Poland does not have one dumpling. It has a whole family of them, and every one of them has a job. Some go in soup. Some get fried in butter until the edges crisp. Some arrive at the table covered in sugar and sour cream and count as dinner. The best known Polish dumplings are pierogi (filled half-moons), kopytka (soft … Read more
There is always a ring of kielbasa in our fridge. Always. It keeps for ages, it flavours everything it touches, and it turns a handful of ordinary ingredients into dinner. The best things to make with kielbasa are the ones Poles have cooked forever: kielbasa with sauerkraut, one-pan skillets with cabbage and potatoes, hearty stews like leczo and bigos, white … Read more
Ask a Pole what Polish food is and you won’t get a list — you’ll get an argument. Everyone’s grandmother made the definitive bigos, and everyone is certain their region does pierogi properly. Traditional Polish food is built on pierogi, hearty soups like barszcz and żurek, cabbage and sauerkraut dishes such as bigos and gołąbki, pork in every form (kotlet … Read more
In a Polish house, soup isn’t a starter. It’s the meal. Dinner in my family has always begun with a bowl of something steaming, and Sunday without rosół on the stove simply doesn’t feel like Sunday. The most popular Polish soups are rosół (clear chicken soup), barszcz czerwony (red beet soup), żurek (sour rye soup), zupa grzybowa (mushroom soup), zupa … Read more
Every December our kitchen turns into a cookie factory. Flour on the floor, jam on the table, three trays cooling at once and someone always eating the broken ones — which, in our house, is the whole point. The best-known Polish cookies are kolaczki (cream cheese cookies folded around jam), pierniczki (spiced honey gingerbread), faworki or chruściki (crisp fried angel … Read more
Pierogi are the one Polish dish everybody already knows — and the one most people are slightly afraid to make at home. They shouldn’t be. The dough is four ingredients, and once you’ve folded twenty of them your hands simply know how. Polish pierogi are half-moon dumplings made from a simple flour-and-water dough, and the classic fillings are ruskie (potato … Read more
If you grew up in a Polish home, you know dessert was never optional. There was always something on the table — a szarlotka cooling by the window, kolaczki disappearing from the holiday tray, or sernik waiting in the fridge for Sunday. The most beloved Polish desserts are sernik (farmer’s cheese cheesecake), szarlotka (apple pie), pączki (filled doughnuts), makowiec (poppy … Read more
Dyngus Day is Poland’s Easter Monday water fight — śmigus-dyngus. What it means, when it falls, how Buffalo and Cleveland celebrate, and the food that goes with it.
What do Poles eat for breakfast? Discover 16 traditional Polish breakfast foods, from kanapki and jajecznica to racuchy and drugie śniadanie.
If you grew up in a Polish home, you already know the magic of walking into a kitchen that smells like simmering sauerkraut, roasting meats, and fresh dill. Traditional Polish food is unapologetically hearty, rich, and deeply comforting. It’s the kind of food that was born out of necessity and perfected over generations—built on staples like root vegetables, wild mushrooms, … Read more
