I really connect with Polish food. It’s rustic, seasonal and
affordable, as well as being influenced by just about anyone who’s passed
through at some point; notably French, Jewish and Russian cuisines. I know this
is silly but it feels really earthy and spiritual somehow when I cook something
Polish for dinner; I feel transported to a scarred land of wheat fields,
cabbages, harvests and preserving. I want to go to Poland at some point to get
the “peasant making delicious stew on farmstead” image out of my head; I’m sure
that it doesn’t actually resemble a Bertold Brecht play. This aside, what’s
most important to me is the food, and it’s really delicious. One café,
Barbakan, situated on Walmgate in York was one of my favourite lunchtime spots
when I was a student. Small, bustling and cosy, Barbakan really opened my eyes
to the wonders of Polish food. Baskets of sourdough bread would be served
alongside piping hot dishes of goblaki -stuffed cabbage leaves- potato and
cheese stuffed pierogi -dumplings- or peppery, juniper-spiked bigos. According
to my worn cookbook, The Polish Kitchen,
by Mary Pininska, bigos is the national dish of Poland and was traditionally
made with any food harvested from the land; game, juniper berries, mushrooms,
all bolstered of course, by sauerkraut. See this as a base recipe to expand upon and make additions to; there is only one prerequisite, which is
that you absolutely must make bigos at least one day in advance to let the
flavours mature.
When I was small we used to drive to Manchester and stop off
at a little bakery up some steps in Chinatown. Inside there were glass-fronted
displays of all kinds of sweet and savoury soft doughy buns, glazed and shining.
We always bought something sweet with bean paste in it, which got thrown out
after we’d taken one bite each in the back of the car but the star of our
purchases was always the pork buns. The dough itself was sweet and pillowy soft
but that filling! Tender roasted pork with honey and five spice. I didn’t know
what char siu was back then but now I try to recreate those flavours every time
I’m out of ideas with a piece of pork sitting in front of me. This time around
I had a few pieces of pork belly to use up, so I felt that the time was upon me
to try and recreate my Manchester favourite.
