9th Dish Karpatka cake from Poland

A couple of interesting things happened yesterday. First I was asked by Beth (she has a weekend job at our store) how my blog was going? I told her that I had moved onto my second challenge and that this was one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever done. I explained to her that even though I’ve basically cooked stews from various countries and even though the ingredients didn’t seem to vary that much, the cooking techniques and the final taste is so very different. She asked what the next country on my list was. I explained that I hadn’t decided yet, I then showed the list of the remaining countries and asked her to pick one. She chose Poland.

So I then spent a bit of time checking out various recipes from Poland to cook and decided upon Bigos. I may be wrong but from what I can gather it appears to be their national dish. However, checking the different website there is a vast difference in what actually goes into the Bigos and how you cook it. However eventually I settled on one and was in the process of working out which of the ingredients I already had and what else I needed when my daughter asked me which country had I chosen and what dish. So I told her. She said “What another stew?” She then went on to tell me how her and her sisters were sick of stew and asked very politely if I could cook something else. I must admit, I was also dreading the thought of eating yet another stew so with very little encouragement I jumped at the chance of cooking dessert dish instead.

Ingredients:
 
 Dough:
1 cup of water,
½ package (125g) of unsalted butter,
1 cup of flour,
1tsp of baking powder,
5 eggs.

Cake Filling:
1pint of milk,
1 cup of sugar,
2 TBS of potato starch,
2 TBS of flour,
1 package (250g) of unsalted butter,
vanilla.

Directions:

Dough:
Dissolve butter in water, add flour and baking powder – mix and boil for 3 minutes. Set aside until it cools. Add eggs mixing at the same time. Divide the dough into two exact portions. Bake for about 30 minutes in 350 degrees two cake layers.

Cake Filling:
Mix milk with flour and starch while boiling. Add vanilla. Set aside to cool and then add butter. Place filling between the cake layer.








For those of us living in the UK the closest thing we have to this would be a Vanilla slice. The difference being the pastry is like a choux, and filling is less custard more cream. 

This is what I was going to cook. 

Bigos

 

Ingredients

2 lb sauerkraut, washed and drained;

2 lb white cabbage, shredded;

1 lb sausage, sliced into ½" pieces;

½ lb smoked ham, cubed;

½ lb smoked pork, cubed;

½ lb bacon, chopped;

½ lb beef or venison, cubed;

2 oz dried mushrooms;

4 pitted prunes, chopped;

2 apples, cored and cubed;

1 tomato, cubed;

1 onion, diced;

2 cloves garlic, minced;

1 tsp allspice;

2 bay leaves;:

1 tbsp peppercorns.

Directions

Prepare the ingredients as listed above.

Simmer the cabbage until soft (1/2 to 1 hour), then drain.

Meanwhile, cook the bacon and set aside, preserving the fat.

In the bacon fat sauté the onions and garlic, and brown the remaining meat except the sausage.

Combine all ingredients in a pot and cook: in a slow cooker, set on "low" for 5–10 hours;

on the stove, cook briefly on medium and then simmer 2–3 hours.

Refrigerate any leftovers and reheat for serving. The flavor improves each time, peaking around the third day. Many like to freeze it solid before thawing, heating and eating. Traditionally, it was left out in the freezing cold to store.

Ammo