Take a peek inside the Polish kitchen and discover a hearty and delicious Eastern European cuisine.

Poland lies in the heart of Eastern Europe, bordered by Germany, Russia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. The long cold winter days are staved off with soups, herring fillets and sauerkraut dishes, while other staples include dark, tangy rye bread and garlicky, spiced-flecked pork sausages, which are grilled, fried, braised and sliced, just like salami. Polish food is best enjoyed with vodka served neat and don’t imagine there’s only one kind of vodka, either. You’ll find it infused with everything from juniper berries to blackcurrant, special herbs and grasses and even flecked with gold leaf.

While in other countries Easter is about chocolate eggs, in Poland savoury delicacies are just as important as the sweets. Although it’s a Catholic country, Poland shares the magic, mystery and splendour of the Russian Orthodox Church at Easter. Smoked meats, breads and cakes are taken to church for blessing in a special basket called a swieconka and intricately dyed, coloured and decorated eggs, known as pisanki, take pride of place in Polish homes throughout the festivities.
In the Polish kitchen, you don’t really need any special pieces of equipment to make Polish food, but these can help.

• A sturdy saucepan will come in handy for making sauerkraut.
• A large pot is essential for the bigos.
• Heavy duty frying pans are handy for making doughnuts and the crumbed kotlet.
• Pretty patterned plates decorated in Polish folk art come in handy for serving.
• Slim crystal shot glasses, are just what you need with a bottle of vodka.

Keep these ingredients handy for making traditional Polish dishes in your own kitchen.

• Fresh dill is the king of Polish herbs. It’s chopped into sauces and stuffing, used in salad dressings and added to the traditional cucumber and sour cream side dish called mizeria.
• Fresh parsley and marjoram are also commonly used herbs. They’re added to meats and stews for extra flavour.
• Paprika, pepper and caraway seeds are common spices in Polish cooking.
• Potatoes, onions and cabbage are essential staples of Polish cuisine. Cabbage is great served fresh and chopped in salads, as well as salted and pickled.
• Vinegar of good quality is indispensable for making dressings and pickles.
• Poles are experts on mushrooms which feature heavily in Polish cooking, either fresh or dried. Minced mushrooms are used in pierogi and other savouries.
• Sour cream is a big part of Polish cuisine. It goes into soups, but is also used in sweets and to top or fill crepes.
• Ricotta and curd cheeses are used in many Polish desserts. To make a famous Polish crepe filling, beat ricotta with egg whites, vanilla and raisins.
• Poles love their pickles. It’s that combination of sweet, savoury and sour that balances a meal. For a starter platter or zakaski, pick up jars of herrings and gherkins.
• Sausages and smoked meats are a must in every Polish home. Used in soups or baked into other dishes or sliced onto sandwiches.
• Authentic Polish rye bread is essential with Polish appetisers.

Top 10 Polish dishes:

1 ZAKASKI (APPETISERS). Start your Polish meal with a plate of zakaski. These can include pickled herrings, dill pickles, sliced hams and salami, pickled mushrooms and hard boiled eggs stuffed with mayonnaise. Don’t forget the dark rye bread and of course the vodka.

2 SAUERKRAUT. While it may not be everyone’s favourite elsewhere, this pickled cabbage dish is loved across Central and Eastern Europe. Sauerkraut and cooked red cabbage make excellent accompaniments to pork dishes.

3 BIGOS (HUNTER”S STEW). Sometimes considered the national dish of Poland, bigos is based on an assortment of pre-cooked meats and sausages, which are simmered on a bed of sauerkraut.

4 BARSZCZ. The Russians call it borscht, but barszcz (beetroot soup) is something the Poles claim as their own.

5 PIEROGI. Mostly savoury but sometimes filled with sweet cheese, these little dumplings can be boiled, baked or fried and stuffed with meat or mushrooms and sauerkraut. In summer you’ll find fruit dumplings, too.

6 GOLABKI ( CABBAGE ROLLS). A huge favourite in Poland, these are usually filled with minced meat but in the fasting period leading up to easter (known as Lent), they’re also made with just rice and sauerkraut. This dish is found all over Central Europe but the Poles do a great version.

7 KIELBASA (SAUSAGE). Combining pork, veal and garlicky flavours, kielbasa is the star of Polish cured meats. You’ll find it spiced and smoked at street-side stalls, served in any number of cooked dishes, including bigos.

8 KOTLET SCHABOWY. Who doesn’t love crumbled cutlets and schnitzel? This is the Polish version, pork chops covered with breadcrumbs and pan fried. On the side you’ll find a pile of potatoes and cabbage.

9 BABKA. This cylinder shaped festive sweet bread is modelled on the Italian panettone. It’s made with eggs and yeast and sometimes added saffron, which gives it a rich gold colour. Babka is made at Easter and is usually served as part of the Easter basket.
10 PACZKI. Polish doughnuts are plump and yeasty and they usually contain plum jam (powidly). The Poles are famous for their excellent jams, so you can imagine how good these are.