Traditional food and beverages from southern Poland

Hm… I made up a title and right after that noticed that it is almost impossible to write about all traditional dishes even only from southern Poland. To face this problem I decided to divide Polish Carpathians into smaller regions and write about several dishes from each region. I had a chance to taste all of them :)

PODHALE, ORAWA, SPISZ – AROUND THE TATRAS

Moskol

It is a potato pancake made on a griddle. It is around 1 cm thick, made of mashed potatoes, flower and water. Moskols are served warm and with butter (even garlick butter!), sometimes also with bryndza and bacon. It used to be a very popular dish in Podhale region thanks to its simplicity and availability of cheap ingredients from which it is made of. Nowadays it is not so popular because in many houses are modern kitchens without the traditional griddle. But you can taste it in Zakopane and around in some guesthouses or restaurants e.g. Kraczma Sabala in Zakopane. 

Oscypek

Oscypek is a sheep's milk yellow cheese made in Podhale. It is firm, smoked and salty. Oscypek is also known as a shepherds cheese. You can buy it in many places in Zakopane and surroundings, in shops, on stands along the road. It is so popular that you will also find it in shops all over the country but the best is from its land of origin. Hiking in the Tatra, Pieniny and other Carpathian mountains in Poland you have a chance to visit traditional shepherds huts where the cheese is produced. I like to eat it warmed up (grilled) and with cranberry jam. Maybe it is not traditional way of eating but tasty ;)

Ice cream from Nowy Targ

Mhhmm…jummy. This is ice cream for patient people – sometimes the queue in front of the ice cream parlor is so long… but it is worth waiting. The ice cream has homemade taste and shape and is being sold by weight. You can buy it on a market square in Nowy Targ or on Krupowki street in Zakopane. The name of the shop is Zarneccy. 

Bryndza

It is the traditional white cheese made from mainly sheep’s but also cow’s milk. It is made in Podhale region and Beskid Mountains. Bryndza has salty, slightly sour and spicy taste. It is perfect together with bread or moskols but often it is used as an ingredient for preparing other dishes. In order to produce bryndza you need to pass through 10 stages of production.

Bread backed on cabbage leaf

Delicious! Especially when it is fresh, eaten with butter ;) It is springy, with crispy crust and it has gentle flavor of cabbage. It is an traditional dish from Orava (close to Babia Gora mountain).

WESTERN BESKIDY

Sliwowica Lacka

It is the traditional drink from Lacko with alcohol content more than 70%. “Sliwowica” means that it is made of plums. Lacko is famous for arboriculture.

Kolocz from Cieszyn area

Delicious cake – I use to buy it whenever I am visiting the Silesian Beskids. Bottom and top of kołocz is a baked yeast dough. Inside there is a poppy seed, cheese or apple filling. Top of kołocz is adorned with crumble sometimes sprinkled with powdered sugar.

 

BIESZCZADY and BESKID NISKI

Proziaki

These are pancakes made on a griddle. They consist of wheat flour or wheat-rye flour, eggs, sour cream, water, salt, sugar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Proziaki are very typical for Subcarpathian region (south-eastern Poland). They taste delicious with fresh butter, cool milk or sweet cream.

TO BE CONTINUED…