BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Polish Culture What is your favorite food for Christmas?

I miss really the most the carp. Here it is even difficult to buy the carp and if youbuy it it is not really so tasty as Polish carp, since Poles cultivate carps in special ponds.

This year I also plan to do poppy cakes. I have lots of poppy seeds and I did not do the poppy cake for a very long time!

What about Frank, Basia, Nancy, Lily, Carl and all of you guys?

Gee Jaga, What wonderful memories this thread brings back..I am going to pass on my favorite food.. It was all soooo good.Wigilia was our big night.. There was no formal dinner.. Food was laid out buffet style..As my family ate drank and sang Koledy.. Food was always replen ished. This was the fasting part. ( No meat )
Then we went to midnight Mass.( The priest called my family a bunch of drunks ) We could not wait for mass to end, so we could return to the Szynka, and Kielbasa that was waiting for us.. ( Plus more Booze )
I can remember the night when they escorted my uncle Jasek ) out of church.. ( He was the family drunk ) He sang Gdy sie Chrystus Rodgi so loud that he drowned out the choir)
Bob wrote a beautiful article on a Polish Christmas in Hamtramck.. I can relate to everything that he wrote
I do not think that no one does it, but I still make my own Kielbasa twice a year.. Christmas and Easter.. I love a lot of garlic.
( FRESH )
For those of you that might be interested.. Here is my recipe.
Boston butt or pork shoulder..I like Boston butt.. It has just the right amount of fat

Cut up into stew size chunks , placed in a container, covered with a hand full of mustard seed, salt,and coarse grund pepper( Quarter ground) This is mixed good and placed into the fridge over night.A lot of fresh ground garlic

The salt covered casing is placed in a bucket of warm water to wash away the salt..( Over night)
In the morning it is opened on one end over a cold water faucet and rinsed

The casing is placed over a stuffing horn,held by another person.. Then I feed the meat into a hopper (Course Ground) along with ice water.

As I feed the meat and ice water it comes out into the casing held by the other person.. It comes out in six foot lenghts..OULLA KIELBASA.

FRANK

My favorite foods for Christmas:
Salmon & flounder
Pasta
Kebab
Kishka
BAklava (for dessert)
Carl

For Christmas Eve, we would go to "Little Babci's" near Hamtramck.

She would serve smoked fish,pickled herring, plum piergogi, mushrooms, kapusta.

For Christmas Day, we went to "Big Babci's" in Dearborn and when we walked in the door we were knocked over by the smell of Aunt Bernice's (garlic) kielbasa, fresh kielbasa, kaputa and ham.

Good and fragrant memories. I would say of all of them....the smoked fish would be my favorite!

Frank, Carl, Babraj

your Christmas dinner sound interesting! It is deifinitively Polish-American dinner, although you say that you did not have any formal dinner.

The traditional Polish food need to contain some fish during the evening, just like babraj is talking about herring. But we eat kielbasa and szynka (ham) the next day.

Jaga,
We had salted Shmaltz herring bought in the Jewish market.. They came in brine in a large wood barrel. Mom would p[ickle them along with the white ROE.. This was my Fathers favorite.. It is possible that we had them at Wigilia.. But I do not remember.. I loved the pierogi.. By time I finished eating my fill of pierogi.. I had no room for anything else.. So it is possible
that they were there.
Jaga I remember Green peas and saurkraut.. I loved it, but Mom said that it was only to be eaten at Wigilia Can you say why..? Was there a religious meaning to it. What was it called..Was there another name other than Groh z kaputem???
Frank

My grandparents were born in the late 1800's. I am sure their traditions were different from those now practiced in Poland.

My "Little Babci" told me she lived on the border of Germany and Poland. She said they got the food they needed by bartering. She said she had to speak German to the Germans as they would never lower themselves to speak Polish. The way the borders have changed so many times, who know's what kind of blood I have in me.

My husband says my mother has Russian in her. She isn't the warmest individual!

Ha!

Due to my Albanian heritage, we eat a mix of Italian, Greek, Slavic & Turkish food.