Local cuisine of Podlasie
The local cuisine of Podlasie deserves some special attention. Even just the names of the meals make you think about the mysterious, wild forest lands that many interesting yet so different cultures were trying to obtain. Meals and their names are the effect of the mix of Polish, Lithuanian, Jewish and Russian cultures. The meals are tasty and really easy to make for the connoisseurs of the local cuisine. All the ingredients are available in Augustów Primeval Forest as gifts from mother nature. There are some of the most popular local dishes which you can try while visiting our terrains:
Kartacze – oval potato dumplings made from grated raw or cooked potatoes. The inside of the dumpling is filled with ground meat with some local seasoning. The dumplings are cooked in water and after putting them on the plate, they should be poured over with the aromatic fat with some cracklings and fried onions.
Babka ziemniaczana – local babka is prepared from the grated potatoes, flavour and eggs. An important bonus which complements the babka’s taste is fried fatback with onions. The ingredients are mixed together, put into the form and then baked in the oven till it’s golden-brown.
Kiszka ziemniaczana – cured meat of the rich flavor, sourced from the grated potatoes, fatback and chopped onions. The kiszka is getting the perfect taste and consistency thanks to the process of baking it in the oven till it is colored.
Soczewiaki – semicircular dumplings made from the cake from the cooked potatoes. They are stuffed with lentil, pea or sauerkraut. They taste the best while hot right after being baked and embellished with the crackling and onions.
Ryby – thanks to the fished lakes and rivers of the Augustów Primeval Forest, local cuisine has a very wide range of fish dishes, such as: smoked vendace or eel, whitefish or zander with the chanterelles, tench in cream or stuffed pike
Sękacz – a cake formed to look as a stump. It attracts even with its look only with its heavy, sweet aroma. It contains natural ingredients only: eggs, butter and sugar. The secret of baking sękacz is gradual shedding of the cake into the spinning, oaken rolling pin. The cake is baked by layers and it should be baked for around 2-3 hours.
Mrowisko – it’s an amazing dessert which is made by filing thin layers of sweet honey-coated faworki showered in poppy and raisins. This dessert’s shape is similar to the anthill.
Miód augustowski – honey sourced in Augustów Primeval Forest was inscribed into the list of traditional products in June 2010. The perfect conditions for beekeeping make it possible to obtain high-grade honey from the flowers, herbs and other forest plants. Augustów beekeepers obtain honey with the traditional methods only.
Augustowska jagodzianka – it’s a tasty yeasty roll with the stuffing of forest berries which was inscribed into the EU list of traditional products. Typical things for the augustowska jagodzianka is the stuffing made with fresh berries – it gives the roll inimitable taste and it makes it very popular in our region.
