Category: Traditional Recipes
Recipes cooked the way they are actually cooked, without the shortcuts that get added when a dish travels. That means the long braise where a long braise is the point, the fat the dish was built around, and the step everyone skips explained rather than removed.
Each of these has a lighter counterpart in Healthy Adaptations. The pair is the format of this site: read the traditional version to understand what the dish is, then decide what you want to change.
By kitchen. Ukrainian, built on beets, cabbage and soured milk. Polish, built on sour rye, sauerkraut and smoke. Ashkenazi Jewish, built around a calendar that decides when cooking can happen. Lithuanian, built almost entirely on the potato.
Where they overlap. The same dish keeps reappearing across borders under different names, and the differences are usually smaller than the arguments about them. Four comparisons: holubtsi and golabki, pierogi, varenyky and uszka, three borschts, and latkes, placki and deruny.
Terms that come up repeatedly have their own short entries in the glossary: schmaltz, zakwas, salo, kasha, farmer cheese.
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~4 hours (including rising and cooling) | Serves: 20 (2 loaves, 10 slices each) | Difficulty: Moderate Quick Overview Bloom yeast…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Lenten Kapusniak Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~2 hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Simmer pork ribs into a broth with…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 30 minutes | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Boil potatoes whole in their skins until tender, then peel and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Prep: ~1 hour | Cooking: 2–2½ hours | Serves: 6–8 | Makes: approximately 16–18 rolls | Difficulty: Intermediate Quick Overview Soften a head of cabbage by freezing and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Traditional Kapuśniak Recipe: Sauerkraut Soup with Pork Ribs Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~1¾ hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Brown the pork…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~35 minutes | Serves: 4 (about 12 pancakes) | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Drain or sieve the farmer’s cheese if it…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Traditional Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1 hour | Total time: ~3 hours, plus chilling overnight | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Simmer the fish heads and bones with…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~20 minutes | Total time: ~1 hour 20 minutes, plus chilling if served cold | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Peel the beets, cut…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~35 minutes | Total time: ~45 minutes | Serves: 4–5 (about 16–18 pancakes) | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Grate the potatoes and onion on the large…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~45 minutes | Total time: ~4 hours, plus chilling the broth overnight | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Simmer a whole chicken with carrots,…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~1¾ hours | Serves: 10 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Boil wide egg noodles until just tender Whisk eggs, cottage cheese,…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~4 hours (including rising) | Serves: 16 (2 loaves) | Difficulty: Moderate Quick Overview Start the yeast in lukewarm water with…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~45 minutes | Total time: ~1¼ hours (including resting the batter) | Serves: 6 (about 12 blintzes, 2 per serving) | Difficulty: Moderate Quick Overview Whisk…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~25 minutes | Total time: ~1 hour 15 minutes | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Soak the millet in boiling water, then rinse it…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Traditional Rosół Recipe: Clear Chicken Soup with Noodles Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~3–3½ hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Put the chicken…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1.5 hours | Mushroom soaking: overnight | Total: ~2 hours | Yields: 50–60 dumplings | Difficulty: Intermediate Served with: Traditional Barszcz Czerwony — these two dishes…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~45 minutes | Fermentation: 5–7 days | Total cooking: ~1 hour | Serves: 6–8 | Difficulty: Intermediate Quick Overview Prepare the zakwas buraczany (fermented beet juice)…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~30 minutes | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Fry small cubes of salo in a dry pan until golden…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~45 minutes | Total time: ~1 hour 30 minutes | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Whisk a thin batter of eggs, flour, milk and…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~40 minutes | Total time: ~55 minutes | Serves: 4 (16–20 pancakes) | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Grate floury potatoes and an onion, half coarse and…
Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Active time: ~30 minutes | Total time: ~40 minutes | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Easy Quick Overview Grate the potatoes and onion on the fine holes, a little…
Traditional Gołąbki Recipe: Pork and Rice, Plus Meatless Gołąbki for Wigilia Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Active time: ~1 hour | Total time: ~2–2½ hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1 hour | Total time: ~2½–3 hours | Serves: 6 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Soften the cabbage in boiling water and peel off the leaves…
Skip to main content Skip to ingredients Skip to instructions Skip to nutrition information Jump to Ingredients Jump to Instructions Jump to Recipe Card Jump to Nutrition Active time: ~1¼ hours | Total time: ~1½ hours | Serves: 4 | Difficulty: Medium Quick Overview Mix a soft dough of flour, water, salt and oil, and…
