Polish Language Blog

Spring has finally come to New Hampshire…and it almost fells like summer now. With beautiful weather come fresh fruit and vegetables, so accordingly today’s post has something to do with that!

Here is one of my favorite poems written by Jan Brzechwa:

Na straganie

Na straganie w dzień targowy


Takie słyszy się rozmowy:

“Może pan się o mnie oprze,


Pan tak więdnie, panie koprze.”

“Cóż się dziwić, mój szczypiorku,


Leżę tutaj już od wtorku!”

Rzecze na to kalarepka:


”Spójrz na rzepę – ta jest krzepka!”

Groch po brzuszku rzepę klepie:


“Jak tam, rzepo? Coraz lepiej?”

“Dzięki, dzięki, panie grochu,


Jakoś żyje się po trochu.

Lecz pietruszka – z tą jest gorzej:


Blada, chuda, spać nie może.”

“A to feler” -
Westchnął seler.

Burak stroni od cebuli,


A cebula doń się czuli:

“Mój Buraku, mój czerwony,


Czybyś nie chciał takiej żony?”

Burak tylko nos zatyka:


“Niech no pani prędzej zmyka,

Ja chcę żonę mieć buraczą,


Bo przy pani wszyscy płaczą.”

“A to feler” -
Westchnął seler.

Naraz słychać głos fasoli:


“Gdzie się pani tu gramoli?!”

“Nie bądź dla mnie taka wielka”

Odpowiada jej brukselka.

“Widzieliście, jaka krewka!”


Zaperzyła się marchewka.

“Niech rozsądzi nas kapusta!”


”Co, kapusta?! Głowa pusta?!”

 A kapusta rzecze smutnie:


”Moi drodzy, po co kłótnie,

Po co wasze swary głupie,


Wnet i tak zginiemy w zupie!”

“A to feler” -
Westchnął seler.

At the stall on market day

You can hear these conversation:

“Perhaps you will like to lean on me,

You are fading, Mr. Dill. “

“Not a surprise, my chives,

I’m lying here since Tuesday! “

Kohlrabi heard and said:

“Look at turnip – she is hearty!”

Peas pat turnips tummy:

“How are you turnip? Getting better?”

“Thanks, thanks, Mr. peas,

Somehow, I live slowly.

But it is worse with parsley:

pale, thin, can not sleep. “

“What a flaw” – 
 sighed celery.

Beet avoids onion,

And onion wants to get close:

“My beet, my red,

Wouldn’t you like wife like me? “

Beet only plugs his nose:

“Please get going,

I want my wife to be beet like

Because everyone cries around you. “

“What a flaw” – 
 sighed celery.

Suddenly, you hear the voice of beans:

“Where have you scrambling here!”

“Do not be so great for me”

Corresponds to the Brussels sprouts.

“Did you see what a brave one!”

 Carrot got upset.

“Let the cabbage judge us!”

“What, cabbage? Empty head?”

And cabbage will say sadly:

“My dear, what arguments,

Why your silly quarrels,

Soon all of us will die in the soup! “

“What a flaw” – 
 sighed celery.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

Flaki is a traditional Polish meat stew in the form of a dense soup. Name – flaki or its diminutive flaczki (both are plural) – comes from its main ingredient: cleaned strips of beef tripe. To be more brutal: fragments of the stomach! No matter how oddly it sounds – believe me that flaki is really tasty!. However, even many Poles don’t treat shreds of stomach with sufficient confidence and confine themselves to eating a mere stock. And this one is absolutely delicious – as for it almost nobody has doubts. If you don’t find yourself swallowing fleshy slices, eat stock of flaki with relish and nobody would take it amiss. Nevertheless there is many many people who really love flaki and eat them whole. The soup is traditionally served during polish weddings. Flaki is eaten with fresh bread, usually with roll. It is supposed to be great for hangover!

On Polish land flaki was already known in the 14th century. Flaki was one of favorite dishes of King Władysław Jagiełło. Some variants of soup are also well-known in kitchens of other nations (Austrian, French, German, Italian and Asian). Those differ from Polish dish in the way of seasoning (e.g. addition of the wine vinegar in Austria) and way of serving. In Turkey flaki, seasoned with lemon, vinegar and garlic are regarded as one of the national dishes. In all recipes including polish you would find that it is possible to use all four parts of the stomach to prepare flaki, but it is believed that a maw and a paunch have the greatest culinary value. Beef tripe is rich in calcium compounds and contains them even more than meat itself.

A few words about concocting this exceptional dish. Tripe, after cleaning, blanching and cutting into thin belts, constitutes the base to a vegetable soup. Addition of beef or smoked bacon is possible if not advisable. It is consequential to cook flaki slices in stock until soft. Soup is usually served as pungent (pepper, nutmeg, ginger). The way of preparing differs a little bit depending on the region of Poland. Some add a bit of a tomato concetrate to flaki, some cook tripe without the roux. Popular addition to improve ‘nobleness’ is meatballs, which you could find in a regional variant known as ‘flaki po warszawsku’ (flaki in a Warsaw manner). In groceries in entire Poland there are also ready-made ‘flaki po zamojsku’ (flaki in a Zamość manner), sold in cans and jars. A variant of flaczki, in which fowl stomach is used instead of cow’s, is also known and called ‘flaki drobiowe’ (poultry flaki).

Because tripe requires prolonged cooking, making Polish flaki lasts a lot of time. Therefore, I oftentimes prepare this Polish soup using poultry – a chicken or turkey breast. I cook meat in broth together with all of spices and when it is ready tear it with a fork. This flaczki has a very similar taste, since combination of typical intense spices is analogous to the original soup. It is not completely the same taste. The traditional flaki has a little bit of peculiar taste thanks to a tripe which is missing here. However, chicken flaki are still really tasty and worth recommending. And there is a one more advantage apart from an easiness and speedy of cooking. Those people disturbed by the consciousness of what kind of meat swims in a plate of the original flat tires, can eat chicken or turkey flaki with a relish

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)

In Poland, where the very strong tradition of the mushroom hunting exists, edible mushrooms of many kinds growing wild in forests are collected. Mushrooms called boletus (in polish ‘borowik’ or ‘prawdziwek’) are recognised as one from the noblest and usually used for filling Christmas Eve uszka or traditional polish pierogi. Another example of delicious fungus is chanterelle mushrooms (in polish ‘kurka’, sometimes ‘liszka’ or ‘pieprznik’) adored by Poles as well as others. An exquisite scrambled eggs are made with gently fried chanterelle. Another polish dish that makes use of ‘kurka’ is a special and delicious sauce served with the pork neck, the sirloin or the pikeperch. Parasol mushrooms fried in coating constitute the delicacy on the Christmas Eve table in many Polish homes. And all of those are just three examples.

The mushroom hunting is a hobby of many people, whereas for the majority it is a way of spending time in the bosom of nature – recreational activity. The mushroom hunting remains cultivated in Poland also on account of culinary benefits and because of tradition that requires preparing some festive meals made of mushrooms. Polish cuisine knows a lot of dishes which consist of mushrooms. These are inter alia soup, sauces and stuffing. Moreover many mushrooms are dried for the Winter time. Beautiful aroma of mushrooms being dried stays afloat in home for many days. Wonderful appetizers results from some other mushrooms that are marinated.

Poles preparing traditional dishes usually don’t use white mushrooms easily available in groceries around the World. Polish dishes are usually based on raw mushrooms (directly after picking, i.e. in Autumn time). In winter dried mushrooms are used. In many families mushroom hunting is an activity of grandmothers and grandfathers, who have lots of free time and find pleasure in walking in forest with the basket on the shoulder. Access to mushrooms isn’t hampered for nobody, since in Autumn it is also possible to buy raw mushrooms at the markets in many towns, while in Winter, in the pre-Christmas period dried mushrooms turn up at groceries.

The mushroom hunting is a great Slavic tradition. A long time ago mushroom hunting was a group activity. Friends, or members of families went to forest for the many hours’ mushroom hunting. On their return dishes of the traditional Polish cuisine were concocted from gathered mushrooms. One could find the literary description of such collective mushroom huntings in Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicza. This poem is regarded in Poland as a national epic.

The mushroom hunting is an activity well-known to Slavic nations (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia and other) and Baltic (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia). It is also popular in Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark) and in some countries of Mediterranean Basin. Outside Europe Koreans, Japanese and Canadians pick mushrooms.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)