Makovets - The Charming Classic Of Polish Cuisine

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Makovets is a cake with a solid amount of ground poppy seeds, sugar / honey, nuts and dried fruits. Pastries are most often in the following forms:

• Pie or tart - poppy - the thick layer of poppy mixture is placed on a thin layer of dough;

• Poppy roll - oblong, spirally wound, in the shape of a shaft. It is prepared from yeast dough in different variations.

• Strudel - with strudel dough.

Makovets in Polish cuisine

The poppy intended for the poppy mixture must be prepared for subsequent grinding. One way is steaming (flooding with boiling water), then strain, filter thoroughly and allow the water to evaporate. Another method is to flood the poppy with cold or hot milk or water, leave it to soak for a while. According to some recipes, after steaming or soaking, the beans must be boiled.

If the poppy is soaked overnight, it will only need to be boiled for a few minutes. According to the famous Polish chef and publicist Maciej Kuron (1960-2008), poppy seeds should be scalded in any case, regardless of whether they are pre-soaked. Before, poppy seeds were not boiled, but they were still flooded with water and it was waited until they changed their taste.

Thus prepared, thoroughly drained, the poppy is ground two or three times in a meat grinder through a fine sieve or crushed in a mortar. The ground poppy is mixed with honey or sugar, then nuts and dried fruits can be added - walnuts, almonds, raisins, orange peel jam.

The use of hazelnuts, prunes or pears is also found in various regional cuisines. According to some recipes, butter, eggs or beaten egg whites are added to the poppy mixture.

The roasted poppy seed rolls are covered with white glaze and sprinkled with whole grains of poppy seeds or orange peel jam. It is also common in commercial stores poppy with chocolate glaze / see gallery /.

Makovets in the form of a pie, it is a thick layer of poppy mixture on a thin sheet of standard or crumbly dough, covered with the second sheet of dough, with a grid of dough or with crumbs.

Makovets as a festive dish

Makovets is a traditional Christmas and Easter cake for Polish cuisine. In some areas of the country it became popular after World War II thanks to settlers from eastern Poland. Initially, poppy seed rolls became popular.

Every day he attended only the tables of the wealthy. In ordinary houses it was prepared only on special occasions - Christmas, Easter, carnivals, as well as on major Catholic holidays.

According to folk beliefs, poppy, used on Christmas Eve, should bring happiness and protect from evil forces.

The poppy is a plant that contains thousands of seeds and appears at Christmas dinner as a symbol of abundance and fertility. The grinding of poppies during these holidays is done by young girls in order to get married soon. Poppy in Christmas dishes, along with honey and mushrooms, is also a connection to the Otherworld.

The poppy finds a place in the List of traditional products of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Here is the selected selection:

• Makovets - Eisherishki, Sendzhishovski, Hozhenski, Brzozowski - poppy roll with visible in section, wide spiral poppy mixture with nuts and dried fruits;

• Makovets Lyubartovski - atypical poppy roll - a single rolled thin layer of bread with a very thick layer of poppy mixture with honey, raisins and nuts;

• Strudel - poppy roll of fluffy wheat dough with options for filling poppy or cottage cheese;

• Silesian / Czech wedding cake - rectangular pie (cut into squares if desired) or round (cut into triangles) - made of two marshes, between which there is one of the three options - pure poppy mixture, cottage cheese.