On Polish Food .:. grubbykid.com

On Polish Food

In honor of the Passing of the Pope a few of us celebrated his life with some good Polish food. Even though only 1/4 of the group were actually Catholic, this was an excuse to sample so delicious, potato-based Polish food. In my neighborhood of Greenpoint, you can pretty much throw a stone in any direction and hit a Polish restaurant. The difficult part is finding a good one, and one where at least one server speaks some English.

Greenpoint is one of a handful neighborhoods in America where you can grow up not needing to learn English. It really is a self-contained neighborhood where even the Police Officers speak Polish. There is also a large Catholic church where Pope John Paul II preached at during one of his New York trips, which was mobbed by mourners and reporters alike during his time of mourning.

Now, that's not what I want to talk about. That's not what I want to talk about at all.

I want to talk about what is perhaps the greatest appetizer ever invented. To appreciate the greatest appetizer ever invented one must set the scene. After food orders are taken, out comes a plate full of bread and a large bowl. In that bowl is a gray-goo like substance, which looks much porridge, yet somehow impossibly thicker. This substance is a weird-science-like conjoining of porridge and molasses, which has fused into the ultimate grey-goo slowness.

But, this something is completely different than porridge; this is completely different than anything you have ever eaten. Made of bacon, bacon grease, pan droppings from roasted pork loin, and lard. My friend, you are eating Smolitz (smaltz?), a Polish delicacy.

The culinary experience around Smolitz is like nothing you have ever experienced. Smolitz being somewhere between lard and butter, spreading it on bread is a natural place for smolitz. But why stop there? Smolitz as we found out, goes well with fish, boiled pirogi, fried pirogi, chicken, beer, and vegetables; smolitz is a multipurpose spread for your food and perhaps your engine too. If you can get past the grey color speckled with tiny bacon bits, the smolitz will be your best friend.

I'm not joking - if you can get past the fact that what you are spreading on bread is lard with lard with lard with some bacon, then you too can enjoy smolitz on a Sunday morning.

Comments

Jw says:

Damn! I have had a Polish girlfriend for over a year, and have never been treated to a lard based dinner-item! What gives? I've had my share of all the rest, but I'd better inquire as to the deal with the lard goodie. Time to take a trip to the Polish deli blocks.

Posted by: Jw at April 22, 2005 4:54 PM #

Diana says:

My Polish mother-in-laws great grandfather brought a bean over from Poland many years ago. The only name she has for it is "Bup". Does anyone know if this bean has another name. She has saved the seeds each year after harvest. She has passed some on to me and I would like to know just what it is. She said it looks like a lima, only larger, and only has 2 beans in each pod.
Can anyone help me out.
Thanks.
rockingbee@aol.com

Posted by: Diana at May 4, 2005 9:27 PM #

AP says:

Mmmm. I used to eat that as a kid when my parents were still "fresh off the boat." I believe the Polish spelling is Smalec, pronounced Sma-lets (with a short "a", like in taco).

My mom would fry it up in a pan. Delicious. Nothing like smalec on some warm rye bread. Now if I could just get my head wrapped around eating lard again.

Posted by: AP at May 2, 2006 6:20 PM #

kyle kozuszek says:

I grew up in Miamisburg OH, and my grandmother is french but grandfather is polish and everytime i went over to their house she would make me my favorite meal. i dont even know what it is called but it has kielbasa, potatos, onion, and green beans. if anyone has ever had it before. it is delicious. its a soup, but the only liquid is water. but dont think that waters it down and takes the flavor away because it dont.if anyone knows what this is called email me please.