say, |
| Polski budyń jest specyficzny. Which basically means, “Polish pudding is specific.” |
| And it is. In a way that it’s – well, we usually eat it hot. Sometimes, sometimes cold but we usually eat it hot. We very often make it ourselves at home. So, it is different than other puddings I know. So it’s more like a yogurt but we usually serve it hot and we have vanilla pudding or chocolate pudding obviously and there is raspberry pudding as well or strawberry pudding and some people put oatmeal into it or like put some kind of syrup like vanilla syrup or raspberry syrup on the top of it and that’s even more delicious. So, please try it out. |
| 4. The next one is Gołąbki. |
| Gołąbki do not have a translation into English per se. So we just say, “gołąbki” and “gołąbki” is like special rolled cabbage inside of which we have minced meat and we have rice also. The proportion of meat and rice differ between houses and different households. |
| For example, my mom put more rice than meat but in some places, they will put more meat than rice and there is almost no rice or there’s almost no meat or somewhere in between. And we put tomato sauce over it which is very delicious. And lately, I don’t eat so much meat. So I kind of switched to vegetables or fish. So my mom is making me gołąbki with mushrooms instead of meat. That’s another way of doing that and then you can put mushroom sauce on the top of it or just the same tomato sauce. |
| So if you have a Polish boyfriend or a Polish girlfriend and you make the gołąbki for them, you can say, |
| Zrobiłam ci gołąbki. “I made golabki for you.” |
| Zrobiłam ci gołąbki. “I made you golabki.” |
| 5. The next one is my absolute favorite. And I don’t think any Polish person can live without it and it’s, |
| Pierogi, “Dumplings” |
| You may know the name because it became very, very, very famous around the world. Pierogi which sometimes are referred to in English as “Pierogi” also are called “dumplings” or “polish dumplings” are this wonderful thing. We have Pierogi in many, many, many, many different kinds like they come in sweets, sour, whatever you want. Probably more than 100 different kinds but one of the most popular are pierogi ruskie which you can translate as Russian Pierogi but they are not Russian at all. They are very, very Polish and you have also Pierogi with sauerkraut and with Porcini with mushrooms and Pierogi with strawberries, blueberries, whatever you like. You can put basically anything. You can put spinach and cheese and whatever, whatever you like but of course, since the Russian pierogi are the most popular, often, people will say, |
| Najbardziej lubię pierogi ruskie. “I like “Russian” pierogi the best.” |
| So what actually is this Russian pierogi. It has inside cottage cheese and potatoes and fried onion, sometimes with Bacon or like the small pieces of Bacon and you can put it on the top of this as well and you can either do a Sour Cream as well which are, it’s very, very, very, very delicious. It’s highly recommended. Please be sure to try it out if you are in Poland. |
| 6. The next one is, |
| Kiełbasa wędzona “smoked sausage” |
| kiełbasa wędzona which just means, “smoked sausage” is very good in Poland. So, people think that for example, Germany has very good sausages but actually they come to Poland to buy our sausages. So be sure to try it. I know that some people refer to this Polish sausage as kielbasa in English. So it became that popular that this is actually a word in English, kielbasa which in Polish just means sausage, any sausage. But this specific Polish sausage, it’s kielbasa. |
| And for example, you can say, |
| Mama zrobiła kiełbasę wędzoną. “My mom made smoked sausage.” |
| Mama zrobiła kiełbasę wędzoną. |
| 7. Kotlet schabowy “Pork chop” |
| Kotlet schabowy means “pork chop.” It’s very, very, very, very popular dish for Polish lunch which in Polish we say dinner and not lunch but it’s actually lunch. |
| For example, you can say, |
| Na obiad zazwyczaj jem kotlet schabowy z ziemniakami. |
| So in English, you would say, |
| “I usually have pork chop with potatoes for lunch.” |
| And that’s true for many, many, many people in Poland, especially for Sunday. Sunday dinner or actually Sunday lunch as I said. It’s very, very often “pork chop” |
| So now we came to the desserts and we have, |
| 8. Krówki “Fudge” |
| “Fudge” which in Polish, we say krówki. Krówki literally means cows or little cows and we call it krówki because as you may know, “fudge” is made out of milk. So basically it’s very, very related to cows. And that’s our way of thinking. But if you say krówki even if the brand is different and sometimes they call it different way but everybody will call it krówki anyway. So, for example, you can say, |
| Kupiłam sobie krówki. “I bought fudge for myself.” |
| 9. Rosół “Rosol” |
| Now we are going back to the lunch time for a while and let me introduce you to Rosół. So you can just say “Rosol” and if you don’t really know what it is. Let me explain it. It’s like, it is a soup. It’s like a meat-based soup served usually with noodles and maybe small carrots inside. Maybe Parsley on the top of it but not a lot of stuff inside. Usually it’s with chicken but you don’t put it on to your plate. You just use it to cook the soup itself and of course, you use a lot of vegetables to cook it but you don’t really use those vegetables. You may use it later to make another salad but Rosol it’s usually very clear as a soup. |
| So for example, you can say, |
| W niedzielę na obiad będzie rosół. “For Sunday lunch, we will have rosol.” Which is true for many, many, many houses in Poland and many people in Poland will eat Rosol for Sunday. It’s like it is so much Sunday lunch. It’s really, really, really very typical thing to eat. |
| 10. Pierniki “gingerbread” |
| Now, going back to sweet stuff, we do have this type of cookies we eat for Christmas and usually it’s only for Christmas although you can buy it all the year around in a little bit different form and some people will buy it like this but they will make it only for Christmas. It’s too much hassle to make it and too much time. And it’s called pierniki which means “gingerbread cookies.” |
| So for example, you can say, |
| Mama zrobiła pierniki na święta. |
| “Mom made gingerbread cookies for Christmas.” |
| And the thing about “gingerbread cookies” pierniki is that once you made it, you can put it into a jar and then keep it there all the year round. Basically, you can eat it almost like next Christmas. It doesn’t matter. They are actually getting better and better and better over the time. And I remember when I was little, I loved pierniki and my mom made it for Christmas and then she hid it somewhere so I don’t eat everything and I, basically, I almost did. But then, there was always one of those jars hidden and I found it around maybe summer and they were wonderful. Super delicious. Basically they never get old. It’s highly recommended Polish experience. So be sure to try it out. |
| That’s all for today. Thank you for listening. Today, we did 10 Polish Foods. What is your favorite Polish Food? Please leave it in the comment. See you. |
| You may need to say it again, sorry! |
| Yeah, that’s the problem. You ask me to say six different things in one breath. What is your favorite Polish fla fa fa - |
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