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Cookbook authors Laura and Peter Zeranski of Alexandria, Va., shared Polish cooking traditions and techniques at the Ohio County Public Library Tuesday Sept. 30.
The Zeranskis, co-authors of “Polish Classic Recipes” and “Polish Classic Desserts,” made their third appearance at the Lunch With Books series to talk about holiday traditions and to offer tips for preparing classic Polish dishes. They gave samples of Polish dill pickle soup, lazy pierogies and apple raisin cake.
“A lot has happened since our last visit,” Laura Zeranski told the large Wheeling audience. She said their second book, “Polish Classic Desserts,” was chosen by Gourmand Magazine as the best Eastern European cookbook of 2013. They were invited to participate in the Library of Congress’ 2014 National Book Festival. Their recipe for poppy seed cake was featured on the Food Network.
They attend numerous Polish festivals where their books garner attention because “all our recipes are the classic recipes,” Peter Zeranski said. At one such event, he said, a woman who was looking at the dessert cookbook began to weep as she remembered “all the times she had made those specific recipes with her grandmother. She didn’t have those recipes anymore.”
Discussing current events, he noted that Russia has banned the import of Polish apples in retaliation for European Union sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine. “Poland is the world’s large exporter of apples and Russia is Poland’s biggest customer,” he explained. As a result of the embargo, Polish farmers “are really getting hit in the pocketbook,” he said.
Sharing cooking tips, Laura Zeranski said, “Always read your recipe first. You need to know what ingredients you need; you need to know what equipment you need and you need to see how long it will take.”
Her second tip related to pierogies. “The dough needs to be rolled very thinly. It needs to be rolled consistently,” she said. She also suggested cutting small rings of dough, putting the filling atop the rings and applying an egg wash around the pierogie circles to seal the edges.
A couple of gadgets are available to cut the circles; one such tool is used to prepare pierogies individually, while another gadget makes 12 to 18 pierogies at a time. Peter Zeranski recommends using a little nonstick cooking spray to grease the gadget.
Laura Zeranski said pierogies can be frozen, but should be cooked partially before freezing to keep them from getting moldy or turning gray. Peter Zeranski added, “Frozen pierogies have to be cooked frozen. Don’t let them thaw. Don’t have a heavy boil; have it (the heat) barely above a simmer.”
She demonstrated how to make lazy pierogies that have farmers cheese in the dough, but have no filling. Dough is rolled into logs of consistent thickness; logs are cut into small pieces that are cooked six to eight minutes. These pierogies can be served with sweet or savory toppings.
Her third tip concerned alcohol. Noting that two of the three most popular Polish desserts are deep-fried, she said the secret to keeping the dough from absorbing too much grease is to add 2 teaspoons of liquor to the batter. Most of the alcohol will cook off during frying.
Her fourth tip was to use parchment paper when baking, to line pans or to place on cookie sheets. “It can be your best friend,” she said.
As her fifth tip, she told the audience to test dishes for seasoning periodically while cooking. “Salt has to take a while to cook into the food,” she explained.
Discussing soup, Laura Zeranski said “an endless variety of beet soups” exists, “one for just about every Polish village, Russian village and Eastern European village.”
Dried mushroom soup is traditional for some families at Christmas. Peter Zeranski recalled that during one holiday season, his mother and her visiting sister disagreed on whether to prepare beet soup or dried mushroom soup for the Christmas Eve dinner. “There was some discussion around the house. They compromised and made their own soups,” he said.
The dill pickle soup that they served at the library is “uniquely Polish” and features pickles, potatoes and carrots seasoned with dill. “The pickling spices pretty much cook off,” leaving “a very mild tang” to the broth, he said.
In Polish families, “the tradition is that you don’t start Christmas Eve dinner until the first star comes out,” he said. Before sitting down, everyone shares a wafer, resembling a communion wafer. Each person breaks off a piece of the wafer and kisses the next person on both cheeks, he said.
Another tradition of this meal is “to always have an empty place at the table for the lost traveler,” he said. Greens are placed on the table to symbolize the manger where Christ was born.
An old tradition for Christmas Eve is to serve “12 dishes for the 12 disciples,” she said. A fish dish is always the main course of the meatless meal. An appetizer (such as a crepe stuffed with mushrooms), beet or mushroom soup and a compote of dried fruits are served. The menu may include poppy seeds served over noodles and a potato dish. To complete the holiday repast, several desserts are offered.