“In water, fish screw,” as folk wisdom says — so in vegan or plant-based cooking, there’s no place for water. Because that wouldn’t be vegan. Seriously, though: cooking soups, sauces, etc., using juice, oat milk, or broth instead of plain water lifts them to a whole new level. I developed this broth over several years, starting in … Read more
Is it possible to host a vegan Christmas Eve? Absolutely — and it can be fully in line with Polish holiday tradition. Much more so than the Western-inspired habit of serving roasted poultry for Christmas Eve dinner. If we look deeper into history — and also deeper into society — we see a culinary reality that is very different from what … Read more
My latest culinary fascination is… German cuisine. Yes, the very same German cuisine I regularly bash. More precisely, something I consider to be a true German specialty. And no, it’s not Bratwurst or oatmeal. It’s Brotaufstrich! Which means all kinds of spreads and pastes for bread. INGREDIENTS: 200 g canned or cooked chickpeas 50 g capers 50 g … Read more
TVP: texture vegetable protein. Until recently, only TSP, or “textured soy protein,” was available on the market. These are all those products like dry soy cutlets (affectionately called “sawdust cutlets”), pieces, granules, steaks — large, rectangular cutlets with a fibrous texture. TSP products had their time, at least in Poland, in the 1990s, when they were pretty … Read more
Have you ever cooked a classic dish you had no idea how it was supposed to taste? Recently, I was tasked with exactly that. We were expecting a visit, postponed since the pandemic, from a high-ranking teacher. You’re not required to know what kind of teacher, so let me explain. I cook at a Tibetan … Read more
Summer is a time of increased risk for food poisoning, rapid bacterial growth, and food spoilage. The recent mass poisoning in Poland, where over 100 people were poisoned by meat dumplings — importantly, from an external company — highlights this issue. Why does the risk of poisoning increase in the summer?The primary cause is temperature. The warmer it gets, … Read more
Some lottery bonus of fate is that I’ve never been a fan of either sweetened carbonated drinks or those awful sweet Mars bars, Twixes, Pigs, or whatever those brown things with corn syrup and additives are called.Similarly, fast food. All those pizzas, hot dogs, burgers. Not even pizza. And I never really understood those fans, … Read more
In the plant-based kitchen, we often try to “imitate” meat dishes. Sometimes, it’s because we miss those flavors, and sometimes, it’s for the professional satisfaction of achieving a good culinary illusion. I especially like it when such a dish passes the “carnivore test.” Someone claims that there must be meat in there. But it doesn’t … Read more
I already mentioned in the recipe for a meatless miso soup that it is a similar culinary tradition to Polish sourdough żurek. The base for Polish sourdough is wheat or other grains, while miso uses soybeans with the addition of grains, usually rice. However, in both cases, we use the same process: one of the … Read more
What connects Poland and Korea? Fermented foods. Fermented cabbage, to be exact. Fermented cabbage that saved the lives of our peasant ancestors. Fasting soups made with fermented vegetables like sauerkraut and sour rye soup were a staple of the Polish peasant diet. Miso and kimchi are Asian fermented foods similar to sauerkraut and sour rye … Read more
