Food - cooking

            Lasowiacy fed on what they produced themselves. They only bought salt and kerosene. The basis of the food was cabbage, groats, peas, potatoes, cereal products. The following were used as spreads in the dishes: lard, fat, butter, and during the fasting period, hemp or linseed oil. The basic spices were: mint, dill, parsley, cumin, rarely pepper. Usually three meals were eaten, only those working in the field received an additional meal - bread with butter and cheese. Borscht with bread was usually eaten for breakfast, for dinner it was usually cabbage or potato soup, often various kinds of groats (buckwheat, barley, millet) or noodles, less often dumplings with cheese were cooked. In the evening people eat what was for breakfast or, for example, borscht with potatoes. For meals, all household members sat down together, they ate from one bowl, usually the older ones sat and the children had to stand.

            Next to bread, groats were the basis of the cuisine of Lasowiacy. The housewives prepared them in many ways. They made, for example, sticky soups with milk. They baked and roasted in the oven, they were salted with butter, cracklings and oil. They served them with cottage cheese, dry cheese, they added mushrooms, plums, etc. Groats were also a popular addition to meat and dough.

            Potatoes are, next to bread and groats, another staple food. They were prepared in various ways. Sweet milk, sour milk, buttermilk, cheese were added to them. They were served with borscht, broth, and added to many soups and sauces. Potatoes were used to make noodles, baked pancakes in oil with the addition of cheese, onions, or even sweet pancakes with sugar. For example, dumplings were made of boiled potatoes. In addition, boiled, mashed potatoes were often added to bread dough, yeast cakes, mashed cakes, cheesecakes, etc., because then the cakes stayed fresh longer.

            Cabbage was one of the staple vegetables. It was a basic ingredient of dishes or an addition. Such dishes were made throughout the year. The cabbage was mainly pickled and it was the main ingredient of dishes in winter.

            Milk and its products were also a very important product. A lot of dishes were cooked in milk and with milk. In fact, in every pen there had to be at least one cow - the host. Milk products are mainly cottage cheese, cheese, buttermilk and whey. Cottage cheese was prepared in many ways and was used in almost every meal. Cream, herbs and spices were added to it and, for example, bread was spread. It was stuffed with dumplings and pancakes, and it was also an addition to noodles.

            The curd was processed into cheese for longer storage. These cheeses were made from "whole milk". It was drained of whey, sprinkled with salt and dried. Dried cheese was a great addition to, for example, dumplings. Another type of cheese are lumps, i.e. small conical balls with the addition of yolks and seasoned with various herbs, e.g. caraway, marjoram.

            The whey was made while making the curd. It was often used to make soups, to acidify dishes, or to pour it over the meat to make it crumble and not spoil quickly. On hot days, honey and mint were added to it and it perfectly quenched thirst. It was also used in folk medicine, e.g. compresses and swelling were made of it.

            Cream was mainly made of butter, which was usually sold at the market. In the period when there was more cream, butter was prepared for longer storage. Fresh butter was usually churned in a stone pot and poured over with cold, heavily salted but boiled water. The vessel was then tightly covered and placed in a cool place. Another way was to clarify the butter.

            Buttermilk was a real delicacy in the countryside, especially on hot days. It was drunk with potatoes, groats, pancakes or bread. It was also used to whiten soups, sauces and acidify dishes. It was also an addition to bread dough or wholemeal yeast rolls.

            Meat was eaten from holidays. Pigs were slaughtered once or twice a year, usually before Christmas and Easter. Such a large amount of meat had to be processed well to make it suitable for longer storage. Hams, bacon or tenderloin were first cured and then smoked. For longer storage, several days were smoked in the so-called "Cold smoke". Alder wood with juniper was usually used for smoking. The smoked meats were then hung in a cool, dry and airy room. The same was done with lard and dewlap. Another way of storing pork fat was to lay it in layers in stone pots, tamping it hard so that no air would enter it. Such lard was used to spread the dishes. It was also possible to smelt the lard. The fat was then poured into clay pots, and cracklings were spread on bread, they were used to season groats, cabbage, potatoes, etc. The smoked sausage and tenderloin were preserved by pouring hot lard in stone pots.

            Mushrooms were also, to some extent, a frequent ingredient in Lasowiec food. Already in May, morels as well as May boletes and boletes were collected. Mushrooms were collected from May to late autumn and various dishes were prepared on an ongoing basis. A large part of them was dried for winter supplies, they could also be salted or marinated. The plump, healthy boletus hats were especially valuable, they were dried and sold in nearby towns as a traditional accompaniment to Christmas Eve dishes.

SOURCE:

Ruszel K., Leksykon kultury ludowej w Rzeszowskiem, Rzeszów 2004

Editors: Smyk K., Pudłocki T., Wodzińska I., Puszcza Sandomierska od kuchni. Między tradycja a współczesnością, Kolbuszowa 2017