Best Polish Cookbooks

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Traditional Polish fare includes hearty dishes like pies and pastries made with cream, eggs, meats, fresh bread, and mouthwatering sausages. Because of the country’s geographical location and historical ties to neighboring countries, Polish cuisine incorporates flavors and ingredients from these regions, including Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine. There are wonderful Polish cookbooks out there, all offering something special!

12 Best Polish Cookbooks

Poland’s cuisine evolved over the centuries depending on several factors, including its geography and agriculture, its relations with other nations, and its ethnic and regional groupings. Poland, a sizable nation with a diverse geography that includes forests, mountains, and coastal access to the Baltic Sea, was formerly abundant in natural resources. 

Several of its traditional meals, which date back to the Middle Ages, rely on ingredients like game and cattle, cold-water fish like herring, cereals, and grains that are used to make everything from soups to porridge, cream, cheese, butter, etc. hey often pickled and smoked their food. They also foraged for fruit and mushrooms throughout the woodlands. 

Horseradish and honey were added as flavorings as well. Spices like pepper, nutmeg, salt, and cloves, were inexpensive due to the friendly relations between Turkey and Poland at the time. During the Renaissance, citrus, almonds, and raisins were introduced, along with other spices like saffron, ginger, and cinnamon.

If you have yet to discover and experience the magic of Polish cuisine, you’ve come to the right place! This article will discuss eleven of the best, most beloved Polish cookbooks among home cooks and professional chefs. Let’s get cooking!

Pierogi Love: New Takes on an Old-World Comfort Food

  • Total Recipes: 60
  • Total Pages: 184
  • Recipes Preview: Polish Cheddar And Potato Pierogi; American-Inspired Reuben Pierogies; Pierogi Filled With Falafel And Nutella
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Fried Apple Pie-Rogies

The unleavened dough is wrapped around a sweet or savory filling and cooked in boiling water to create pierogi (filled dumplings). Pierogi, a national dish of Poland that is a must-try for visitors and a local favorite, is often pan-fried before serving. 

The author shows readers everything from traditional Polish cheddar and potato filling to the ‘American-inspired’ Rueben pierogi and “Santa Fe-rogi” in this book of traditional Polish cuisine. Each recipe is accompanied by an engaging anecdote drawn from the author’s extensive research of pierogi flavors.

From a Polish Country House Kitchen

  • Total Recipes: 90
  • Total Pages: 288
  • Recipes Preview: Venison Noisettes; Eggplant Caviar (Kawior Z Bakłazana); Herring With Sour Cream And Apples
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Foolproof Matzoh Balls (Knejdlach)

This one-of-a-kind and intriguing cookbook shed light on an underappreciated cuisine with over 150 beautiful images, headnotes that describe Poland’s dynamic food culture, and over 90 recipes for traditional and modern Polish cuisine. 

Author of a Pulitzer Prize, Anne Applebaum has been a resident of Poland since before communism was overthrown, and her cookbook, which was inspired by her interactions with the people, food, and culture of her adopted nation, provides an enticing glimpse into the stormy past of this stunning area. 

In a Polish Country House Kitchen brings the wholesome, filling dishes of Anne’s Polish country home into kitchens all over the world.

Polish Cookery: Poland’s Bestselling Cookbook For Americans

  • Total Recipes: 500
  • Total Pages: 314
  • Recipes Preview: Roast Wild Goose; Loin Of Venison, Smothered Pike; Smothered Duck In Caper Sauce; Chicken Casserole With Currants
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Turkey In Madeira Sauce

Polish Cookery, the most well-known classic cookbook in Poland, is an American version. The recipes included here include dumplings, soups, pates, and meat pies, with which Poles are extremely infatuated. 

They also include recipes for dishes both familiar and unique. Additionally, genuine dinners and sweet desserts are offered. The author specially created this version for American use, and suitable substitutions for components that are difficult to find are also included.

Authentic Polish Cooking

  • Total Recipes: 120
  • Total Pages: 176
  • Recipes Preview: Pierogies; Beet Soup; Potato Pancakes, Cucumber Salad, Hunter’s Stew
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Rice And Pork Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

Born and raised in Warsaw, Poland, Marianna Dworakhas always had a passion for food. Her mother and grandma taught her everything there is to know about Polish cooking. She now resides in the US and works as a writer, editor, and cook. This incredibly genuine cookbook is a wonderful addition to your cookbook collection. 

This cookbook will show everyone how to prepare delectable Polish food since it includes straightforward directions for straightforward and more complicated dishes, a section on typical holiday dinners, estimated cooking times, and recommendations for healthy ingredient alternatives.

Polska: New Polish Cooking

  • Total Recipes: 200
  • Total Pages: 256
  • Recipes Preview: Young Spring Cabbage With Dill & Bacon; Crunchy Pine Cones; Crispy-Baked Pierogi Stuffed With Pork & Pine Nuts
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Melt-In-Your Mouth Mazurian Potato Marjoram Pie

Young food journalist Zuza Zak’s approach to Polish cooking reflects her fresh perspective on this sometimes “overlooked” cuisine. 

In addition to being provided with extravagantly photographed dishes for every essential aspect of Polish cuisine, readers will also gain knowledge of the historical and geographical context of the nation and how it has evolved and adjusted to Poland’s shifting economic and political situation.

Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes

  • Total Recipes: 100
  • Total Pages: 208
  • Recipes Preview: Slow-Braised Ribs With Honey And Vodka; Pink Sauerkraut With Vegan Pastry Rolls, Pierogi With Strawberries & Pistachio Nuts
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Pierogi With Duck & Apple Filling

This cookbook, by food blogger and writer Ren Behan, takes a novel perspective on Polish cooking, as the title suggests. She invites readers on a culinary exploration of her cherished culinary history. 

Despite being long overlooked by the West, Eastern European cuisine is actually shifting away from hearty stews and dumplings and toward meals that are fresher, lighter, healthier, and prepared in more modern ways. 

By drawing inspiration from the food of her childhood and the fresh flavors available in today’s fancy restaurants, cafés, and food markets throughout modern Poland, Ren offers us the finest Polish cuisine in this captivating and motivating cookbook.

Sugared Orange: Recipes & Stories from a Winter in Poland

  • Total Recipes: 47
  • Total Pages: 312
  • Recipes Preview: Light, Delicate Sugared Orange Cake; Polish Cheesecake Studded With Sugared Orange Peel & Raisins; Pierogi With Cabbage & Mushrooms
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Orange Ice Cream

Polish food is a great option if you’re looking for something to warm you up in the winter. This beautiful memoir describes the meals, celebrations, and customs of a rural Polish boyhood through the long, chilly winters. 

A winter voyage through the cities of Warsaw, Lublin, Kraków, and Lódz, and some of Europe’s oldest woods and the frozen Mazury Lakes, is depicted here with 47 new recipes that readers can use. Along with rich personal accounts and well-known romantic artworks and poems, this book also reflects a great love for Poland on each and every page.

Polish Classic Recipes (Classic Recipes Series)

  • Total Recipes: 70
  • Total Pages: 96
  • Recipes Preview: Pork Cutlets; Potato Pancakes; Beet Soup, Chocolate Mazurka
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Hunter’s Stew

Polish cuisine is known for its warmth and hearty fare. Numerous popular Polish meals showcase different flavors, ingredient choices, and cooking methods in this classic and concise cookbook. 

The titles are in Polish and English, making home cooks more at ease as they prepare classic national cuisine and straightforward comfort food. 

The book’s recipes, which are arranged by course and include everything from starters and entrees to sides and desserts, are accompanied by comments on Polish holiday traditions, heritage, and food pairing ideas.

Polish Your Kitchen: A Book of Memories: Christmas Edition

  • Total Recipes: 30
  • Total Pages: 87
  • Recipes Preview: Sauerkraut And Mushroom Pierogi, Wild Mushroom Soup; Best Cheesecake EVER!
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Beetroot Soup With Mushroom Dumplings

Anna immigrated to the United States in her mid-20s. She always tries to maintain a culinary connection to her Polish heritage by developing dishes inspired by her memories of cooking with her Polish grandmother. 

For that reason, she gave this book its title, A Book of Memories. Readers will find 30 classic Polish recipes in this Christmas issue of ‘Polish Your Kitchen,’ which are often served on Christmas Day and Christmas Eve in Poland. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Desserts make up the three areas of Christmas food heaven.

Rose Petal Jam: Recipes & Stories from a Summer in Poland

  • Total Recipes: 60
  • Total Pages: 320
  • Recipes Preview: Pierogi (Polish Ravioli) Dough Recipe; Pork With Caraway And Onion; Beetroot-Shoot Soup
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Poppy Seed Cake

This cookbook can be viewed as a journey journal with beautiful pictures of Poland in summer and a memoir about Beata Zatorska’s youth in rural Poland. 

More than 60 recipes of traditional home-cooked Polish recipes are included in this book, which the author combines with tales from her adolescence and her grandmother’s handwritten recipes.

Fresh From Poland: New Vegetarian Cooking From The Old Country

  • Total Recipes: 80
  • Total Pages: 240
  • Recipes Preview: Sweet Blueberry Buns With Streusel, Pierogi With Goats’ Cheese; Pierogi With Sweet Plums & Cinnamon-Honey Butter
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Barley Risotto With Asparagus, Cider, & Goats’ Cheese

Polish cuisine is well-known for utilizing gorgeous fresh produce and grains. As a native Pole, the author honors family recipes in Fresh from Poland with contemporary, individual additions and stunning photographs showing his love of cooking. 

Over eighty different recipes are provided for readers herein, including decadent breakfast options, filling vegetarian entrées, stunning baked products, and pierogi.

Treasured Polish Recipes For Americans

  • Total Recipes: 500
  • Total Pages: 168
  • Recipes Preview: Polish Kiełbasa; Kapusta Świeża Na Kwaśno (Sweet Sour Cabbage); Czarnina (Duck Soup) With Kluski; Pączki (Fried Donuts With Filling)
  • The Best Recipe We Want To Try: Śledzie Marynowane (Pickled Herring)

For generations, cooks and diners who like and value real Polish food have made this cookbook their go-to source. Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans aims to preserve delectable Polish cuisine while making it widely available.  

Additionally, readers are invited to participate in a journey of Polish cooking styles, foods, and rituals. The author encourages home chefs to create their own Polish-style meals using basic ingredients, cooking methods, and dressings.


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