Polish Pickles Recipes

OGóRKI KISZONE: POLISH DILL PICKLES IN BRINE

Steps:

• Boil water with salt, leave aside to cool completely.
• Place cucumbers, leaves, horseradish root, garlic and honey into a large jar.
• Pour in the water.
• Cover with a lid. The author recommends using a fermentation lid (such as this one), but I used a regular lid and it worked just fine.
• Set aside and... wait.
• You can start tasting them after 3 days or so. But for a proper dill pickle in brine, you'll need to wait longer.
• For the first 2 weeks, cucumbers should be stored at room temperature, then transferred to a cool place to slow down the fermentation process. Ideally, pickles should be stored at a temperature of about 50°F (10°C), in a cool pantry or a basement.

MARYBELLE'S POLISH DILL PICKLES

Steps:

• Wash and scrub cucumbers. Trim stem and blossom end. Leave small cucumbers whole, or slice into spears or sandwich slices as desired. All cucumbers in a jar should be similar in size and thickness.
• Add seasonings, except salt, to 1 pint wide mouthed jar. Pack firmly with cucumbers, leaving a 1/2" headspace.
• Combine vinegar, water, and salt in a small sauce pan. Heat until boiling. Ladle into jar to cover cucumbers - again, leave a 1/2" headspace.
• Seal jar with sterilized two piece cap, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (15 minutes for quarts).
• Wait 4-6 weeks before tasting to allow pickles to cure. Refrigerate after opening.
• (I laid out the recipe for a single pint of pickles to make the spices easier to list - you will want to scale this up to make a canner full).

OGORKI KISZONE (POLISH PICKLES)

Steps:

• Tightly pack the cucumbers into the sterile jar, you want to squeeze them in, so they'll stay submerged and not float to the top of the liquid
• Add the salt to the water and bring to a boil, cool
• Add the mustard seeds, garlic, dill (fold to fit), horseradish, bay leaf, and other leaf if you have one
• Fill the jar with the salt water to within 1/4 from the top, all of your ingredients should be covered
• Loosely cap the jar with a sterile lid, the lid must be loose to allow the gases produced during fermentation to escape, some brine may seep out, so store where this won't be a problem
• As it ferments, the brine will become cloudy
• Depending on your taste, the cucumbers will be ready to eat in 1 to 3 weeks
• Fermentation will end after 5-6 weeks, if you have any left at this point, the lids should be tightened to prevent spoilage

POLISH PICKLE SOUP

Steps:

• Melt butter in a stock pot over medium-low heat. Add potatoes and carrots. Cook until beginning to soften, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.
• Stir in chopped dill pickles, flour, pickle juice, garlic, Worcestershire, onion salt, sugar, dill, curry powder, and white pepper until well combined.
• Add chicken broth, warm milk, and bay leaves. Simmer until vegetables are soft and soup has cooked down, about 1 hour. Season with salt.

POLISH DILL PICKLES - CANNED

Steps:

• Soak cucumbers overnight in a solution of 1 cup salt and 3 gallons of water, drain.
• Fill each quart jar with 1 dill sprig, 1 garlic clove and cucumbers.
• Combine water, vinegar and salt, and bring to a boil.
• Fill jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace, seal and procecess in boiling water for 15 minutes.

POLISH PICKLES

Steps:

• Dry excess moisture off of pickles.
• Spread cream cheese, about 1/4 inch thick, on two slices of lunch meat. Wrap meat around a pickle. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
• Chill and slice into rounds.

AUTHENTIC POLISH PICKLE SOUP (ZUPA ORGORKOWA)

Steps:

• Place chicken legs in a large pot and cover with water. Add cabbage, carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, parsley, garlic, thyme, marjoram, salt, and black pepper.
• Cover pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook for about 1 hour. Transfer 1 cup chicken and vegetable broth to a saucepan. Heat broth and pickles over medium-low for about 15 minutes. Return pickle broth to large pot.
• Mix flour and sour cream in a bowl. Stir into soup; bring to a boil until thickened, about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

PICKLE SOUP (OGóRKOWA ZUPA)

Steps:

• In a large pot, combine 6 cups stock with the carrots, celery root, parsnip and potatoes. The vegetables should be covered with stock, so add more as needed. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Rapidly simmer until all the vegetables are fork tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
• While the vegetables are cooking, coarsely grate the pickles. You should have approximately 1 cup densely packed grated pickles. Melt the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat until it starts to brown. Stir in the garlic and bay leaves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the grated pickles and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and cook, stirring once, until the pickles become softer, 8 to 12 minutes.
• Add the pickle mixture to the pot with the vegetables, along with 1 cup of the pickle brine. Taste, then season with salt and pepper. The soup should already be salty from the broth, pickles and their brine, so add salt carefully. Add up to 1/2 cup more brine if you want a more sour taste. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
• If using sour cream, temper the cream so it doesn't curdle: In a cup, mix the sour cream with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cold water, stirring well after each addition, then repeat with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the soup. Add the tempered cream to the pot. Bring to a simmer and heat through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• To serve, ladle the soup into bowls. Top with chopped dill and black pepper.