Flavor of Poland

Aleksandra

In today's episode we're off to the region of Greater Poland, the very birthplace of Poland as a country. Countless monuments found here tell the story of the birth of Poland. In the 17th century Greater Poland was described as a land flowing of milk and honey and many claimed it has remained so to this day. In this episode, we'll explore the long and important history of Greater Poland with a visit to its capital city Poznan and the smaller town of Gniezno. Back at home we'll make an iconic potato dish of the region and for dessert we'll make chrusciki, Poland's famous fried dough strips often called angel wings in English. I'm so fascinated by Poland's story, culture, cuisine, and beauty. Now, it's time to explore how her story began.

Announcer 1

Funding for this program is provided by... Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union. Our credit union is more than a bank.

Announcer 2

Baron Chocolatier.

Announcer 3

LOT Polish Airlines offers nonstop flights from the United States to Europe via Poland or Hungary. Luggage, hot meals, and drinks are all included. The inflight entertainment system gives you access to a wide variety of movies and cartoons.

Announcer 4

Be our guest. LOT Polish Airlines. A Star Alliance Member.

Ernestrust

Kitchens. Wardrobes. Interiors.

Aleksandra

Welcome to Flavor of Poland. My name is Aleksandra August. And I'm so excited to take you on a delicious journey through my native country. I'm a Polish-American actress, but I also love to eat and I love to cook. Growing up in the states, I was always asked questions about Poland's culture, its history, and most of all, of course, about its food. So I finally decided to take all of that from back home, back here to my first home and introduce you to its true flavor. Today, we'll visit the Greater Poland region home to cities of Poznan, which is the capital of the region and Gniezno. Both of these places played an incredibly significant role in the early formation of the Polish state and as such they're filled with some of the oldest historic objects and monuments from Poland's past. The city's numerous museums and old architecture tell the long story of Poland. This may be our most exciting visit yet. I invite you to join me for this very special walk through greater Poland. A very important place on the map of Poznan is Ostrow Tumski. On this very island, Tumski Island, over a thousand years ago one of the biggest settlements of the early Polish State was built. This was the settlement of Poland's first national ruler, Prince Mieszko I. According to historical speculation it is likely that this was sight of Mieszko's baptism, the event that put Poland on the map of Europe amongst other Christian states and generally regarded as the birth of Poland. The Poznan cathedral officially called the Arch Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter and Saint Paul has been the heart of Ostrow Tumski in Poznan for over a hundred years. This was the first cathedral of Poland with an original construction dating back to the 10th century. It is one of the oldest and most impressive building left standing from that time period. The church was elevated its status as a cathedral in 968, only a couple of years after the historic baptism of Poland's first ruler. As the first, the first cathedral in Poland it had the right to function of the patronage of Saint Peter, the same patron adopted by the people basilica in the Vatican. In 1821 Saint Paul was added as a second patron. Due to a number of serious fires and other tumultuous events throughout Poland's history. The cathedral went through several major renovations and its styles have changed over time. Today, the building is restored to its original gothic style with some of its original medieval relics intact. The cathedral is also the burial grounds of some of Poland's earliest and greatest rulers including its first leader Prince Mieszko I. Poznan received city rights in 1253. The rapid development of the city secured its location at the intersection of numerous trade routes, things to which craftsman and merchants settled here allowing the city to grow and flourish. In 1793, the Greater Poland region was occupied by Prussian armies and the city of Poznan was incorporated into the Prussian State for over 100 years. This was the effect of the historic partition of Poland. During the partitions, Poznan was a center of Poland's struggle for independence. It was here in 1918 that the famous Greater Poland uprising broke out. After regaining independence, for the first 10 years, Poznan underwent intensive development. During World War II Poznan was greatly damaged. Intensive reconstruction of the city began in 1945. Today, Poznan is one of the largest Polish industrial, scientific, cultural, commercial, and sports center in the country. The Old Town Market Square in Poznan is the third largest square in Poland after Krakow and Wroclaw. The most beautiful and most valuable decoration of the Poznan squares stands at its central point, the elaborate town hall. The beginnings of Poznan's town hall date back to the 14th century. At the time this was a two-story gothic building. Today, only cellars survive from the early construction. The town hall was expanded in the 15th century. The beautiful tower was built at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, the town hall in Poznan is a real pearl of preserved renaissance architecture. Inside the town hall is the museum of the history of the city of Poznan, in which, among many other things, you can see one of the oldest monuments in the city, a pillory from 1535. The Poznan goats are an icon of the city and can be encountered every day in the Old Town Square, but you have to be on time. High overhead within the town hall tower two billy goat figures connected with the elaborate clock emerge out from behind a door and buck heads 12 times exactly at noon every day. The goats are connected with a local legend associated with the construction of the renaissance period town hall and have become a popular attraction for both locals and tourist. Featured in the center of the square is the city balance as well as a set of very colorful tenement houses with arcades. These are remnants of the city's old commercial development. In the summer the restaurants and cafs that line the perimeter of the square bustle with visitors from early morning and well into the night while street performers fill the square with their music and entertaining acts. The Poznan parish church or Poznan Fara is a collegiate basilica located in the area of medieval Poznan. It is the most beautiful baroque period church in Poland. Its construction was initiated by the Jesuit Order and began in 1651. Along with its interior decoration and equipment the full construction process took about a hundred years. The church's interior is full of gilding, wonderful stucco, monumental sculptures, and pictures, placed on its walls and at its 15th century altars. Perhaps the greatest impression upon tourist though is made by the 150 year old organs featured inside. They are the work of Friedrich Ladegast and are made of 2,600 pipes with 43 tones. On Saturdays free concerts on the incredible organs are offered to the public. Poznan, like a number of other Polish cities, also has its trademark food product. This is the Saint Martin croissant or rogale marcinskie as it's called in Polish. These unique noble croissants with the white poppy seed filling have been the most important sweet delicacy of Poznan for over a 150 years. Today, they have the status of a European Union protected geographical indication, which means they can only be created in Greater Poland according to a strictly defined recipe. The Saint Martin croissants might be as high in calorie as they are delicious, but they're certainly worth it. You have to try them when you're in Poznan. The culinary traditions of Greater Poland are as old as the history of the region itself and the secrets of what our ancestors here ate are still being uncovered. Initially grains, flour, and groat products were at the root of the cuisine of Greater Poland. The uniqueness of the Greater Poland cuisine was decided in the 19th century when potato production became widespread in Poland. Przemyslaw, I was walking through the beautiful city of Poznan and I heard a lot about your restaurant. People recommended it to me. So I was very curious and I wanted to stop in to see what you had to offer. Well so I have something traditional what is just only made in Poznan. So basically there is Rumpuc soup and there's a kind of vegetable soup with kind of a sauerkraut. The soups in Poland they have something on the base that they have to make people warm and then the people from Poland they're eating a lot of soup during the winter because they are warm and they are just making you feel very good as well. But I want to highlight that the warmth, it doesn't just come from the temperature. It comes from the blend of spices and herbs and flavors, all of the incredible ingredients. That makes the warmth inside. What else do we have in front of us?

Przemyslaw

It's a Pyra Z Gzikiem.

Aleksandra

Pyra means potato here in the Greater Poland region.

Przemyslaw

Gzikiem there is cottage cheese with sour cream mixed with some kind of spices and then put on top of the baked potato.

Aleksandra

This region is big on potato consumption. How did that come about?

Przemyslaw

From many, many years this Greater Poland area was also well known for producing all the nice potato and then it's exported to all other areas in Poland as well as it's kind of a long, long story about that from time when Poland was in communism and as well after the second World Wars. So when there was a lot of products was kind of limited to get in Poland that was the easiest way to create some kind of nice dinner as well. Lovely. You have to come to Poznan to try this. The potatoes won't be the same anywhere else. What is this beautiful picture before us? This is nice seasonal asparagus, which is as well kind of the home in Poland and they are just becoming very, very popular. Wow, then on top we have? Goat cheese. So as you can see it's very soft when you just have a little bite of it. I need a moment. Wow. So we've got a vegetable. We've got the rich creamy cheese and we've got a little bit of sweetness, dried raspberries. What a blend of flavor. Wow. Just a real taste of Poland. Thank you for the treat Przemyslaw. Thank you. You have to come here and try this for yourself.

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Aleksandra

Gniezno is a city that will forever be associated with the birth of the Polish State. Its fate is inextricably linked to the fate of the whole nation. Although historians do argue whether it was Gniezno exactly or Poznan that was the first capital of Poland. No matter their debate though, one thing is for sure, the region of Greater Poland is the place where Poland was born. I hear that Gniezno was the capital or one of the first capitals of Poland. Can you tell me a little bit about that? Well it's debatable for some historians because you had something like...in that time, in the 9th, 10th century. So the ruler, prince or king, was traveling and actually the capital was where he was at that time, but you can point towards Gniezno as the symbolic cradle, at least of the Polish nation, if not capital because of its symbolic meaning also as a religious cult center, Christians and preChristians. Damazy, places in the world like Gniezno have such a long history that they're filled with legends and I know that there's a particular story that's related not only to the origins of Poland, but also is tied to the name of the city of Gniezno. Can you tell me that story? Actually that's the legend of Lech, this guy here. Lech is the legendary founder of Gniezno also Poland therefore. The legend says that he was wandering through dense forest and then they saw a very beautiful land with a little hill upon the lake where they saw plenty of fish, plenty of animals in the woods. There on the top of the hill he saw a big oak tree on which there was an eagle's nest, the nest in Polish is Gniezno, therefore the name Gniezno. Lech pointed towards the hill and said to his fellow men that this is the place where we will start our city. Located on historic Lech Hill, the Gniezno Cathedral is one of the most important monuments of this old city. The first building on this site was an auditory, the remains of which you can see in the basement of the cathedral today. In 970 Mieszko I built the first church on this site and seven years later his wife Doubravka was buried there. In the year 1000 the body of the martyr Saint Adalbert rested here as well. The cathedral on Lech Hill reminds us of many events in the history of the Catholic Church and the Polish State. It is here in Gniezno that archbishops and then later primates executed the royal coronations of Poland. In 1025 the coronation of Poland's first King Boleslaw Chrobry, took place in Gniezno. Gniezno was the sight of five royal coronations over four centuries and crowned Poland's earliest kings. In 1038 Bohemian Prince Bretislav I invaded Gniezno leaving its burrows burned, destroying and looting the Cathedral and the Duchal Castle. As a result Casimir the Restorer, then King of Poland, moved the capital to Krakow. So what do I eat here? What do you recommend? Actually there are a lot of places that you can find good, very good dining, very good kitchen. Here we have White Taste restaurant which is famous for locale cuisine, Kuchnia Polska region. Also we have very fine brewery that makes local beer with their own restaurant down here in Gniezno and I think it's quite interesting so maybe later on you can see some of that. I hope. I think I will. Today, after many centuries, beer is once again being brewed in Gniezno. Found here is a very good brewery, literally Dobry Browar in Polish. The traditions surrounding its beer are just as great as the expectations around it and I have to say without hesitation that they have been met. Located in the very center of Gniezno the Dobry Browar Pub not only serves great beer, but also offers a number of Greater Poland food pairings. My newfound friends here in the city highly recommended I give it a try and invited me in for a sample. Well first of all, nostrovia. Na nasze spotkanie, as they say in Polish. It means, to our meeting. Wow, what a unique taste. Tell me a little bit about what you do here. What's your vision with this pub? So we brew our beer here from the beginning to the end and we try to call back to our tradition to medieval times. So that's why we decided to place the motive of the antelope her playing the bagpipes. In our offer we have brewing tours so you can watch all the process from the beginning to the end and in the meantime you can taste all different kinds of beer. What do we have in front of us?

Anna

Pork knuckle with potatoes and fried cabbage.

Aleksandra

Anna this is such a great and tender meat. Tell me, how do you make this?

Anna

First it's marinated in our beer, yes.

Aleksandra

Wow. So then it's boiled with vegetables, I think, two hours or more, and, I think, that's why you feel this kind of tender flavor. It falls apart in your mouth. It's really good. Well I have to say I've had some good beer at the Good Brewery with some good food and most importantly good people. Thank you guys. -Thank you. -Nice to hear that. -Thanks. -Thanks. Borrowing from the cuisine of the Greater Poland region, today we'll be making gzikiem. Its iconic baked potato with farmer's cheese as well as chrusciki also called chrusty, and known as angel wings in English. These delicately fried dough strips gently sprinkled with powdered sugar are a very popular Polish desert not to mention one that is quite addicting. It's one of my favorite Polish traits and I'm excited to make it with you today. To make our gzikiem, we're going to need some fairly large potatoes. I'm going to use three today, but you can make less or more. It's up to you. You're going to need 5 ounces of farmer's cheese, some salt and pepper for taste, a handful of chives, 5 tablespoons of oil. I'm using grape seed oil, but you can use olive oil or butter for this part too. Then I've mixed it with my favorite herbs, lovage, cumin, and marjoram. So we'll start by preparing our foil. We'll need a piece for each of our potatoes so I'm cutting three. Then we'll take each potato one by one, salt and pepper it, drizzle over it with our oil and herbs. Then we'll just wrap this and place it in our dish. Okay, great, our potatoes are ready to place in the oven. We'll want to set it to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and then we'll leave them in there for an hour. I think our potatoes should be done baking so let's take them out. Now, we'll also need to flavor our farmer's cheese. So you'll want to use about a flat half teaspoon of salt and then a little bit of pepper, great, and mix that altogether. Now, we'll take one of our potatoes here, you have to be careful because it's hot. It soaked up all of the oil and herbs. We remove our foil here and we'll cut off the bottom part and then we'll cut from the top in a cross direction. We'll take this and place it in our dish here and open it up separating these four pieces. Again, this is very hot so be careful doing this. Beautiful. Now, we'll just scoop our farmer's cheese, kind of big spoonful, dab it right in the middle. Take some chives, sprinkle them over the top and that's it. A very simple dish, but I'm sure an incredible one. So let's give it a try. Very good. You can also make this over a campfire. The aromas of the burning wood will add to the taste of your potato. Now let's make our angel wings. What we'll need to make our chruscik, or angel wings, is 2 cups of flour, about a half of cup of powdered sugar. We'll need half a teaspoon of salt, 6 egg yolks, a teaspoon of vinegar or spirit if you can find it. I'll be using vinegar for my recipe today. A teaspoon of baking powder and then 6 pretty full tablespoons of sour cream. Now we'll also need to prepare our oil for frying so I've taken a medium sized pot and I filled it about a third of way with grape seed oil. I'm going to turn my burner up to just a little under a medium heat level here and let this start to warm up. I've also set aside a plate where I will take out my chrusciki once it's done. Okay. So let's begin by making our dough. We're going to take our 2 cups of flour and sift it onto our board here. We're going to form a fairly large hole in the middle here. Okay. Great. Then now we'll take our 6 egg yolks and pour them in 2 at a time or so and kind of start to form the dough with your hands as you do this. You don't want them to pour off your countertop. Then I'll add in half a teaspoon of salt, my baking powder, my sour cream. Again, this is the part where you want to kind of start to form it so it doesn't drip away. Then of course, my vinegar. Now, we'll just use our hands to form our dough. Now, once you're dough is already formed you can kind of start to press into it a little bit harder because that will help to aerate it, which will make our angel wings more crisp and light. So now we'll take this bigger piece and we'll cut it into probably five smaller pieces and then we'll take each one and roll it out. Now, we want to make each piece very thin because these are not called angel wings for no reason. Okay, that should be good. Now we're going to cut diagonal pieces and form rectangle strips along the link of our piece of dough here. Okay and then we'll just slice a small hole through the middle of each strip and then we'll toss one side through to kind of create a small knot through the middle. Just like that. Be careful not to rip the dough. You'll want to heat your oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once it's that temperature you can go ahead and start throwing in your dough strips to fry. This is a very quick process so you'll want to be careful. We want them to get just a nice golden tone. No darker than that so we'll have to flip them frequently here. Now I can see that these are really nice and light and fluffy so that means we aerated our dough pretty well. Alright my angel wings are all fried and done. Now, all that's left to do is to sift some powdered sugar over them. Feel free to add a lot. It only adds to their taste. Now when you make these for your family or friends feel free to make more than one portion because it isn't difficult to simply inhale them. Okay, here we go. Light as a feather and crispy. The powdered sugar adds a nice delicate sweet on top. This just might be one portion for one person. They call it the land of milk and honey and I have to say it's remained that way to this day. It's also the place with the longest part of Polish history. Greater Poland has surprised and amazed me in every way and the sweet treat was just the sugar on top. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I have. I'll see you in the next episode of Flavor of Poland.

music

music

Announcer 1

Funding for this program is provided by... Polish and Slavic Federal Credit Union. Our credit union is more than a bank.

Announcer 2

Baron Chocolatier.

Announcer 3

LOT Polish Airlines offers nonstop flights from the United States to Europe via Poland or Hungary. Luggage, hot meals, and drinks are all included. The inflight entertainment system gives you access to a wide variety of movies and cartoons.

Announcer 4

Be our guest. LOT Polish Airlines. A Star Alliance Member.

Ernestrust

Kitchens. Wardrobes. Interiors.