Our mission is to share our rich Polish culture through God and faith. All are invited to experience this religious and cultural event. Activities include Live Polish Entertainment, traditional Polish food, dancing, games, presentation of religious relics, tour of the church and it's grounds, and much more. Tour of the church includes viewing of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa painting from Polan
d and its significance and a chance to see where, Saint John Paul II prayed in the church while his visit to Los Angeles in 1976. FOOD SERVED:
Traditional Polish dishes have a lot in common with the cuisine of West Slavic and Central European nations. Characteristic of Polish cuisine are cereal dishes and flour, like kluski (type of dumplings without filling), dumplings, soups, breads and groats (all types). Flavors typical of Polish cuisine are salty, slightly fermented, or pickled, and medium spicy, spicy and herbal, tart and sweet and sour. As is the case with cuisines of other countries, there are regional specialties in Polish cuisine as well, depending on the resources available geographically–marine fish in Pomerania, dairy products from sheep in the mountains, fish from the Masurian lakes, grapes from Silesia and wild mushrooms from Greater Poland. Here is a list of the most famous traditional Polish dishes. Mains
Bigos:
There are many ways of preparing bigos. Its main ingredient is cabbage. Sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, meat and cold cuts along with dried wild mushrooms, prunes, onion and spices are common. Traditionally, no tomato sauce is added, as is currently done often, but red wine is added while stewing the ingredients. It is interesting that the longer it is stored, the better the taste, and it does not lose its flavour after every re-heating. It is typically served as a starter with bread, often as a whole meal and (as a traditional Polish dish) often served during special events as an appetizer. Bigos
Bigos is a traditional stew (Hunter's Stew) and is considered to be the national dish of Poland. There are many different recipes and they may vary from region to region. Typically, Bigos includes sauerkraut, various meats and sausages, tomatoes, honey and mushrooms. For meats, you can have bacon, beef, pork, ham or veal. Bigos is considered a "perpetual stew" which means it can be kept in a pot for a week or more. The taste of this stew actually intesifies each time it is reheated. Schabowy (Pork Chop and Pork Loin):
The pork chop is breaded and fried in a pan with lard. It goes perfectly with mashed potatoes, grits or rice and salads for example, with cabbage, beets or cucumbers with sour cream. Zrazy:
Beef roulades are a traditional old Polish cuisine dish, especially for the nobility and hunters. Currently, they are made of beef, cut into slices and wrapped with bacon, pickled cucumbers, onions and red peppers. Rolled up and held together with toothpicks, the meat is pre-fried and then stewed. Served with gravy and often with potatoes and salads. Gołąbki (Doves):
This is a dish of minced meat with rice or grits, wrapped in cabbage leaves and baked covered. Meat, depending on one’s preference, can be pork, poultry or lamb. There is also a Christmas version, when meat is not eaten, it is replaced with buckwheat. Gołąbki are served with tomato sauce. Pierogi (Pierogies):
Pierogies have been known in Poland since the seventeenth century and probably come from the Far East. The Poles have achieved perfection in preparing dumplings and it became a traditional Polish dish. This is a dish of pastry with stuffing, boiled in water. Ways of cooking are a dime a dozen, in fact as far as your imagination takes you, fillings can be so varied, from sweet fruit, vegetable, mushrooms or meat and cheese. Most popular are Pierogi Ruskie, Pierogi with meat, Pierogi with Sauerkraut and wild Mushrooms. Pierogi :
Pierogi Ruskie (don’t let the name fool you, this is not a Russian meal!)
The filling is with curd and potatoes with spices and onions, pierogi are often fried and served with fried onions or sour cream. Pierogi with Meat
The filling is made of cooked meat, ground and spiced. Pierogi with Sauerkraut and Wild Mushrooms
The filling is cooked sauerkraut and dried mushrooms, onions and spices. This dish is also served on Christmas Eve as traditional dish. Kielbasa (sausage):
Sausage is traditionally made from pork, but you will find such variety as smoked, dried, blanched, fumed, with beef, lamb, poultry and everything else with the addition of several spices in the Polish market. Kabanosy, sausages, salami, etc. As rich a range of recipes as there is, the most popular is the grilled sausage with bread and mustard. Kaszanka (Black pudding):
It is a product with grits and blood and offal: liver, lungs, pork skin fat. Basic spices are onion, pepper, marjoram. Flaki (Tripe):
Beef bone broth with pieces of tripe, meat and vegetables. It is a soup cooked in meat and vegetables broth with grated pickled cucumbers and potatoes, thickened with cream. Sour in taste. The best soup ever. Cakes
Sernik (Cheesecake):
Sweet cake with white cheese base. Served with fruits such as cherries and berries as well as poppy seeds and raisins. Makowiec (Poppyseed cake):
Ye**ty dough, or sponge wrapped with poppy filling and raisins. Often served on Christmas Eve. Jabłecznik, Szarlotka (Apple pie)
A cake that comes from France and is very popular in Poland and famous in the whole country is Szarlotka. Short crust pastry dough stuffed with apples and cinnamon, called pulp. Yummy…
Piernik:
Gingerbread for which Krakow is famous, it is a hard dark brown cake made from a mixture of wheat and rye flour, caramelized sugar, honey, heavily spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and sometimes cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. Paczki (Doughnut):
This is the Polish equivalent to a doughnut. It is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped i nto a flattened sphere and filled with fruit preserves. Most commonly, they are filled with a stewed plum jam or wild rose hip jam. The top can be either covered in glazed or powdered sugar. In Poland, the last Thursday before Lent is known as Paczki Day. (It can also be referred to as Greasy Thursday or Fat Thursday.) It is similar to the American tradition of Fat Tuesday. Nalesniki (Crepe):
Omelette crepes stuffed with meat and many more things like jam, fruit, etc. very similar to crepes. Once filled and rolled, they can be baked or pan fried, or dipped in beaten egg and bread crumbs and fried. History of Polish Cuisine:
In medieval times, Polish cuisine was described as very piquant, characterized by frequent use of meat and groats, where enormous quantities of spices were used, mainly pepper, mace and juniper, which resulted from close trade relations with the countries of the Orient. Turnips, peas and honey were also in general use and the most popular drink was honey mead and beer. In the fifteenth century, Queen Bona, originally from an Italian family, had a huge impact on the evolution of Polish cuisine. Thanks to her influence, many previously unknown vegetables started to show up on Polish tables. Tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, lettuce and spinach added color and richer flavour to the typical heavy-in-meat-and-fat Polish meals. Also thanks to her, Polish meals included macaroni and spices, and led to increased consumption of wine, which gradually supplanted mead. Meat typically used in Polish cuisine includes pork, poultry and also venison – wild boar, rabbit and birds. Formerly, due to highly forested lands in Poland, pigs were grown mainly for meat from which a wide variety of sausages and cold cuts were produced. Horned cattle were valued mainly for dairy products, thus curd, sour cream and cheese were used. And poultry was bred mainly for their nutritious eggs. Today, however, in Polish cuisine you will also find dishes with beef and chicken. As well there is extensive use of forest wealth like wild mushrooms, berries, nuts and herbs. Fish in Polish cuisine are primarily freshwater in origin (as a result of historical changes in access to the sea), but the main sea fish in Polish recipes is herring. Typical fruits are apples, berries, plums, pears, gooseberries, currants, cherries and geans (wild cherries), which are unknown north of Europe. All of these fruits are used today in dishes, desserts, baked goods, compotes and jams and tinctures are prepared from them. Polish cookbooks are known for the high number of soups and broths from local plants, cereals, meat, vegetables and fruits. Popular vegetables are beets, cabbage, cucumbers, potatoes and legumes such as peas and broad beans. SMACZNEGO !
