Pierogi ruskie
The Polish table, beyond the tourist menu. Blood soup, black pudding, the half-pickled cucumber and the roux that thickens everything — and why the most famous pierogi are not Russian.
gołąbki
noun · plural
- EN
- stuffed cabbage rolls
- RU
- голубцы
W niedzielę babcia robi gołąbki w sosie pomidorowym.
On Sundays Grandma makes cabbage rolls in tomato sauce.
Literally 'little pigeons', and not a pigeon in sight: minced meat and rice in cabbage leaves. Russian голубцы is the same bird and the same dish; the Polish ones usually come in tomato sauce.
czernina
noun · feminine
- EN
- duck blood soup
- RU
- суп на утиной крови
Czerniny trzeba spróbować choć raz w życiu.
You have to try duck blood soup at least once in your life.
Sweet-and-sour, dark, made with duck blood and dried fruit. Also called czarna polewka — the soup once served to a rejected suitor as his answer.
żurek
noun · masculine
- EN
- sour rye soup
- RU
- журек (суп на закваске)
Na Wielkanoc zawsze robię żurek z białą kiełbasą.
At Easter I always make żurek with white sausage.
Soured on a rye zakwas, served with white sausage and half an egg, sometimes in a bread bowl. Whether barszcz biały is the same soup or a wheat-based cousin depends on which region you ask.
barszcz
noun · masculine
- EN
- beetroot soup
- RU
- борщ
Na Wigilię podajemy czysty barszcz z uszkami.
On Christmas Eve we serve clear beetroot soup with little dumplings.
A clear beet broth, often drunk from a cup, with uszka at Wigilia. The thick RU борщ with cabbage and meat appears on Polish menus as barszcz ukraiński — a different dish with a passport.
bigos
noun · masculine
- EN
- hunter's stew
- RU
- бигос (капуста с мясом)
Bigos najlepszy jest trzeciego dnia, odgrzewany.
Bigos is best on the third day, reheated.
Sauerkraut, fresh cabbage and whatever meat there was, reheated for days and improving each time. Narobić bigosu is to make a mess, and both senses are in daily use.
kaszanka
noun · feminine
- EN
- blood sausage with groats
- RU
- кровяная колбаса с крупой
Na grilla kupiliśmy kaszankę i cebulę.
We bought black pudding and onions for the barbecue.
From kasza, the groats inside — buckwheat or barley, with blood and offal. Fried with onion or thrown on the grill, and a test of how Polish your stomach has become.
ogórek małosolny
phrase · noun, masculine
- EN
- a lightly salted, half-fermented cucumber
- RU
- малосольный огурец
Latem babcia robi ogórki małosolne w słoiku.
In summer Grandma makes lightly salted cucumbers in a jar.
A few days in brine with dill and garlic, eaten before it turns into a full kiszony. An easy one for Russian speakers: малосольный.
zasmażka
noun · feminine
- EN
- a roux (flour fried in fat)
- RU
- мучная заправка, пассеровка
Do fasolki po bretońsku dodaj trochę zasmażki.
Add a little roux to the bean stew.
From zasmażać, to brown by frying. Flour browned in butter or lard, stirred into soups and stews to thicken them — the secret behind half the dishes a Polish grandmother calls light.
oscypek
noun · masculine
- EN
- smoked sheep's cheese
- RU
- копчёный овечий сыр
Na Krupówkach oscypek z żurawiną sprzedają na każdym rogu.
On Krupówki they sell oscypek with cranberry on every corner.
An EU-protected name since 2008: made in the grazing season, in designated mountain areas of Małopolska and Śląsk, with at least 60% sheep's milk. The cow's-milk lookalike grilled at the seaside in January is not oscypek, whatever the sign says.
pierogi ruskie
phrase · noun, plural
- EN
- potato and cheese pierogi
- RU
- вареники с картошкой и творогом
Poproszę pierogi ruskie, ale z wody, nie smażone.
Ruskie pierogi please, boiled, not fried.
Ruskie means Ruthenian, after the old region of Ruś Czerwona around Lwów — not Russian, which would be rosyjskie. Potato and twaróg inside. Some menus have used ukraińskie since 2022; the filling is the same.
Drill these ten · earlier morning · later morning
Drill these ten