5 Must-Try Polish Food Main Courses
Previously, we wrote about Polish soups and how they are simple, wholesome and cheap to make. Naturally, in Poland, a main course will follow a hearty soup, but what do the Polish eat? Is it all sausages and cabbage?
We are here to whet your appetite and show you 5 Must-Try Polish Main Course Meals.
5 Must-Try Polish Food Main Courses. Proszę bardzo
Pierogi
Where better to start than one of Paula’s favourite dishes from home, pierogi?
Quite simply, pierogi are filled dumplings from Eastern Europe. They are made by wrapping pockets of unleavened dough around a savoury or sweet filling and cooking them in boiling water.
They can be filled with almost anything you desire, but there are three main types used by our family: Ruskie, which is a filling of cottage cheese and potato, cabbage (of course) and mushroom, and meat filling.
Cabbage and mushroom are used mainly at Christmas time, as you cannot have meat at Polish Christmas.
In summertime, they can be used as a dessert, with fillings such as strawberry and blueberry — whatever is in season and easily available.
Gołąbki
It wouldn’t be a Polish dish without cabbage, so gołąbki is no exception.
Made from lightly soft-boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around minced pork or beef, chopped onions, and rice or barley, they are then baked in a casserole dish and usually served with a creamy tomato sauce.
Gołąbki uses simple ingredients, but the process of making them is quite labour-intensive.
First, you need to boil a whole cabbage and, as it is cooking, slowly separate each cabbage leaf. Second, you need to fill the leaves with the stuffing and then wrap them before finally popping them in the oven, topped off with a tomato sauce.
The resulting dish is quite tasty and a world away from bland cabbage.
Sałatka Jarzynowa
Paula is currently salivating when she hears of sałatka jarzynowa, especially her mother’s recipe. Personally, the sight and smell of the stuff makes me shudder, but variety is the spice of life, I guess.
Literally a vegetable salad, sałatka jarzynowa is always vegetarian, consisting of peas, corn, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, onion, carrot, apple and celery, all cut into small cubes and seasoned with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.
Recipes usually vary by region — tart apples or pickles can be added — and even by household, but never to the point of meat being added.
This salad is almost always served at family celebrations, at weddings, on birthdays, Easter and, in particular, on Christmas Eve.
The dish can last two to three days, so usually a large bowl is prepared and stored in the fridge. Perfect as a side dish or as a quick snack with bread.
Bigos
Bigos is a dish of finely chopped meat of various kinds stewed with sauerkraut and shredded fresh cabbage. Again, another dish prepared with cabbage, but very tasty nonetheless.
The principal ingredients of bigos are assorted kinds of meat chopped into bite-sized chunks and a mixture of sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) and shredded fresh white cabbage.
The meats may include pork (ham, shoulder, bacon, ribs, loin, etc.), beef and veal, poultry (chicken, duck, goose, turkey) and game, as well as charcuterie, especially various kinds of kiełbasa, or Polish smoked sausage.
The variety of meats is considered essential for good bigos.
Bigos is another popular dish that you will find at almost every celebration, and it is also a good choice if you wish to clear out any meat you may have in your fridge.
Tartare
Look away, all you vegetarians. Tartare may turn your stomach!
A dish you either love or hate, but a dish embraced in Poland.
The ingredients are quite simple: some good-quality beef tenderloin, rinsed, sinew removed and ground, mustard, olive oil, pasteurised egg yolks, parsley, salt, pepper, onion, dill pickles and capers.
Mixed together and moulded, the result is tartare.
No baking, frying or grilling — tartare is simply raw.
A dish even the most avid meat lover can struggle to sample, it is essential that the meat is fresh and sourced from a quality supplier.
Tartare is a common sight at Polish wedding celebrations and at parties, all topped off with a raw egg, mixed together and served with bread or on its own.
Gulasz, kotlet mielony, kotlet schabowy and kiełbahttps://www.continentchasers.com/5-must-try-polish-desserts/sa all deserve honourable mentions, but the one thing we can say for certain is you won't go hungry in a Polish household or during your stay in the country.
If you are ever invited to a Polish wedding celebration, add a few notches to your belt, as the food just keeps coming!
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5 Must-Try Polish Food Main Courses
