Polish food (What's your favorite ethnic food?)

marsman365

marsman365

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I'm a very proud American, but I am also very proud of my Polish ethnicity and many of our Polish and family traditions.

My wife and I love making Polish food from scratch. Our neighbors have family visiting and they asked us to make some food while they are here.

So this was last night's project. Homemade Gołąbki (pronounced "gaw WOAMB kee") aka Stuffed cabbage. We call them "piggies". Some folks also call them Halupki (Slovak). A bit a trivia, Gołąbki roughly translates to "little pigeons".

Also, what do you do with the leftover cabbage? Make Haluski! Cabbage and noodles (or homemade dumplings).

We also make homemade pierogi (primarily potato and cheese). And this summer I have plans to make and smoke my own kielbasa.

So what are your favorite ethinic foods you like to make?

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Pirogi and kielbasa are always good standbys.
While stationed in Europe, I did a rotation in Poland twice. Couldnt tell you tbe names of half the stuff I ate, but most all of it was pretty good. Good, hearty, belly fillin fare.
 
I once worked with folks from 28 countries and would eat at many of their homes. There were few countries food I like.

Italian is my favorite. The French are amazing cooks with their spin on similar American staples. French baked goods are incredible as are the desserts.

Top most disgusting for me- Mediterranean, Indian, Thai, and Southeast Asian.
 
like draco88 posted: kielbasa.

my Polish neighbor gave us some ~20 years ago.
still our favorite Polish food.

we like Italian better than French
but not by much. German is ok.
SE Asian-type in little doses.

personally, i do not like ANY Mexican food.
or...should i say...any that i have tried.
when we go to a Mexican restaurant
(because everyone else likes it)
i get a salad.
 
We used to get perogies twice a week for breakfast off Houston St. In NYC after working the night shift at our bank data center.
 
Korean of course.....

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I have eaten as many different types of "ethnic" foods as I have encountered on my various misadventures around the globe. Greek, Indian, Lebanese, Ethiopian, Thai, Vietnamese, Romanian, you name it & loved 'em all with the exception of Malaysian. Marine Major I was with had lived in China for a bit & said the Malaysian was authentic. That being the case, I rather doubt I'd care much for authentic Chinese, but I'll eat the hell out of those quasi pan-Asian buffets we call Chinese here.

One thing (of MANY) I loved about my time in Germany was that with the sizeable population of "guest workers" who stayed there, there was incredible Italian & Greek everywhere. Lot of good Balkan/Yugo restaurants, too. When I was in Karlsruhe, we'd ride the 15 minutes across the border into France for dinner. Sometimes we ate French & sometimes we'd hit a little ethnic Alsace-Lorraine place & channel our inner Suebi/Allemani.

When I was spending more time than I would've liked in Africa, I was grateful to find the Lebanese took to west Africa like Italians to the American northeast. Eating "on the economy" was VERY sketch & most of the safer restaurants catered to expat French & were both expensive & not very good. Thankfully, everywhere we went had both a Lebanese restaurant & grocery & that's a cuisine I can easily live on for months at a stretch.

All that hoity-toity, epicurean BS aside, some of the best meals I've ever eaten were cooked over a wood fire & shared with family & friends around that same fire.
 
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My wife is half Polish and her family cooked all sorts of stuff. Her grandmother made a mean bigos (country stew) and for dessert, she'd make kruschichi (kinda like a fried dough) that was to die for. My best friend is a Greek Cypriot. Everything he cooks is great, especially his lemon chicken and potatoes. He also makes koupepia (dolmades in mainland Greek) which is stuffed grape leaves that are insanely good. His baklava is better than any I have ever had in a restaurant, but his galaktoboureko (kind of an egg custard pie in phyllo dough) is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten.
 
Wife’s family has Slovenian roots so we know Perogies. I kinda like ‘Merican food like smoked meat, beans and things cooked over smoke and fires. But I won‘t pass up most Mexican or Italian food. And most Chinese and Thai food. French food is not my expertise, but if you add enough butter and cream to cardboard that will taste good. I don‘t enjoy most ‘rich’ food like that. Give me a good spice or smoke technique instead. Based on my waistline I am not too picky.
 
I’m simple, just curry me up some goat and leave me alone.

Growing up my mother didn’t cook from the same country twice in a week. She grew up on meat and potatoes (Irish) and dad grew up on Italian, but when they cranked out 5 boys in 7 years they learned a lot about stretching a little meat with a lot of vegetables and grains.

@marsman365 you gonna post up a recipe for Gołąbki?
 
Ok @marsman365 you going to share some recopies now? You sure are making us hungry.

As a side note, my wife still talks about puking a prune perogie on New Year’s Eve.
 
Pierogis are one of my faves, my ex was part Polish and introduced me to them.

In turn I taught her the way of the curry. And proper English breakfast.
 
Of Polish heritage here. My Grandfather had a butcher shop in Green Point, Brooklyn and would make Kielbasa. Mothers side of family is Slovakian. Many shared dishes. Then I also did 9 yrs in Germany.

CD
 
Wife's straight off the boat from Hungary so we definitely get some ethnic cooking in my house. My waistline confirms it's delicious.
 
This thread has me wanting to go to J Betskis in Raleigh again.
 
My paternal grandmother used to make Gołąbki (we called 'em cabbage rolls) we're quite good.

My mom, Italian, would get annoyed that she could not make dishes that her MIL did. Always entertaining.

Also miss PIerogio. Sometimes when I can't find them in grocery store I'll buy ravioli and fry them like PIerogio.
 
NCLivingBrit said:
This thread has me wanting to go to J Betskis in Raleigh again.
Click to expand...
J. Betskis is permanently closed. They sold Seaboard Station and are tearing it all down to build condos. That was one of my favorite spots. So, so good...
 
East of Here said:
J. Betskis is permanently closed. They sold Seaboard Station and are tearing it all down to build condos. That was one of my favorite spots. So, so good...
Click to expand...
Well that's depressing. I hadn't been there as often as I wanted to, but every time it was a treat.
 
Timfoilhat said:
Wife's straight off the boat from Hungary so we definitely get some ethnic cooking in my house. My waistline confirms it's delicious.
Click to expand...

I did not have a single meal, nor beer, in Hungary that was not excellent. They definitely have their own little thing going on. My guess is the mix of Roman, Slav & Magyar influences over the millennia.

I enjoyed Romanian vittles immensely as well, but then you gotta be careful to avoid the chitlin/tripe or brain dishes. What really shocked me was Romania's beer culture. I'd forgotten they'd had a sizeable population of ethnic Germans for a couple centuries. Their beer game is definitely on point.
 
Well prepared with fresh ingredients TexMex is hard to beat.
Italian, French. We spent a week in Poland, the local food restaurants were great. My favorite was wild boar on a bed of cabbage.
 
marsman365 said:
I'm a very proud American, but I am also very proud of my Polish ethnicity and many of our Polish and family traditions.

My wife and I love making Polish food from scratch. Our neighbors have family visiting and they asked us to make some food while they are here.

So this was last night's project. Homemade Gołąbki (pronounced "gaw WOAMB kee") aka Stuffed cabbage. We call them "piggies". Some folks also call them Halupki (Slovak). A bit a trivia, Gołąbki roughly translates to "little pigeons".

Also, what do you do with the leftover cabbage? Make Haluski! Cabbage and noodles (or homemade dumplings).

We also make homemade pierogi (primarily potato and cheese). And this summer I have plans to make and smoke my own kielbasa.

So what are your favorite ethinic foods you like to make?

View attachment 439439
Click to expand...
Do you give lessons? 😆 I love this sort of stuff ( if you have ever met my rotund figure) you would have come to that conclusion on your own.
 
Latin America food......

Tinga
Sopes
Various Tacos, especially Pastor, but I don't have the rotisserie
Pambazos
Empanadas
Carne Asada
Popusas
Horchata - I haven't actually made this one yet thought....

It's amazing how many different ways you can prepare a tortilla.
 
We do Scandinavian dishes around the holidays, mostly deserts these days. Entrees have been lost over the years by elders passing and getting supplies in the States like Reindeer.

I've had Marsman's pierogis, Excellent.
 
You had me at Haluski! Growing up near Pittsburgh I was exposed to wealth of Italian, Polish, and Slavic dishes along with German from my Family. I love it ALL, but Haluski is my comfort food!
 
A much better question for me would be what ethnic food do I not like.

Honestly can’t think of one off the bat. I’ve traveled all over the world and have enjoyed the food everywhere I’ve been.

Greek, Thai, German, Indian and French top the list if you held a gun to my head.
 
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