While the Christian world (and chocolate lovers) prepare for Easter, I’m focused on the next day. The Monday following Easter Sunday is a day for Polish sausage, hard-boiled eggs and beer. This traditional Polish holiday is celebrated in many communities around the world.
Per this website managed by The Holidays Calendar, the tradition was brought to the United States by Polish immigrants, and records of it being celebrated in this country can be found going back to the 19th century. Today, it is celebrated in many cities across the U.S, particularly ones that have large Polish populations, such as Chicago, Illinois; South Bend, Indiana; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Bristol, Connecticut; Elizabeth, New Jersey; Cleveland, Ohio and Buffalo, New York.
I learned about the holiday in the years I lived in South Bend.
Much like St. Patrick’s Day, when the Irish allow you to be Irish, on this day, you are allowed to be Polish. Enjoy the day, eat the food, and participate in the parades. In Indiana, because the day falls during the primary season, this is also a time for political gatherings. Depending on the day of the year (some Easters are earlier than others), the day can be the kick-off of primary campaigns.
The original intent of the holiday was to commemorate the baptism of the first ruler of Poland, which brought Christianity to the country. At first, people sprinkled water on one another. That changed to a custom of young men showing affection for young women by dumping water on their heads. To add to the displays of affection, the men could whip the legs of the women with branches of pussy willows.
On the day following, the women could retaliate by throwing crockery at the men.
Nowadays, they can retaliate on the same day, by throwing water back.
We’ve come a long way, baby.
Today, It’s All About The Food
Very few families and individuals observe the “no courtships during Lent” thing, so Dyngus Day has become all about the food.
Note: Lent is bookended with gustatory celebrations: Fat Tuesday on the day before and Dyngus Day on the day after. What’s up with that?
Well, what’s up on the day after Lent is Polish food, like potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa (Polish sausage), and pierogi. Traditional desserts include Kolacky and paczki (custard filled donuts).
Here is a website with traditional Dyngus Day recipes, like Martha Stewart’s Potato and Goat Cheese Pierogi, Fried Sauerkraut Cakes with Kielbasa, and Bigos Stew.
Bigos is not a stew, per se. It is based on sauerkraut and can change as you like, or as the items in your pantry dictate. The only firm rule is that the sauerkraut must be truly fermented, or German-style. And it takes two days to make.
Basic ingredients:
- Meat for veal stew
- Pork shoulder (cubed)
- Meat for beef stew
- Onions, rough chopped
- Sauerkraut
- Dried Polish mushrooms (soaked, reserving the strained soaking liquid)
- Boczek (Polish pork belly, like salt pork or slab bacon), chopped into pieces
- Polish sausage, chopped into pieces
- Stock cubes (not actual stock, too much liquid)
- Peppercorns
- Bay leaf
- Caraway seeds
- Red wine
- Optional: tomato paste and/or Prunes
(For an idea of quantities and proportions: about a half pound of each kind of stew meat, 2 pounds of sauerkraut, maybe three onions, a good handful of dried mushrooms, half a two-foot link of Polish sausage, a small-ish piece of boczek… nothing is really exact here, sorry.)
In a very large pot over high heat brown all your meats in batches until they are just sealed (not the sausage or the boczek) and set aside. Don’t cook the meats through, because they have a long time to spend cooking. If you take them too far at this early stage, they’ll fall to shreds long before you’re done. Add the rough chopped onion and the sauerkraut to the pot and just barely cover with water. It shouldn’t be “floating” in the water, it should just look saturated. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat way down and add all your meats, the boczek, the sausage, the mushrooms and the strained soaking liquid, the stock cubes, everything but the red wine. Simmer on very low heat for at least an hour and a quarter. Take a peak and a stir every now and again.
After an hour and a quarter or so, come back to the pot and add a cup of decent red wine. Use a good-bodied German or Austrian wine with soft tannins, rather than a very fruit forward wine with lots of acidity. At this point, if you want to, you can add a little tomato paste and about 10 whole pitted prunes. Stir for a bit, keep the heat low, and let it go for another couple of hours, you could even go three hours.
At this point, turn off the heat, cover the pot, and put it in a cool place overnight. In the morning put it back on the stove, bring it all back to a simmer and cook it for another 2 or 3 hours. You COULD eat it at this point, but tradition dictates you repeat the overnight cooling and 2-hour simmer the following day, and it gets even better.
It’s a tricky balance between adding just enough water, and cooking the water off and replacing it. If for any reason your Bigos seems too watery at the end of cooking you can try and fix it with one pureed potato, but you’ll have to be careful and watch that it doesn’t burn when you continue to cook it. The potato starch tends to sink to the bottom of the pot and burn the pot. It’s not ideal, but it’s one fix-it option if you need it.
Traditionalists vs Modernists
This website has fun with several polish favorites. I like recipes that add a modern twist.
Polish sausage showdown:
- Traditionalist: Let the sausage shine on its own, eaten with rye bread on the side.
- Modernist: The Rebel (sauerkraut balls with aioli).
Pierogies:
- Traditionalist: Stewed Sauerkraut (cook sauerkraut with butter and carrots until it’s sweet).
- Modernist 1: Mac & Cheese Pockets (with cheddar, Muenster, Gruyere, provolone and mozzarella).
- Modernist 2: Sour Cherry (just sour cherries and a little sugar).
Kolacky
Another website gives a recipe for Kolacky, a traditional dessert, pronounced kolotch-key. This particular section has the dessert spelled more than one way. Because… well… apparently we can’t decide which way to go.
The dough:
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar for dusting
The filling (a list of ideas):
You can do fillings the easy way, by purchasing fruit fillings, such as Solo, or jams, jellies or preserves. Or you can make your own. Traditional flavors are apricot, prune, pineapple, or cheese (Danish or farmer’s). For a more traditional approach, recipes are included below.
Place the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl; beat with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat 1/2 cup of confectioners’ sugar into the butter mixture. Slowly beat in the flour; mix well. Cover bowl and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
On a well-floured board, roll out chilled dough to 1/8 inch. Use a pizza wheel to cut dough into 2-inch squares. Spoon approximately 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each square; do not overfill. Fold opposite corners of each square into the middle to encase dough, pinching dough together in center. Filling should peek out a little at each end. Transfer cookies to an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake the kolacky in the preheated oven until set but not brown, about 12 minutes. Remove to racks to cool. Dust cooled kolacky with remaining powdered sugar
Fillings from a traditional recipe site:
This site uses a different spelling, “kolaches.”
Poppy seed filling: Put 1/4 lb. freshly ground poppy seed into a small pan, add ½ cup or less of water to moisten and cook through a little. When thickened, pour enough milk, about 1/2 cup, to cover. Continue cooking slowly for about 10 minutes being careful that it does not scorch. Stir frequently! Add 1 T. butter, 1/2 t. vanilla, 1/2 t. cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar. Continue cooking for about 5 minutes and remove from heat. If the mixture is too soft, add crushed vanilla wafers or graham crackers.
Prune filling: 1 16-oz. package of pitted prunes, 1 c. water, 1/2 c. sugar 1 t. lemon juice, 1 t. lemon rind, 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/2 t. allspice. Cook prunes with sugar in the water using low heat. Stir constantly (a potato masher is useful for this task) until smooth and thick. Add lemon juice and spices. May be prepared before starting kolach dough and stored in a freezer.
Apricot filling: 1 16-oz. package of dry apricots, 1 c. water, 1/2 c. sugar. Cook as above, using dry apricots, instead of the prunes. Omit lemon juice, rind, cinnamon and allspice.
Pineapple filling: 1 13.5-oz. can of crushed pineapples, 1/4 c. water, 1/4 c. sugar, 1 T. cornstarch (level). Cook until thick, stir in 2 T. butter while warm. Cool before using. Top with the following: 3/4 c. flour, 1/2 c. sugar, and 1/3 c. butter mixed, together until ingredients are crumbly.
Nut Filling: 2 eggs, 1/2 t. vanilla, 3/4 c. sugar, 2 c. ground nuts, 1/4 c. butter. Beat egg yolks and half of the sugar. Beat in the soft butter until quite stiff. Beat egg whites until stiff and add remaining sugar a little at a time. Fold into egg yolk mixture. Add vanilla and nut meats. For a crunch topping: 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. sugar, 1 T. butter and 1/8 t. cinnamon mixed together until ingredients are crumbly.
Cottage Cheese filling: 1 lb. cottage cheese, 2 egg yolks mixed with 3 T. butter, a little grated lemon rind, 1/2 t. vanilla, sugar to taste, 1/2 c. raisins which have been washed in hot water. Mix all ingredients together. If the cheese was not the real dry kind, you may add a little cream of wheat to thicken it. This mixture should stand a while. May be prepared before starting kolach dough.
Apple, Cherry or Blueberry filling: Use the pie fillings available in 21 oz. (1 lb. 5 oz.) 595 grams cans. If the apples slices are too large, just cut them into smaller pieces.
In Closing:
It’s a great reason to look forward to Easter!