Culinary Tales from Warsaw
Author: Magdalena Tomaszewska-Bolałek—cultural scientist, orientalist and expert in the field of culinary tourism and promotion of culinary heritage, author of numerous publications on world and Polish cuisine.
We usually think about culinary culture in the context of dishes, local products, or specialities. But food, and what goes on around the table, is also an interesting topic appearing in stories, legends, and anecdotes. Fruit, vegetables and meals hide many secrets. Some are related to well-known historical figures, while others are simply perfect reflections of the spirit of the time when they were first told. Polish culinary culture is unusually rich in such material, including instructive stories of generosity, love, cunning and resourcefulness, as well as cautionary tales of punishment for evil deeds. Everyday staples such as bread, dairy products, fruit or honey were used to illustrate them. What culinary stories are connected with Warsaw? Here’s one that started hundreds of years ago.
From America to Warsaw's tables
When Christopher Columbus discovered America, he couldn’t have known that as a result, many foods would come to Europe that would forever change the face of European cuisine. Of course, many of their roads to those tables were long and bumpy. There was no shortage of scandals, initial resistance to unfamiliar plants, or simply a lack of ideas for how to use them. One culinary story from Warsaw concerns a newcomer from the far-flung Americas, specifically from lands that are now part of Peru. The story is about the potato, which had been known and used for hundreds of years before the Europeans discovered it. Initially, however, the tubers shipped in ended up not in pantries or restaurants, but mostly in botanical gardens, where they were carefully inspected and their properties studied. Kings and the wealthy elite placed them in their conservatories as a botanical curiosity.
Wilanów's potato history
The potato came to Poland at the end of the 16th century, but the most popular, fictionalised version of its national debut has been shifted forward about a century and relates to King Jan III Sobieski (1629–1696). He was a highly revered ruler, loved by his subjects. He built a magnificent Baroque palace in Wilanów (now a district of Warsaw) featuring an orangery, a huge park and gardens, which can be visited to this day. Today, it houses the Museum of King Jan III’s Palace, and the Wilanów Poster Museum. According to a popular anecdote, following the 1683 Siege of Vienna, Jan III Sobieski sent a sack of potatoes to Poland. The unknown species was planted in the garden. However, no one was won over by its leaves or flowers, much less by its fruit. So the king ordered that it be dug up and thrown out. Like other old and unwanted plants, it was to be burned in a bonfire. The servants obeyed the monarch’s order. The next day, when the fire was completely extinguished, one of the gardeners noticed the strange tubers. He broke them in half. Revealed before his eyes was pale, soft and delicious flesh. It was thus discovered that the most valuable part of this American plant was hidden deep in the ground. From then on, potatoes were slowly introduced into the diet. Of course, initially as a foreign curiosity.
The potato conquers Polish tables
Decades passed before potato cultivation spread throughout the country. They were planted earliest on a large scale in the territories of the Prussian partition. By the 19th century, potatoes were known throughout Poland. It turned out that the vegetable was extremely useful in the kitchen and could be prepared in a wide variety of ways. The role it plays in daily life is due not only to the wealth of dishes made from it, but also by the impressive number of over a hundred names it is known by. Boiled potatoes are served as a side to many main dishes, both meat and fish. They can also be fried in a pan or added to soups. The dish known as pyry z gzikiem comes from the western Wielopolskie province and consists of boiled potatoes topped with a generous portion of seasoned cottage cheese mixed with cream. The eastern Podlasie province has its own potato cake made from raw grated potatoes, onions, fried bacon crackling, and spices (some recipes also include an egg). In the southern Podhale region, you can eat moskole—griddled potato flatbreads. They are served with butter or bryndza sheep’s cheese.
Flavours of post-war Warsaw
Above all, however, potatoes are an important ingredient in many different varieties of kluski dumplings. And here we come back to Warsaw. One of the local specialties is Warsaw-style pyzy—round balls made from boiled potatoes and raw, finely grated potatoes. They are served topped with bacon crackling and fried golden onion. Their first mention comes from the Diaries of Maria Dąbrowska—a writer, essayist, and literary translator. These types of dumplings were sold on stalls scattered around the city as Warsaw came back to life after the war. Today, it is hard to say whether it was a local invention or something that came to the city with people arriving from across the country. However, pyzy topped with lard and cracklings are known to have been an affordable, filling, and energy-giving food for the people rebuilding the capital. The dish later became closely associated with the Różycki bazaar—a marketplace in Warsaw’s Praga district whose heyday was during the post-World War II period. People could stock up on various products there and eat well, too.
Pyzy, hot pyzy!
The local Warsaw-style pyzy were particularly popular, served in glass jars wrapped in newspaper or brown paper. The dumplings were virtually afloat in fat, lavishly garnished with cracklings and fried onions. The market traders hawked their wares by calling out: “Pyzy, hot pyzy!” Some people came to the bazaar mostly for the food, not only for the fragrant potato dumplings, but also for the equally famous Warsaw-style flaki—thin strips of tripe cooked in stock with a generous helping of vegetables. Suet meatballs added flavour and character to the dish. The first written recipe for this speciality appeared in Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa’s 1860 cookbook 365 dinners for five złotys. Though the Różycki bazaar is but a memory today, the cuisine of old lives on. Both Warsaw-style pyzy and flaki are available at selected restaurants in the capital. The potato, which began its European career as an ornamental plant in conservatories, is today an everyday product eaten not only by kings.
A wealth of culinary tales from Warsaw and other corners of Poland can be found in the book Food Stories from Poland (available in bookstores in Polish and English). Enthusiasts of Polish culinary culture are also encouraged to read the free, award-winning ebooks Polish Culinary Paths (Available in six languages: English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and Georgian) and The Polish Table (five languages: English, Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese), which can be downloaded from the Bunkatura Foundation website (bunkatura.pl).
Recipe for Warsaw-style pyzy*
Bacon and onion garnish
- 300 g raw bacon
- 2 medium onions
- oil or lard for frying
- salt
- pepper
Cut the bacon into small pieces (cubes or strips) and fry in a pan using oil or lard. When it browns, add the diced onion. Finally, season with salt and pepper.
Vegan garnish
- 3–4 medium onions
- vegetable oil for frying
- salt
- pepper
Dice the onions, then fry in oil. Finally, season with salt and pepper.
Pyzy
- 1.5 kg of potatoes
- 1–2 tbsp potato flour (optional)
- 3 teaspoons salt
Peel the potatoes. Cook 500 g in salted water and finely grate the other 1000 g. Drain the grated potatoes well. Let the collected liquid stand for 15 minutes, then pour off the liquid, keeping the starch settled at the bottom. Mash the cooled, cooked potatoes or pass them through a ricer until completely smooth. Gently combine the two mixtures, adding starch and potato flour if it is too wet. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt. Wet your hands with cold water, then shape the mixture into golf-ball-sized dumplings. Boil the pyzy in salted water for 15 minutes. Serve with a garnish of bacon and onion, or just onion for the vege version. Pyzy also taste great fried in a pan.
* The recipe comes from Magdalena Tomaszewska-Bolałek’s book Food Stories from Poland.
