Polish countryside tastes. Winners of the competition in the category "Yard dishes"

"European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas"

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"Grycoki" - dumplings with buckwheat groats and mushrooms

Submitting culinary practice: Circle of Rural Housewives "Kowalanki", locality Kowala, district Kielce, commune Sitkówka-Nowiny
CATEGORY OF THE CONTEST "POLSKA WIEŚ SMAKUJE": VEGETARIAN DISHES

Location: 1

The "Kowalanki" Circle of Rural Housewives operates in the Sitkówka-Nowiny municipality in the Świętokrzyskie province. It has existed for 56 years, and its chairman is Mrs. Jadwiga Brzoza. From the very beginning, the Circle has been very active in passing on to the next generation the old customs, customs and traditions of the Kielce land. Currently it has 15 ladies and ...three gentlemen. The numerous group of talented members makes the Circle active in all aspects of maintaining the traditions of the Polish countryside. "Kowalanki" have great achievements in the artistic (singing, storytelling, handicrafts) and culinary fields. The pride of KGW is the performances that bring old folk customs and traditions closer, which from year to year take on an increasingly attractive form and are compared to theatrical performances. In order to present old and often forgotten folk customs and traditions, members of the group co-create original programs and scripts of performances, write songs, chants and storytelling. In order to facilitate contact with the audience, the Circle has preserved traditional folk costumes and uses props from the past during performances, which help understand the message of the shows. Folk traditions cultivated by the Circle are also presented through traditional Kielce dishes. High culinary artistry and traditional recipes passed down from generation to generation make KGW appreciated and awarded by the best chefs in our country.

Description of the dish and recipe

Dough:
-1/2 kg wheat flour
-1/2 kg spelt flour
-warm water, oil, pinch of salt.
Stuffing:
-1 cup of roasted buckwheat groats from Antoniow
-2 tablespoons of butter
-10 dag of boletes
-1 small onion
- garlic
-salt, pepper.
For cooking: water, salt, oil

Soak the mushrooms overnight, the next day pour off the water and cook in new water for about 15 minutes. Then drain the mushrooms, leaving the water. In this water cook the porridge with salt and butter. Chop the onion and garlic and fry until golden brown, finally serve the cooked mushrooms. Mushrooms together with onions pass through a meat grinder, mix with semolina, season the stuffing with salt and pepper. From flour and warm water knead an elastic dough. Roll it out, cut out circles. On a circle of dough put stuffing, cover with another circle and combine layers of dough like dumplings. Cook round "Grycoki" for 5-6 minutes in water with salt and oil. "Grycoki" should be served with onions fried until golden or with breadcrumbs browned in butter.

The culinary tradition of the dish

"Grycoki" used to be a traditional Christmas Eve dish that was served on Christmas Eve tables in the village of Kowala. At the beginning of the 20th century and for the next long years, poverty and widespread malnutrition prevailed in the Polish countryside. Buckwheat, oats, rye, etc. were sown on the weak, infertile soils of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. Buckwheat was used to make buckwheat groats, which were eagerly consumed in various ways. During the holiday season, among other things, it was made: dumplings with mushrooms, which were eaten during Christmas Eve supper. Due to the specific taste and devotion to tradition, the recipe for this dish has been passed down orally for generations, until now. For some time, the poor, meatless dish was shamefully shunned, but now it is returning to our tables and is a regional attraction, especially at agritourism farms and local events, as well as at banquets and weddings.
Folk traditions cultivated by the Circle and Team are also passed on through traditional Kielce dishes. Their taste qualities are presented at competitions organized in the Świętokrzyskie province and neighboring provinces. In addition, the dishes can be tasted at festivals, harvest festivals or at the Museum of the Kielce Village in Tokarnia and the Laszczyk Manor in Kielce. The excellence of these dishes and their importance to our region are evidenced by the numerous awards and honors given to the entire "Kowalanki" Team. For example: in 2008. "Kowalanki" prepared traditional regional dishes for the "Swietokrzyskie Wedding", during which "Grycoki" were also served - organized by the Provincial House of Culture in Kielce. In 2018, the Circle took part in a national competition, entitled "Create a recipe for the Bible of Polish dishes", which was held in Łódź, (the dish was prepared live) and "Kowalanki" were the only Circle from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship to qualify for the finals. In this competition, KGW "Kowalanki" received third place for "Grycoki Świętokrzyskie".
Grycoki is a dish that fits in very well with today's approach to food and nutrition. Buckwheat groats, which are the main ingredient in the stuffing, are rich in unique essential amino acids - especially lysine, which our body does not produce on its own, but has to be supplied with food. Among other things, lysine is essential for building proteins, especially in muscles and bones. It has a beneficial effect on mental condition. Buckwheat groats are also a great source of protein, and have a similar value to that of legumes. Consumption of 100 g of buckwheat groats meets the daily human requirement for essential amino acids. Buckwheat groats do not contain gluten. Therefore, people with celiac disease or gluten intolerance can reach for it without fear. Spelt flour, in turn - used for dough - has blood-forming, muscle-building properties. In addition, it is considered an effective mood enhancer. Spelt flour is helpful in any disorders of metabolic processes in the body. In conclusion: buckwheat groats dumplings with mushrooms can therefore also be recommended today in a healthy diet (and in an ardent diet), because groats are actually at the base of the pyramid of healthy nutrition, and mushrooms today are also recognized as valuable products in nutrition. Besides, mushrooms, growing in the forest, are not "contaminated" with pollution by man, so they also have "ecological qualities."

Values of culinary practice

"Grycoki" are served at local events, such as harvest festivals, fairs, culinary competitions and other local celebrations, where they are always very popular. Large groups of participants in these events, including representatives of local authorities, stand at the "Kowalanki" stand and, while tasting these and other specialties, discuss various problems and current issues of the local community, which promotes - in the simplest and most effective way - the integration of residents and problem solving.
The reported culinary practice contributes directly to increasing the income of their producers (usually farmers). Especially since it consists of products included in the List of Traditional Products of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), viz: Jędrzejów butter, Sandomierz oil, Wólczański garlic, Czerkie spelt flour, Antoniów buckwheat groats.
The products used to prepare Grycoki are listed on the LPT of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, so they are products that have won recognition as being made using traditional methods, and the mushrooms are harvested in the surrounding forests, so you can certainly say that this dish has ecological value and contributes to the protection of the environment and natural heritage.
The dishes prepared by the Circle, especially the traditional ones, are served at various local events, which directly contributes to the development and preservation of village culture. In August 2020, during the implementation of the project under the common name: "Save from oblivion" - Old Polish ritual "Pranie", various traditional and regional dishes were served by KGW "Kowalanki", including: Kowalan sour soup, gomolki, grycoki or potato pancakes with cabbage - which was met with great appreciation of the craftsmanship and culinary skills of the ladies of the Circle, by the people participating in this project. Paraphrasing a well-known saying, we can say that not only music, but also "food soothes customs." Today, thanks to cooking contests, the media and the Internet - traditional dishes are increasingly being recreated by people from the cities, who miss the taste of the old homemade dishes eaten in the family home half a century ago. More and more people want to eat food that is as little processed as possible, and the greatest joy is just recreating it in their own kitchen and with their own hands. Thanks to this - often, perhaps not entirely consciously - they (these people) contribute to the preservation and development of the village culture and to the cultivation of this tradition by future generations. That is - we can say that history has come full circle and traditional dishes are back "under the thatched roofs" again.

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Burocorz

Submitting culinary practice: the Circle of Rural Housewives in Postronna, Koprzywnica town, Sandomierski district, Koprzywnica municipality
CATEGORY OF THE COMPETITION "POLSKA WIEŚ SMAKUJE": VEGETARIAN DISHES

Location: 2

The Circle of Rural Housewives in Postronna was established in December 2018, and has 19 members. It actively cooperates with the Municipal Cultural and Sports Center in Koprzywnica. It actively participates in various village, commune and district celebrations. It undertakes annual cultural initiatives, aiming to cultivate regional customs and traditions, commune harvest festivals, Women's Day meetings, Mother's Day, wafer meetings. As funding allows, it organizes handicraft workshops and contributes to the organization of the GOCC. In 2020, for the first time represented the City and Municipality of Koprzywnica at the annual culinary competition held at the Sandomierz Castle, taking first place, and winning the Silver Dipper.

Description of the dish and recipe

The yeast dough of the Świętokrzyskie region with sugar beets is none other than the so-called Burocorz, included in the list of regional products. During and after the war, sugar beets were the staple food of rural families. Our grandmothers baked it, and our mothers and mothers-in-law still remember Burocorz to this day. It was sometimes the only sweet baked product during their childhood. The cake has a rather peculiar taste and not everyone will like it. Traditional Burocorz looks more like bread or scones. It used to be torn off piece by piece and sipped with fresh milk.

Ingredients:
-1 medium beet
-10 dkg of yeast
-1 kg of flour (or a little less depending on the size of the beet)
- pinch of salt
- pinch of sugar
-1 egg
-sugar syrup
A little warm water, in it dissolve a tablespoon of sugar.

Making:
Peel the beet, cut it into several pieces and boil it. Cool and cut with a knife into small cubes or grate on a coarse grater. Dissolve yeast in the beet water and set aside in a warm place to rise. Meanwhile, sprinkle the flour on a pastry board, add a pinch of salt and sugar, an egg and the beet. Then add the risen yeast and knead the dough. Cover with a cloth to let the dough rise. Divide the dough into 2 parts, spread sugar syrup on top and bake the cakes. Depending on the thickness of the dough, bake from 50 minutes to 1 hour or a little longer.

The culinary tradition of the dish

In the village of Postronna in the pre-war years, residents made their living mainly by growing sugar beets, which were sold and transported by narrow-gauge railroad to nearby Vlostov, where the Karski family owned a sugar factory. As sugar beets accompanied the residents of Postronna on a daily basis, they began to process them in the kitchen, and so many recipes were created, the basic product of which was sugar beets. They became a permanent part of local cuisine. The dish is still on the tables of farms in Postronna to this day. Not so long ago, on September 20, 2020, the culinary competition "Our Sandomierz Regional Culinary" was held at the District Museum in Sandomierz. The theme of the competition was sweet baked goods - regional cakes. The ladies of the KGW in Postronna presented a dish called Burocorz, for which they won the first prize, the Silver Dipper.
Sugar beet, from which Burocorz is prepared, fits into the canons of a balanced diet that is healthy, has a low impact on the environment and overall food resources. Sugar beet is gradually ceasing to be a vegetable used exclusively in industrial production, it is now becoming a desirable ingredient used in cooking. Its valuable components are increasingly appreciated: betanin, betacyanin, folic acid and high content of vitamins and mineral elements (including B vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus).

Values of culinary practice

The reported culinary practice has social value, an excellent example of which is the joint initiative taken by KGW Postronna and the Municipal Cultural and Sports Center in Koprzywnica to present Burocorz at the Sandomierz Castle, during the culinary competition , "Our Sandomierz Regional Culinary". Thanks to the cooperation of both entities, the presented dish, was appreciated and rated the highest. Another good example of integrating the local community is the joint baking of Burocorz by the housewives of Postronna for the village stand, among other things, during the

 

 Community Harvest Festivals. In addition, the housewives of the Postronna KGW can use the dish to increase their organization's income, such as by selling Burocorz at local outdoor events such as picnics, festivals, etc., and by baking Burocorz to specific orders. The more so because

 

 The beets from which the dish is prepared are sown in home gardens, where there is no room for the use of chemical pesticides. The housewives make sure that the plants produced "for themselves" are healthy and free of sprays, thus taking care of the health of their families and thus protecting the environment.
The culture of a village is an important element of identity for each of its residents. It forms the basis of a village's attractiveness and sets it apart from others. The housewives of KGW Postronna are proud to promote Burocorz, which distinguishes their locality and thus contributes to the preservation of local identity and the development of the culture of the Świętokrzyskie countryside.

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Przędzelskie Kaszaki - Pierogi with Jagiellana groats

Submitting culinary practice: Circle of Rural Housewives of Przędzelanki, village Przędzel, Powiat Thananski, Gmina Rudnik nad Sanem
CATEGORY OF THE "POLSKA WIEŚ SMAKUJE" COMPETITION: JAR DISHES

Place: 3

The Circle of Rural Housewives in Przędzel has been active for more than 40 years. It currently has 12 women, who actively participate in local and regional events, such as the annual Rudnik nad Sanem "Wiklina" town festival, district harvest festivals, family picnics and pierogi festivals. Every year, the Housewives participate in the competition for the prettiest harvest wreath, and also participate in training courses and projects. Circle members, thanks to their energy and willingness to act, are open to ideas, eager to help and cooperate, but also like to spend their time in interesting and creative ways. They carry out their statutory goals through meetings, during which, among other things, they exchange tried-and-true recipes, organize handicraft or Christmas decoration workshops.

Description of the dish and recipe

Ingredients for stuffing:
-1 cup of buckwheat
-2 cups of milk
-8 dag of cottage cheese
-8 dag of butter
-spoon of sugar
-spoon of thick sour cream.
Ingredients for the dough;
-½ kg of flour
-warm water
-2 tablespoons of oil or unflavored oil
-salt.

Recipe and how to make the stuffing:
Cook the millet groats in milk with the addition of butter. When the groats absorb the milk, we put them over boiling water and steam them until soft (the old way was to wrap the groats in a quilt).
Put the cooked and cooled groats into a bowl and whisk with cheese or a spoonful of thick sour cream. We salt to taste and from thus prepared semolina we stick dumplings. Make sure that the porridge filling does not cool down, because then it will be more difficult to stick the dumplings together.
Recipe and how to make the dough:
Make the dough from the above ingredients and put it aside for about 10 minutes under a cover so that it does not dry out. Then we roll it out and cut out patties, which we fill with jaggery stuffing. Cook the dumplings and serve hot with lightly browned butter and salted thick cream.

The culinary tradition of the dish

The tradition of millet dumplings in Przędzel is very remote. Przędzelans were called "Kaszaks" by their neighbors in the colloquial language. Jagiell dumplings are the Circle's flagship dish, which comes in various versions. In the past, it all depended on what products a particular housewife had at her disposal, and since they used to be poor, the basic version was often without cheese.
The reported culinary practice and activities of KGW "Przędzelanki" have been cultivated uninterruptedly since the pre-war years. On the territory of the Municipality and City of Rudnik nad Sanem, the County of Nisko and the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, the tradition of making and eating pierogies is presented and cultivated during celebrations and events of a cultural nature.
Importantly, Przędzelskie Kaszaki are used in a healthy, balanced diet. All products come from natural ingredients, from local farmers. Flour, cheese, millet groats create a rich dose of vitamins. They have health-promoting properties due to their content of B vitamins, lecithin, mineral salts, protein, complex carbohydrates and silica. A large role is played in this dish by millet groats, which as an alkaline-forming activity, so it is considered a food that helps in cancer prevention. People suffering from recurrent acidifying yeast infections should include millet products in their diet.
It is also worth mentioning that the reported culinary practice contributes to environmental protection and natural heritage, as millet is one of the oldest cultivated plants. In ancient times it was widespread in Asia and Europe. The grains of millet are used to make the popular millet, or millet groats. It is made from threshed and cleaned seeds after the hard husk is removed from them.

Values of culinary practice

In Przędzel, jaggery dumplings are still eaten, and the Circle is trying very hard to cultivate this tradition among both young housewives and the youngest generation. The art of dumpling making is taught to young women by their grandmothers and mothers. Przędzel's local culinary heritage has inspired the organization of a cyclical outdoor event, "Przędzelskie Kaszaki," as well as an art contest for children and young people entitled. "Jagiell dumplings the culinary tradition of my village". The settlement of the competition took place just at "Przędzelskie Kaszaki", where the competition works were presented. Dumplings made from millet groats are a rarity among the community's residents. At every event, "Przędzelanki" present huge quantities of dumplings, which not only look, but also taste delicious. KGW "Przędzelanki" have turned their culinary tradition into an opportunity for social intergenerational integration, as well as for the development of the culture of their village. In connection with this, a poem entitled. "For dumplings to Przędzel":

We invite everyone to Przędzel for dumplings
because here we still eat dumplings, just like in the past.
Good Russian dumplings, cabbage dumplings, with cheese, fruit.
but it is not for nothing that we have long been called Kashaks.
Whether rich or poor often ate pierogi here
What grandmothers and great-grandmothers used to cook them
our mothers also kept this tradition alive.
In turn, we very much want to cultivate this heritage,
so we willingly cook Przędzelskie Kaszaki

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"European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in rural areas"

Elaborated by. Aleksandra Szymanska, Joanna Szymanska-Radziewicz
Editor. Mikolaj Niedek

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