Regional traditional food

– food from the

Lodz Region

Regional and traditional food

The preservation of regional and traditional recipes in our homes is a chance to discover our rich cusine and to rescue a significant part of our cultural heritage.

The Lodz Region was a mosaic of four nationalities and their cusine, and the names of some products and dishes were transformed into Polish like the Jewish kugl (kugiel z Przedborza) or zalewajka (which originated from Lodz workers). Some of them have been certified and you can find them on the List of Traditional Products.

What is a culinary tradition?

It’s the way in which individuals and groups select, prepare and consume the available food according to social and cultural restrictions.

Lodz Region Titbits

Every one of the presented meals, mostly of very original name, has its own history and tradition passed from generation to generation. Each one of them is an exceptional speciality that guarantees new taste and smell experiences, unknown to people from different towns. The diverse, rich, local culinary heritage is prepared from natural ingredients from one’s own farm or picked in the woods; the dishes are inseparable. Apart from the numerous certificates available, healthy food fairs, traditional dish competitions and the dynamically developing Lodz farm tourism are very helpful.

Traditional dishes as a part of the regional culture

It is said that every dish has an identity of its own. Preparing tasty food isn’t so simple – it is a real culinary art testifying not only of the farmer’s wealth but most of all of the agriculture of the region, the customs, social life and current cultural patterns. The preparation of traditional dishes was often of a community-spirited character.

Delicious regional examples

Zalewajka with roux

Ingredients: water, sour starter, potatoes, carrot, smoked bacon, parsley, wheat flour, celery, salt, vegetable boullion, black pepper and a bay leaf.

Use water from your own intake – if there is a possibility like this. The sour starter is prepared in a special tin – the old recipe says that mixed ingredients mature in this tin for several days at the appropriate temperature. When the sour starter is ready, add the particular vegetables cut into cubes, and spices. While cooking the stock, fry the sliced onion together with the smoked bacon. Add all these ingrdients to the soup and next prepare the roux of melted fat and wheat flour – then add them to the soup.

History – zalewajka is widely known soup of Polish folk cuisine which comes from the region near to Lodz. Apart from the sour rye soup or borscht, this soup was also consumed for breakfast, dinner or supper. The secret to zalewajka was to use the cheapest ingredients like potatoes.

Kugiel from PrzedbórzIngredients: potatoes, pork ribs, knuckle of pork, pork

shoulder blade or neck, onion, salt, pepper.Peel the potatoes and grate them into small pieces (like for

potato pancakes). Then add the grated onion, salt and pepper – carefully mix everything. At the bottom of a pot put the fatter parts of the meat and then by turns put layers of the grated potatoes with spices and the meat. At the top, the potato dough is to be placed. Everything is covered with a lid. The pot is then put into a hot bread oven – the kugiel should be baked from 6 to 12 hours.

History – Polish kugiel is a roast dish prepared in large pots. Original jewish kugiel was made of goose meat roasted with pearl barley, beans and goose lard. It was put into an oven on Friday and eaten on Saturday morning.

Delicious regional examples

SourdoughIngredients: dry brown bread, dry bread of rye bolting flour, sugar,

bakers yeast, water.The bread must be made with organic flour to make the sourdough.Cut the dry bread into 2 cm cubes, pour over with warm water

(about 40°C), add bakers yeast and sugar. Then leave everything for fermentation for about 5 days. When it is condensed enough, extract it, cool down and pasteurise (at 80°C) in glass bottles.

History – in 1905 when the Land of Lask was under the Russian partation, men were forced into the Tsar’s Army which was defeated in the war with Japan. One year later, a soldier named Piotr Wieczorek returned to his home in Brodnia. For the villagers he became a source of knowledge about the world and he was appointed village administrator. When the neighbours visited him, his wife treated them to sourdough, prepared according to the recipe brought from Russia by her husband.

Delicious regional examples

Something easy to prepare at home

Home-brewed beerIngredients:• 5 litres of water• 300 grams of sugar• 80 grams of ground coffee (not instant) – it is made

from: rye, barley, chicory, sugar beet – roasted.• 2.5 grams of yeast (it is better to use fresh yeast

rather than instant)• A handful of hops (optional)You will need 4-5 empty 1.5 litre plastic botlesIn general, brewing beer at home is very similar to

brewing commercially. Homebrewers can select from ingredients identical to those used in commercial brewing, in addition to a wide range of post-market customizations.

Home-brewed beer

Fresh yeast

Natural grain coffee

Sugar

Water

Hops (optionally)

Pot Plastic bottles

Home-brewed beer

1. Add the ground coffee to the water – when it is boiling you should boil it more – about 10

minutes2. Wait until the “coffee soup” has cooled down.3. Take linen or even tea-towel to filter our brew4. Add sugar and when the brew is warm (room

temperature), drain off a glass from the 5 litres of the brew and dissolve the yeast. Then pour it into our pot and mix.

5. Pour out the brew to our plastic bottles so that they are 2/3 full. Then squeeze the bottles and screw on the lid.

6. Wait 2-4 days and our drink is ready!Important ! Do not put the brew into glass bottles!

Our drink will be fizzy with foam like typical beer with foam (the yeast will be working!).

Home-brewed beer

3

4

5

* You can change the proportion, for those pictures I reduced the amount of ingredients by 4/5.

This is the best healthy beer recommended if you are thirsty.

It can have a maximum of 1.5% alcohol. It tastes like weak coffee beer (of course it is fizzy – so watch out when opening the bottles).

This drink was known for years and almost forgotten. Because the coffee is made from vegetables, don’t worry - children can drink it!

When the home-brewed beer is ready you can keep it in the fridge for about one week.

Home-brewed beer

The List of Traditional Products in theLódz Region

• Dmosinski bread with traditional sourdough

• Leczycki rye brown wholemeal bread

• Leczycki village bread• Village bread based on

sourdough from a brick stove in Biala

• Rye brown wholemeal bread from Biala

• Buckwheat bread• Brown bread from the valley of

the Mroga river with cereal grains

• Old Polish bread from the valley of the Mroga

• Cookies from scratchings• Swiatnicki rye bread• Nagawski bread always frehs• Ritual bred from the valley of

the Mroga river• Gingerbread houses from the

region of the Mroga valley• Ginger carrot cake• Tatarczuch from Radomsko• Farm bread from Mroga• Rye bread with milk• Rye bread from Szadek

Bakery goods

The List of Traditional Products in the Lódz Region

• Nadwarcianski horseradish based on the Old Polish recipe

• Lowicki red beetroot salad with horseradish

• Tinned cucambers from Lowicz• Pickles from Lowicz• Pickles from the region of

Wielun• Cucumber puree from Lowicz• Tinned sorrel from Lowicz

• Plum stew from Lowicz• Nagawskie backed apples with

juice• Cherry stewed friut from

Lowicz• Honeys from the valley of the

Mroga River• Honey from the commune of

Zelechlinek• Honey from the Brzeziny Land,

Hills of Lodz and the Rawka River

Nuts, seeds, cereals, vegetables, friuts, honeys

The List of Traditional Products in Lódz Region

• Zalewajka with roux• Obrawska

horseradish soup• Cabbage with peas• Stuffed cabbage

from Osiny• Koplonek

(wodzianka) from Galków

• Pear nalewka from Galków

• Potato Plendze from Wojcin

• Kugiel from Przedbórz

• Zalewajka from Radomsko

• Jezowska sour rye soup with potatoes

• Golabki from Osiny

Ready-cooked meals and dishes

The List of Traditional Products in Lódz Region

• Lamb of Swiniarka (breed of sheep)

• Traditionally smoked Nagawska sausage

• Liver sausage in rings from Nadolna

• Oat goose from Boguslawice

• Jordanowska juniper sausage

• Traditionally smoked Nadolski bacon

• Smoked jordanowskie sausages

• Smoked meat from Szadek

• Ham from Wielun• Nagawskie butter• Butter from Gluchów• Goat curd cheese from

Eufeminów• Traditional curd cheese• Goat curd cheese from

Druzbin• Gypsy ham from Zaborów• Peasant sausage

Fresh meats and butcher goods, oils, fats and cheese

The List of Traditional Products in the Lódz Region

• Laskie beer• Friut nalewka from Nagawki• Rasberry ratafia from Nagawki• Apple juice from Kaleczew• Sourdough• Nalewka from lemon and ginger• Raspberry syrup from Dmosin

Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks

Bon appétit!

Anna Krzyżanowicz-StępienKrystyna Rozensztrauch

Marcin StępkaHelpful publications:- Publication of Self-government of Lódzkie Region „Traditional goods from the Lodz Region”- Publication of Self-government of Świętokrzyskie Region „Świętokrzyskie Region Titbits”- The official website of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development