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The Polish names of these cold cuts, such as ''półgęski'' and ''kumpia'', may sound obscure to the modern Polish ear, but the charcuterie itself would certainly satisfy today's most discerning meatarians. ''Półgęski'', translated as "half-geese" in the passage above, are actually smoked goose breasts. Extremely popular in the past, they are now coming back into vogue. The Polish Ministry of Agriculture has declared them a [https://www.gov.pl/rolnictwo/polgesek-znany-tez-jako-polgasek-albo-piersnik traditional product] of KuyaviaCuyavia-Pomerania. The half-geese of Soplicowo, devoured entirely by the Dobrzyńskis during the foray, may have been cured according to the following late-18th-century recipe:
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''Kumpia'', on the other hand, is simply a regional Polish term for smoked ham. Interestingly, it is the only pork dish found on Judge Soplica's table. As I've mentioned in [[What Has the Battle of Vienna Given Us?|my previous post]], nobility was disgusted by all that grows or lives in dirt – and this includes pigs, which wallow and root in mud. Boars and piglets are mentioned in ''Pan Tadeusz'' much less often than cattle, sheep, rabbits or geese. Except for the best parts of the pig, carefully cured in smoke, pork was considered fit for consumption by peasants and Germans only. The contemptuous association between pork and Prussians may be also found in ''Pan Tadeusz'', in Bartek Dobrzyński's account of the Greater Poland Uprising of 1794: "pound the landrat's neck, cut the hofrat's loin".<ref>Mickiewicz, ''op. cit.'', Book VII, verse 50, own translation</ref>
The following recipe for smoked ham comes from ''Kucharz doskonały'' (''The Perfect Cook'') by Wojciech Wielądko, the second oldest cookbook printed in Polish. Its title even makes an appearance in ''Pan Tadeusz'', although the poet clearly confused this book with Stanisław Czerniecki's ''Compendium ferculorumFerculorum'', a cookbook older by a century!
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