5,079
edits
Changes
{{Video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0USVxp477sE|szer=400|opis=Preparation of squirrels in yellow and black sauces (in Czech)}}
Both recipes for squirrels -- in their Czech-language version -- were tried out by a group of Czechs: food writer Roman Vaněk{{czyt|Roman Vaněk}} and chef Pavel Mencl{{czyt|Pavel Mencl}}, with the help of historian Martin Franc{{czyt|Martin Franc}}, in an episode of the Czech-language TV show ''Zmlsané dějiny''{{czyt|Zmlsané dějiny}} (''Hungry for History''). Obtaining the principal raw material proved to be difficult as red squirrels, which are native to Europe, are protected by law. They ended up importing some grey squirrels from Britain, where they are trapped and killed as an invasive species. The culinary reënactors were quite satisfied with the end result, except that the colours weren't as bright as they had expected: rather than yellow and black, the sauces came out in different shades of brown. But this only shows that colours were perceived differently by people back when no aritificial food colouring was available.
Oh, but we wanted a recipe for beginners, so let's keep on looking.
The next chapter is devoted to fish dishes, that is, something to eat during Catholic fasting days, such as Fridays. Here you will find many recipes for carp, pike, stockfish (dried cod), as well as salmon, eel, weatherfish, lampreys and crayfish. A large portion of the chapter covers various kinds of aspic dishes. One particualry elaborate recipe is for carp in ''kisielica''{{czyt|kisielica}}, or a kind of jelly made from fermented rye flour and divided into four parts, each in a different colour: black (with blod), brown (with cinnamon), green (with parsley) or white (with cream). But this is one is definitely for more advanced cooks, too.
The recipes for buffalo of bison (with beef substituted for the game), as well as various kinds of ''kisielica'', were tried out by Maciej Nowicki, chef at the Wilanów Royal Palace in Warsaw, aided by Prof. Dumanowski, in the [https://vod.tvp.pl/programy,88/historia-kuchni-polskiej-odcinki,1235711/odcinek-4,S01E04,1273194 fourth episode] of the Polish-language TV show ''Historia kuchni polskiej''{{czyt|Historia kuchni polskiej}} (''History of Polish Cuisine'', in Polish), which was all about the oldest Polish cookbook.
The third chapter has recipes for "Saturday food", which means food allowed by the Catholic Church on the milder fasting days, such as Saturday. The milder version of fasting still excluded the meat of land-dwelling animals, but allowed the consumption of dairy and eggs. This chapter abounds in recipes for various kinds of dumplings, porridges and yolk-thickened soups. At the very end, in an implicit fourth chapter, we can find the vinegar recipes, some of which we already know. But let's stick to the porridges. The Polish word for "porridge", ''"kasza"''{{czyt|kasza}}, had a boader meaning in the past than it has today and referred not only to boiled cereal grains, but to any kind of food with porridge-like consistency. For example, you could cut some apples into chunks, fry them up and then pass through a sieve to obtain "apple porridge".