Sausage counter: Guest Photo!

Over the winter break, Matthias and Seda snapped this completely heartwarming picture of a German sausage counter. What I find shocking, having seen about 100 Polish sausage counters, is the relative sparsity of smoked sausages. Here in Poland, people tend to vary the spices but use pretty roughly ground, nasty parts of the pig. Then they dry it via smoking. Every town (it seems) has its favorite version, its favorite pig parts. But look below at all these amazing semi-processed, smoothly spreading sausages. Perfect for Abendbrot.


Then, of course, there's the sausage counter outside of the grocery store, on the street. No worries, this guy wasn't hovering in the arcades off of Krakowskie Przedmieście when the temperature hovered around -22 degrees (Celsius, of course) for 5 days. I'm pretty sure that sausage (and vodka!) freeze at that temperature.

Mmmm Naleśniki

I am eternally indebted to Michael for helping me realize the joy that is the corner crepe place. It's just about one of the best places in Warsaw. And, do you seeeeee that melted cheese. Yes, you do. And you know, that's why Poles move to Wisconsin. The salami -- not from Poland -- is incidental.

Happy New Year!

And, of course!, a digression to wish health in 2010. Here's what I was eating (to ensure my own arteries' stamina?) as the clock struck midnight:


Well, I didn't eat ALL of it.

Cabbage digression

The holidays brought much sausage into my life, for this I am very thankful. Diverse and delicious, this portioning of meat has tremendous potential.

But before I got very serious about sausage, I was very serious about cabbage. This is essential in Poland: it is the healthiest available vegetable. And it reminds me of lettuce. Of course, it's also the staple of Christmas Eve dinner in Poland, and we had to do quite the work to prepare it for the various dishes that required it. It needed to be chopped and boiled and then ground into the smoothest of textures.

To start: a four kilo (!!!!) head:


An attack:


Superfastshreddingaction:


This smells really really terrible:

Oto Pan Bóg przyjdzie

You know, I haven't inflicted many Polish quotations on all of you, and it's about time. Because this weekend (as part of my "work") I heard a carol with the above incipit sung by small boys many times (maybe 6?). And the message of the service was clearly...Christmas is coming. It's almost here. YAY. For those interested, the direct translation of the hymn is that God is coming, the holy day (holiday!) is coming, and a great light will be in the coming days. Alleluja.

So, in the spirit of my avoidance of sausage post-Thanksgiving (no sausage, but definitely gluttony) and preparations for Xmas, I want to get back into talking about Polish food and nourishment more generally. I'm preparing to make a traditional feast for Wigilia (Christmas Eve). It's traditional to "Catholic-fast"--eat only fish and not-porkbeefpoultry. So there will be no sausage. Kind of.

That doesn't mean I haven't been eating it while I browse the carp recipes in my cookbook. (I'm going to cook it "Jewish style". I don't know why it's called that. It definitely has no bacon.) This was chicken sausage. It was so BORING. And salty. Only suited for sandwiches, I tell you.

And, of course, I have no obligation to stick with fish at the big feast. So I bought some pork-centric gifts for myself to unwrap. Krakowian sausage, dried and sliced. It looked really precious. And some pate.

Mikołajek!

It's the time of year during which I can, should I desire to, leave one of the archives in which I spend the day and go and eat sausage within two seconds. That's because there is a "Jarmark" (a Christkindlmarkt, a holiday "fair") right outside the door. In general, it's filled with goodies (mulled beverages, many ornaments, an organ grinder, multiple singing Christmas trees), but the most exciting places for this sausage connoisseur are the meat stands. Ok, also the stand that sells bread with lard and cracklings ....

It's the second Sunday in Advent and also St. Nicholas Day. Have you given your friends little gifts? Maybe they would like some smoked sausage? In a basket?

Mapping Europe sausageologically

So, my roommate having just made a whole mess of delicious chili, I'm about to embark on a little interlude in my sausage journeys devoted to the hot dog, frankfurter, or -- as in the photo above -- Bavarian sausage. With chili dogs on my horizon, I'm looking forward to trying to figure out what the different salt contents of the 10 different hot dog-esque offerings of the butcher are. Will I survive?

I have to say, these little links were really good. Not too salty -- something I cannot say for the beef (!) kiełbasa "with pepper" that I ate last week which may or may not be making an appearance here. I'm still mad that it didn't taste beefy. Anyway, the best feature of this sausage, and you can spot this if you've got a keen eye in the picture, is that it was "knackig". The texture, with bread and mustard, and a teensy bit of ketchup (don't tell) was energizing, like eating popcorn can be. If you don't understand what I'm talking about, I am sorry that you have never had a sausage this good.