Polska: New Polish Cooking

Si lo que buscas es aprender sobre la cultura polaca desde su gastronomía, este es el libro adecuado

The author states this is meant to be a contemporary cookbook, so I expected that and that's what I got. This isn't stuff my grandmother would make. The recipes that are included are okay. Nothing that blows my mind in there. Soup and drink sections were my favorites. I don't think I'll be making more than a handful of the recipes within due to availability of ingredients, not having an idea of the finished product due to lack of photos, or it just not being my taste, and that was disappointing. There was however a lot of unique stuff in here that I've never considered or even heard of before, which was appreciated.There's also a lot of nice cultural info in here. I enjoyed the history lesson of the country and how it relates to the food. I also liked the brief section in the back that described typical Polish ingredients and which are the most important to making a more authentic flavor. They have some recommendations for substitutes and what you can expect if you do so. I also like all the little tidbits of info on where recipes and names for things came from throughout the book. There is a lot of love put into the book and it shows.I would have liked more pictures of the actual food. Ie. one for every recipe. I love the aesthetics of the book and all the pictures of natural spaces, but I really wish they had spent more of that space showing what the finished products are supposed to look like. There is one recipe I was looking at and the adjacent picture is tree bark. Nice tree, but that's not helpful in a cookbook, sorry. There is also no picture for a pastry that seems complicated, and for complex recipes I definitely like to see what I'm working towards. No picture means I might not give it a try.Either way there's some interesting stuff inside and I thought my purchase was worth it.

Love this cookbook. Design and stories and pictures are nice too. Have made only a handful of the recipes so far, but they remind me of my Babica’s cooking when I would visit her. Only wish there were more. Maybe a second collection in the future?

I think a lot of time and love went into making this cookbook. The book has a pleasant appearance, and I really wanted to enjoy it. I have tried a couple of recipes, and I'll write my experience here. I made "Wintery Krupnik with Pearl Barley and Fresh Herbs." Some of the ingredients included: lovage, "bacon lardons," and allspice berries. The produce department here in a large Canadian city hadn't heard of the first item, and I used normal bacon for the second, and ground allspice for the last item. The recipe calls for "1 large chicken thigh" but it is not specified whether it is to be boneless or skinless, so I began by boiling 4 smaller intact thighs in the pot. Instead of cooking the vegetables with the chicken from the start, as called for in the recipe, I let the foam from the chicken make its way out (so I could skim it off) before adding the vegetables. When I was convinced that the chicken was cooked, I also removed the bones and the skin. Both of these modifications made the recipe better and yet were rather basic procedures that many home chefs with some experience would have done. The recipe, when finished, was, well, okay. I don't know if that's a reflection of Polish cuisine itself or of this cookbook. I also found the chatty preamble strange, because she mentions that many vegetarians have been surprised to realize that the soup is not vegetarian; they don't realize that the broth is made from chicken. It's strange in the context of her recipe because this recipe has visible pieces of chicken (presumably complete with bones and skin) and has bacon bits sitting on top. I guess she refers to a slightly different version, so that's something the editors should catch. Yes, I am picky. The next recipe I began was "Warsaw-style Cauliflower with Brussel Sprouts." The thing with this recipe is that she seems rather unconcerned with how you actually cook the cauliflower and Brussel sprouts (boil or steam for 20 minutes), yet there's quite a difference between the two techniques; the former might result in watery and dull flavours, and the second might leave bitterness in the Brussel sprouts. So I consulted America's Test Kitchen vegetable cookbook and switched to braising the Brussel sprouts. By switching recipes, I don't think I missed out on much, because the Warsaw-style seems to add little to the cooked veggies (just bread crumbs sautéed in butter). In sum, it might be a useful source of Polish food ideas, but I feel that discerning cooks will find that the technique leaves something to be desired.

The photos in the book look like they have been photocopied from an old 1960's Betty Crocker cookbook. They are dark and some are grainy. Would be nice if they spent some money on better photos; as food is also a visual experience. I would never recommend this cookbook.