BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture Polish specialties

Well, after I wrote bad things about Polish cheese, I have to admit there are some things that I was very happy to eat in Poland.

One of them was called "golabki" (literally translated to "pigeons"). These are rolls of cabbage stuffed with a mixture of rice and meat. I just forgot about them when I was abroad and then I was very happy to rediscover them here ;-)

Here are some recipes:

http://www.globalgourmet.com/destinations/poland/golabki.html
http://basketsbypat.freeyellow.com/jillsgolabki.html

And pierogi of course... Truskawkowe, ruskie, z kapusta... ;-)

The recipe for Golabki that my wife and I use call for equal parts of ground veal, beef and pork.

We have tried some variations on the sauces which are tomatoe based. One that we particularly liked is to use a mixture of tomatoe soup and a popular Bloody Mary mix. Adds some spiciness to it. :rolleyes:

We enjoy eating stuffed gabbage. My grandmother (part Ukrainian & part Albanian) called it olypsia.

My wife makes golobki and she learned how from my mother. The only thing she adds is a little Spanish flair to it (nothing hot or spicy) but it adds two cultures to what is truely a great dish.

You can also try golabki with mushrooms instead of meat. I'm vegetarian so my Mom makes them this way for me. They're delicious. With tomato and sour cream sauce of course.

Hi Karol,

welcome to the forum! Do you live right now in France?

Hi Karol,

I love the golabki with mushrooms. When your Mom makes them, what kind of mushrooms does she use?

Barbara

Ok, here's two other contributions.

The first - I'm not sure if everyone loves this one. It's been around for quite a good amount of time, and it could be bought during the PRL times. _Kaszanka_.

It's a kind of sausage made of blood and groats. I'm not at all sure if it's Polish or maybe it's of some other origin. It's not popular probably because of its looks and also because you never know what's inside (but, then again, it's only blood).

However, when I was in Krynica (a small ski resort, one of the few in Poland) some weeks ago it was served almost everywhere with bizzare names like "kaszanka po chlopsku" (peasants' kaszanka) etc.

And the second one would be _pyzy_. These would be balls made of a dough made from potatos and eggs. Some Italian pastas are made this way but the "pasta" for pyzy comprises of more potatos I think and as a result is more rough. Pyzy can often be stuffed with meat or fruit like plumbs or strawberries.

Hello.
Yes, I live and study in Strasbourg, France now but I'll be going back home to Krak�w in June.

Now, to answer Barbara's question, my Mom uses simply cultivated mushrooms (pieczarki) with the golabki. But here's another thing you could try:
My Mom also makes wonderful herrings in tomato sauce. She uses herrings in oil, concentrated tomatos, raisins and wild mushrooms (podgrzybki). You just mix it and put in a jar for a day. It's quite heavy, but you can serve it as an apetiser or as a dessert!

Welcome Karol. Glad to hear from you, and in France at that.