Siuśpaj from Tarnów Land
When visiting Tarnów and its surroundings, a regional dish with the graceful name siuśpaj is worth trying. Its name comes from the ancient regional word to mix. Siuśpaj is a thick barley porridge mixed with dried fruit and generously sweetened with honey or sugar. In the past, it was eaten as the main course or taken with to work in the field, as it was an incredibly filling and restorative dish. It was often served with sweet milk.
Śiuśpaj is also a ritual dish that was served on Christmas Eve. It is a speciality of the housewives from Wola Rzędzińska, and in 2012, it was entered into the List of Traditional Products.
Caban-style potatoes
Potatoes in Caban style is a traditional one-pot dish served in the area of Chrzanów. The name derives from the people who once lived in Chrzanów Land after they had come to this area together with the Tatars. Cabani were shepherds, pastoralists who bred and took care of the livestock that fed the Tatar armies invading Europe.
Baked potatoes with vegetables were the basic food made by shepherds. The preparation of the dish is a ritual that is cultivated to this day. You can try Caban-style potatoes at the annual festival of this dish in the Chrzanów district.
Adzymka from the Lemko cuisine
If you are hiking in the Low Beskids, check out the traditional Lemko dishes offered by the regional inns and restaurants. The Lemkos lived and ate modestly, but their cuisine was delicious and highly aromatic despite the fact that they had relatively few ingredients available to them.
One of the most interesting propositions is adzymka. What is that? It is a pancake made of flour, baking soda, baking powder, egg, salt and sour milk. Adzymka tastes best when fried in a cast-iron pan. It goes well with honey, homemade butter or jam.
Siercioki from Limanowa
Siercioki, or potato dumplings, have been served in Limanowa Land since the dawn of time. They were eaten with butter, white cheese, milk or pork cracklings. Siercioki noodles conquer the hearts of not only the inhabitants of Limanowa and the surrounding area but tourists as well. If you are going to those places, ask about this local delicacy in restaurants!
Kulasa with spyrka
After hiking in the Pieniny area, it is worth trying the regional Pieniny cuisine, which, as befits Highlander ingenuity, conjures up real wonders from simple ingredients. An unusual culinary offering of the Pieniny region is kulasa with spyrka (pork cracklings). Kulasa is wholemeal flour cooked in a novel way, in salted water, which is then spread on a plate and drizzled with fat with greaves. You must try it!
Sałaciorka from Podhale
The Podhale cuisine is not only oscypek, bryndza and kwaśnica. These are also delicious dishes that used to be served only in Highlanders' homes, but today they are featured on the menus of many regional restaurants. One such regional dish is sałaciorka, a soup made of lettuce and sour milk, with the addition of potatoes and cracklings. It is exceptionally nutritious and dense. In the past, it was served in Podhale to provide plenty of vitamins and minerals, not to mention calories, because the work in the fields took a lot of energy. Żętyca, i.e., whey obtained from the production of oscypek, was also added to condense the lettuce stock.
Małopolska kukiełka
If to date you have associated the word kukiełka mainly with puppets, we will change that! In Małopolska, you may not only play with a kukiełka but also eat one. The most famous of them is kukiełka lisiecka.
What is kukiełka lisiecka? It is wheat bread made according to an old recipe. Kukiełka has a spindle shape, and according to tradition, it is baked in an oven fired with pine wood with an admixture of hardwood. On the culinary trails of Małopolska, you will also find kukiełka uszewska, kukiełka wojnicka and kukiełka podegrodzka. Each of them will provide you with culinary experiences and take you into the world of regional stories, rituals and customs.