Flavor of Poland

Alek

Today on Flavors of Poland we have a truly special journey before us. We're off to Warsaw, the Capital of Poland and goodness do we have a lot to see. Prepare your eyes, your hearts, and your taste buds because the Polish Capital is full of historic cultural and culinary riches. It's a city where some of the most epic aspects of Poland's national history lie beautifully conserved alongside modern life and innovation. Here Poland's modern culinary masters reach back into Poland's historic traditions to develop new tastes that simply shock and amaze. In today's episode, we'll have the chance to explore the unbelievable tastes of Poland's Capital, both old and new from the very hands of some of Poland's most esteemed culinary experts. Our walk through Warsaw is going to be an unforgettable experience. I cannot wait to share it with you.

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 content.

Announcer 4

Be our guest. LOT Polish Airlines, a Star Alliance member.

Ernestrust

kitchens, wardrobes, interiors. 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 you from back home back here to my first home and introduce you to its true flavor. Thousands of tourists from every corner of the earth come to experience Warsaw, the Capital of the Polish State and its Masovian region. Located in the center of the country along the Vistula River at the cross points of major communication routes from the east, west, north and south of Europe, Warsaw has been and still is today an international city with doors wide open to the world and yet at its core remains the essence of everything Polish. I invite you to join me for this very special journey through the Polish Capital. The history of Warsaw, the Capital of Poland and the largest city in the country dates back to the founding of Old Warsaw, an early settlement built in the 13th century by the merchants of Totem here on the site of the Old town Warsaw districts.

Alek

The merchants who founded the city were brought to this area ages ago by Boleslaw II of Masovia. Since that time the city and its region have seen enough history to fill volumes of books. Any visit to Warsaw should begin with a stroll through the part of the city where it all began, the iconic and charming Old Town district. This historic center of Warsaw is the oldest part of the city as well as the cultural epicenter of Poland's Capital. Founded in the 13th century as a princely stronghold and fortified settlement, it flourished and developed with the growth of the Capital. Today it not only awes and inspires visitors with its multitude of enchanting buildings and historic objects, it is also the world's only example of a full planned and completed reconstruction of monuments and architecture formed between the 13th and 20th centuries. In 1944 during the Warsaw uprising of World War II, the Old Town district was raised to the ground. The bombing left colorful tenement houses, the surrounding old fortifications, the area's historic churches, its old Square, the Royal Castle, and everything in sight in complete ruin. In fact, about 85 percent of the entire city of Warsaw was left in complete destruction. It might be hard to tell and even harder to acknowledge when walking through this charming area of Warsaw today that all the beauty that surrounds us now lay burned in rubble only a few decades ago. More important and unbelievably admirable however, is the reconstruction project that followed the tragic events of World War II. Following the war, Poles undertook a noble and unprecedented task. In a span of only five years brick by brick they lovingly rebuilt the most beautiful district of their capital. Using as many remaining fragments of the original constructions as they could save, they reconstructed the entire Old Town area within these few short years. The massive reconstruction project was carried out upon the basis of preserved historical documents including paintings and the drawings of the neighborhood left behind by the great 18th century painter of Warsaw, Canaletto. Also deserving of mention is the royal castle which is undoubtedly one of the most impressive monuments in Warsaw. The royal castle of Warsaw was reconstructed numerous times throughout its history and as with the rest of the Old Town district, it was left in complete ruin in the turmoil of World War II. It was reconstructed again between 1971 and 1988 with the incorporation of its remaining fragments. Sigismund's Column which towers over the city's dwellers and visitors in the castle square is one of the oldest public monuments in the city and one of Warsaw's most iconic landmarks.

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Alek

Age old cities like Warsaw not only have long and eventful histories, they're also filled with legends. There's one such mysterious character that is particularly important to this city. I give you the Mermaid of Warsaw, the symbol and protector of Poland's Capital. Legend has it that ages ago local fishermen from the villages that once stood upon the grounds of the present day city freed the mermaid from a greedy merchant who wanted to keep her in captivity and use her for show. In gratitude for their kindness and bravery, the mermaid promised to always return to Warsaw in times of turmoil and great need to protect its people. She continues to keep watch over the city today through countless monuments and depictions and is even included in the city's Coat of Arms. An intriguing local myth, don't you think?

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Alek

Dariusz, thank you so much for inviting me to your restaurant today. You are the master chef here at the Warsaw restaurant, which is a part of the Warsaw Hotel, a beautiful and modern hotel in the city. The history of the hotel is really interesting because it's only one building that survived after the second war. So, the hotel was still left standing in spite of the bombing.

Dariusz

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Alek

But I hear what you do here at your restaurant is equally fascinating.

Dariusz

We do our own... We do our own bread, the roots are really important for us.

Alek

Wonderful. Well, I would love to have a taste of these traditions that you uphold here. I hear you have a surprise for me in your kitchen. The mushroom pate. So we just put the mushroom pate on the plate, spread it. It is inspired by pate. We slice the mushrooms. So, you cover it whole with the mushrooms? Yeah, we cover wholly the mushrooms. Spray with the vinegar and dust the mushroom powder. Also a mushroom powder. Wow. Looks like a masterpiece.

Dariusz

Yeah and that's it. Very simple. Try it.

Alek

Thank you.

Dariusz

So how do you feel about that? It's absolutely delicious.

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Dariusz

Daniel, I am so incredibly excited to have come across your restaurant while here in Warsaw, Brasserie Warszawska. Walking in here, it might not appear to be traditionally Polish. So tell me about your vision for this place. When I found this site I thought to myself, this is the perfect location for the restaurant that could have been here since before the Second World War. When you look at the history of Poland in general, they were very close knit bound with Paris, with Budapest, with Viet Nam, with London and the cuisine reflected on that. The sauces, the way we present the dishes, the white tablecloths, the culture, that was always very, very close. However, the Brasserie Warszawska, I want it to be the mixture of Paris and Warsaw.

Alek

Tell me what we have in front of us here today.

Daniel

Well, we have a bit of Paris and Warsaw, oysters being French.

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Daniel

Here we are now in May so we have our green asparagus with what the French they call la polonais, It means the Polish style with hardboiled egg, a la polonais. Very interesting. And you have? We have the classical steak tartare. In this version we put some lovage and some dried parsley. So I wanted to create something that shows a continuation of our culture. Daniel, thank you so much for this treat. Thank you and Na Zdrowie! Na Zdrowie! You can't have Warsaw without paczki and you can't have better paczki than this famous pastry workshop at number 15 on Grczewska Street.

Alek

For nearly 100 years the Cukiernicza pastry workshop has been producing the most beloved paczki in the city. This family-owned bakery makes the iconic Polish sweet based on a secret recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation. The shop has been visited by many distinguished customers. Politicians, artists, and businessmen from around the world come to its doors for the best sample of the now world famous Polish donut. On Fat Thursday locals line up as early as 3am to get their batch while the bakery itself prepares to sell as many as 8,000 paczki throughout the day. A visit to this place is like a walk back into the times of prewar Warsaw. Even the packaging has been unchanged for years. If you're craving something sweet on your visit to the Polish Capital you have to have Polish Paczki and you have to stop in for a package of Zabzinski's best. Incredibly soft, filled with a multi fruit marmalade covered with a sugary glaze, these are paczkis you can't find anywhere else but here in Warsaw. I think there's no better place to enjoy them than one of Warsaw's beautiful parks. Now, you'll have to excuse me. I need to finish the rest of these before we continue our tour.

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Alek

One of the most enchanting areas of Warsaw is the Krolewskie Lazienki or the Royal Baths Park. An expanse of nature set in the heart of Warsaw. The romantic park covers 76 hectares of the city and is the masterpiece of Poland's last monarchy, King Stanislaw August Poniatowski. Under his rule Lazienki Park was transformed into a setting for palaces, villas, monuments, and classicist follies. One of the most iconic buildings left over from that time period today is the palace on the water, the king's summer residence and a point that every tourist stops to admire. A Chopin Memorial also decorates the Royal Lazienki Park, a proud ode to the great Polish pianist loved and respected around the world. On Sunday evenings in the summer the whole park resounds with live piano concerts of Chopin's work itself. Warsaw abounds in unusual and traditional products that are not only a proud stamp of the region, but also offer inspiration for individual culinary experimentation. A fact, wth which the owner and chef of the restaurant I'm about to visit today is well familiar. I'm making my way to Atelier Amaro the finest restaurant in the Polish Capital and the first restaurant in Poland to receive a Michelin Star. Being here in Warsaw, I couldn't possibly miss the opportunity to see what it's all about. Let's head inside and see why Atelier deserves its star. In order to be able to create something, to start telling the story about Polish cuisine, I have to really find out what's happening here in the nature. So I sat down and I created the nature calendar. Wojciech Modest Amaro is one of the most outstanding chefs in Poland today. Prior to opening the doors of his fine dining restaurant, he embarked on a journey around Poland to learn about the country's native products and culinary traditions. Today Modest Amaro incorporates that research and his discoveries into his menu at Atelier Amaro creating a contemporary and original interpretation of Polish cuisine, blending new technologies and creative cooking with the roots of old tradition. We're going to create the dish that is using both types of asparagus, white asparagus and the green. I just peel them and shred them. We put those in the container with a little of salt. So we are into the season of asparagus, but also this very short season of edible needles. So we're going to combine them. They will give the acidic forest flavor aroma. A little bit of mayonnaise is mixed with mustard seeds. So this is going to be a one side of a dish and the second one is going to be green asparagus smoked in front of our guests. So we use straws and we use large needles, they are very soft as well as full of flavor. We stuff them inside the jar. We have a green asparagus. We need to fry them. So we can see it turns beautiful green with bits of butter. So we leave that and we're going to add of course this aroma of forest. Now these ingredients that you're using from the forest, do you pick them yourself? Yes. It's ready very quickly. Two minutes. That's all. We're going to put them in a jar and I flame them. We want the smokiness coming through nicely. 90 seconds in front of the guest. We have our remoulade of white asparagus then we're going to place on this beautiful plate. Some more needles just nicely on the top. You can smell that. Oh, my god. -Yes. -Wow. Just suited to smokiness. I think everyone who shares in Polish heritage can be very proud of the work that you've done, so thank you for that. I'm sure the next time I visit you, there'll be at least a second star if not a third because I think you deserve them all. So thank you for the visit and for all the lessons. Thank you.

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Alek

Welcome to Polish Versailles, Wilanow Palace. This pearl of Polish architecture was once the second residence of Poland's kings and later on a home to his biggest magnates. The palace lies within a district of Warsaw carrying the same name, Wilanow. The stunning palace lies adjacent to a picturesque park, old churches, museums, and restaurants that uphold and preserve Poland's royal history and its artistic heritage. Having survived the country's many tumultuous events, it stands as a proud holding place of Polish culture, art, tradition, and its class. The residence of the King of Poland was the Royal Castle in Old Town Warsaw, correct? So how did the palace in Wilanow come about? Yes, the king's offshore residence was indeed the Royal Castle in Warsaw, but he also had a few offshore residences. Among them was what we would call a suburb or villa. This was a small palatial residence set within the garden located not too far from the city. Today that residence serves as the director's office for that Warsaw University. In addition to that he also had a country residence what we call Villa Rustica located in the countryside. And that was Wilanow, the palace we stand in front of here. So what is found inside the Wilanow palace today? We have here what we call two traditions. The traditional place initiated by King John Sobieski III and the museum tradition. Our main fascination is education through history and art. A few years ago we completed our restoration of the palace facade and from under plastering from the 19th and 20th centuries we uncovered its historic colors. So today we have here the splendor of the royal residence in all its glory. Alek; As a rare treat today, instead of inviting you into my own kitchen I've been invited to the kitchen of Maciej Nowicki and I'm taking you with me. Maciej runs the culinary research and education center, which is a part of the Wilanow Palace Museum and this is where he creates all of his magical-- rather recreates all of the magic of Poland's culinary heritage. So I'm so excited to learn from you today. Where do we begin? We begin from this. First Polish culinary book, 1682. So, what was the most important representative ingredients and favors from the period? Sturgeon. Which is pretty unique for the general Polish fish. So we can start filleting the sturgeon. All right. There's a very, very nice piece of fat in the fish. -I see that. -It's lovely. We need this fat and also sturgeon neck contains loads of flavor. So we're going to prepare the fillet and later on I'm going to use all the off cuts. We used to call it nose to tail eating. Right. Exactly. So you can't waste absolutely anything from the animal including the fish also. The most representative flavor about the 17th century Polish cuisine is the spices. Cuisine of 17th century was full of flavors. It was flavored based on a contrast. It was sweet and sour and balanced flavor. Please remember we are still talking about a baroque. We are still talking about theatrical way of thinking. It was a lot of different very strong ingredients, spices such as ground nutmeg, saffron, cinnamon, very often used altogether. So you can be very careful with all those ingredients and use them very carefully. All I'm going to do now is put fillet into my broth. What is this broth? Tell me about what it's made of. So the broth is made out of the baked and cooked sturgeon heads. So it needs to be cooked until its golden brown that's why you've got this very intensive flavor. All you need to have is temperature above 90 degrees. Just slightly, slightly touched by the temperature about 10 up to 15 minutes. Meantime, we've got young beets, young courgette, and obviously asparagus and first of the year broad beans. That's a popular Polish vegetable. Yes, popular Polish and I love it. The first thing which we're going to do is carrots. This kind of carrots which we recognize now as a purple haze, that's probably the most original color of the carrots ever. I'm going to put them in the boiling water for two to four minutes. So now we can put the peaches on a pan. We're going to use a little bit of butter, squeeze of lime juice and sturgeon rough. Wow, that is going to taste so good. We're going to adjust this quite quickly. So, sweet and sour. Exactly, like you said before.

Maciej

Mmm hmm. Now courgette, which is a version of zucchini. A little bit of water.

Alek

From the carrots this time?

Maciej

Yes. Exactly. And a pinch of salt. Pepper. Two, three minutes max. I'm taking a moment to take in all of these aromas happening here. I don't know if you realize, but there's poetry happening behind us, culinary poetry.

Two last steps

asparagus and broad beans. Broad beans first... and asparagus... Broad beans first... and asparagus... and now just a touch of temperature before I serve. Now at the very end please remember the Polish proverb, fish, to taste right,

needs to swim three times

in the water, in the bottle, and in the wine or in the wine or the bottle.

laughing

needs to swim three times

I love that. All right, so all the stuff is done. I will start plating up. We can start with this beautiful rhubarb pure cooked in a caramel white wine. So, courgette. Also this kind of funky, messy style is part of our cooking as well because we still have this quite messy baroque style. Now the beets got this beautiful--

Alek

Aw, they look gorgeous.

Maciej

Beautiful color.

Alek

Then we have the carrots.

Maciej

Also the carrots. The end of a story on our plate, which is sturgeon. Wow. All right, so now we need to taste it. I definitely need to taste it. There you go. Thank you. Enjoy it. Wow, it's so soft and delicate. Okay, so one thing at a time or all together? Well, you can do it one at a time.

Alek

Mmm. It just falls apart in your mouth. Spring on a plate? Absolutely spring on a plate. It's unbelievable.

Maciej

Thank you. Maciej, to say that this was a delight is not enough. Thank you for everything that you've taught me here. It's been quite a journey. Thank you very much. Warsaw has surprised, amazed, and delighted me beyond measure. I hope that you enjoyed this adventure through the Polish Capital as much as I have. I'll see you in the next episode of Flavor of Poland.

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 content.

Announcer 4

Be our guest. LOT Polish Airlines, a Star Alliance member.

Ernestrust

kitchens, wardrobes, interiors.