18 August 2018

Difference between revisions of "Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi"

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{{data|18 August 2018}}
 
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[[File:Festiwal Pierogów w Krakowie.jpg|thumb|350px|A stand at Pierogi Festival in Cracow]]
 
[[File:Festiwal Pierogów w Krakowie.jpg|thumb|350px|A stand at Pierogi Festival in Cracow]]
If you know anything about Polish cuisine, then you must have heard of (and, hopefully, sampled) pierogi, the delicious Polish member of the large and diverse family of stuffed dumplings. Possibilities for the filling are limited only by the cook's imagination, but the typical stuffings include seasonal fruits like strawberries or blueberries, and farmer cheese with sugar for the sweet varieties, and for the savoury ones: ground meat, sauerkraut with mushrooms, and farmer cheese with potatoes and fried onions. The latter kind (so simple, yet so tasty!) is known in Polish as ''pierogi ruskie'', suggesting an origin not in Russia (as some folks, even in Poland, might think), but in Kievan Rus – a medieval civilisation centred in what is now Ukraine. Of course, pierogi are still as popular in Ukraine as they are in Poland, except, over there, they go under the name ''varenyky''.
+
If you know anything about Polish cuisine, then you must have heard of (and, hopefully, sampled) pierogi, the delicious Polish member of the large and diverse family of stuffed dumplings. Possibilities for the filling are limited only by the cook's imagination, but the typical stuffings include seasonal fruits like strawberries or blueberries, and farmer cheese with sugar for the sweet varieties, and for the savoury ones: ground meat, sauerkraut with mushrooms, and farmer cheese with potatoes and fried onions. The latter kind (so simple, yet so tasty!) is known in Polish as ''pierogi ruskie'', suggesting an origin not in Russia (as some folks, even in Poland, might think), but in Kyivan Ruthenia (a.k.a. Kievan Rus') – a medieval civilisation centred in what is now Ukraine. Of course, pierogi are still as popular in Ukraine as they are in Poland, except, over there, they go under the name ''varenyky''.
  
 
This year, the 16th Pierogi Festival took place in Cracow's Mały Rynek (Lesser Square). It always happens around August 17, that is, the day when the Catholic Church remembers Saint Hyacinth, also known as Jacek Odrowąż. Authors of the festival's best pierogi are awarded a statuette of the holy man, who is often called the patron saint of pierogi. Other pierogi celebrations are held in other parts of the country – invariably on or near Saint Hyacinth's Day.
 
This year, the 16th Pierogi Festival took place in Cracow's Mały Rynek (Lesser Square). It always happens around August 17, that is, the day when the Catholic Church remembers Saint Hyacinth, also known as Jacek Odrowąż. Authors of the festival's best pierogi are awarded a statuette of the holy man, who is often called the patron saint of pierogi. Other pierogi celebrations are held in other parts of the country – invariably on or near Saint Hyacinth's Day.
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Two legends, linking Saint Hyacinth with pierogi, are briefly cited on the official website of Ms. Magdalena Gessler, a Polish celebrity cook.
 
Two legends, linking Saint Hyacinth with pierogi, are briefly cited on the official website of Ms. Magdalena Gessler, a Polish celebrity cook.
  
{{Cytat|How did pierogi find their way into Poland? A legend says that Saint Hyacinth Odrowąż brought them back from Kiev. He was captivated by their taste, which he learned to appreciate during his missionary travels to 13th-century Rus, or modern-day Ukraine. Hence the name, “pierogi ruskie”.  
+
{{Cytat|How did pierogi find their way into Poland? A legend says that Saint Hyacinth Odrowąż brought them back from Kyiv. He was captivated by their taste, which he learned to appreciate during his missionary travels to 13th-century Rus, or modern-day Ukraine. Hence the name, “pierogi ruskie”.  
  
Potatoes being still unknown in Europe at the time, the pierogi which made such an impression on Hyacinth must have been filled with cheese and groats. Another version of the legend says that, during a famine caused by Tatar raids, the saint fed the poor with pierogi he had made himself, giving him the moniker, “Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi”.
+
Potatoes being still unknown in Europe at the time, the pierogi which made such an impression on Hyacinth must have been filled with cheese and buckwheat. Another version of the legend says that, during a famine caused by Tatar raids, the saint fed the poor with pierogi he had made himself, giving him the moniker, “Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi”.
 
| źródło = {{Cyt  
 
| źródło = {{Cyt  
 
  | tytuł    = Smaki Życia
 
  | tytuł    = Smaki Życia
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== Life and Legend ==
 
== Life and Legend ==
 
[[File:św Jacek.JPG|thumb|200px|A statuette of Saint Hyacinth at Pierogi Festival in Cracow]]
 
[[File:św Jacek.JPG|thumb|200px|A statuette of Saint Hyacinth at Pierogi Festival in Cracow]]
How much truth is there to it? Let's start with a short introduction to Saint Hyacinth himself (if you're easily bored with biographical details, please skip this paragraph). Jacek Odrowąż (pronounced ''<small>YAHT</small>-seck aw-<small>DRAW</small>-vawnsh''), to use his Polish name, was born around 1183 in Kamień, Silesia, in the affluent Moravian-Silesian Odrowąż family. His uncle, Iwo Odrowąż, was a bishop of Cracow and a chancellor at the court of Leszek the White, Duke of Cracow, so it comes as no surprise that Jacek was educated at the cathedral school of Cracow, under the tutelage of Wincenty Kadłubek. Once ordained priest, Jacek continued his studies at the University of Bologna. During his visit to Rome, he met Domingo de Guzmán, or Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order. By the time he returned to Cracow, he had become a Dominican friar himself. On his way back he founded a new Dominican monastery everywhere he stopped – in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and finally in Cracow, at the Holy Trinity Church. He would later work as a missionary in Prussia and – what matters to us – in the homeland of pierogi (or the ''ruskie'' ones at least), that is, in Rus, in the years 1228–1233.
+
How much truth is there to it? Let's start with a short introduction to Saint Hyacinth himself (if you're easily bored with biographical details, please skip this paragraph). Jacek Odrowąż (pronounced: {{pron|yah|tsek}} {{pron|aw|dRaw|vawnsh}}), to use his Polish name, was born around 1183 in Kamień, Silesia, in the affluent Moravian-Silesian Odrowąż family. His uncle, Iwo Odrowąż, was a bishop of Cracow and a chancellor at the court of Leszek the White, Duke of Cracow, so it comes as no surprise that Jacek was educated at the cathedral school of Cracow. Once ordained priest, Jacek continued his studies at the University of Bologna. During his visit to Rome, he met Domingo de Guzmán, or Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order. By the time he returned to Cracow, he had become a Dominican friar himself. On his way back he founded a new Dominican monastery everywhere he stopped – in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and finally in Cracow, at the Holy Trinity Church. He would later work as a missionary in Prussia and – what matters to us – in the homeland of pierogi (or the ''ruskie'' ones at least), that is, in Rus, in the years 1228–1233.
  
 
Our chief source of knowledge about Jacek is the hagiography penned by Lector Stanislaus at the Holy Trinity Monastery, entitled ''De vita miraculis sancti Jacchonis'' (''The Miraculous Life of Saint Hyacinth''). Written for the purpose of presenting the case for his canonization, the work is focused more on the miracles attributed to Hyacinth than on the details of his earthly life. Interestingly, neither the biographical, nor the miraculous part, contains any mention of pierogi.
 
Our chief source of knowledge about Jacek is the hagiography penned by Lector Stanislaus at the Holy Trinity Monastery, entitled ''De vita miraculis sancti Jacchonis'' (''The Miraculous Life of Saint Hyacinth''). Written for the purpose of presenting the case for his canonization, the work is focused more on the miracles attributed to Hyacinth than on the details of his earthly life. Interestingly, neither the biographical, nor the miraculous part, contains any mention of pierogi.
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{{Video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBKjqAkNSw|szer=400|poz=center|opis=''Eat Pierogi'' by Mee and the Band (2018)}}
 
{{Video|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afBKjqAkNSw|szer=400|poz=center|opis=''Eat Pierogi'' by Mee and the Band (2018)}}
  
== Recipe ==
+
== Recipë ==
 
The Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development maintains a List of Traditional Products, which includes ''[https://www.gov.pl/rolnictwo/pierogi-koscieleckie pierogi kościelnickie,]'' or pierogi from Kościelniki, the village where Saint Hyacinth allegedly performed the miracle of saving the hailed-out crops. In Kościelniki, the filling for savory pierogi is traditionally made of cheese seasoned with a herb commonly known as ground-ivy. It should be noted, though, that "traditionally" doesn't necessarily mean "for centuries past"; according to the Traditional Products Act ([http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20050100068 Dz.U. 2005 Nr 10 poz. 68]), "methods that have been in use for at least 25 years are considered to be traditional methods of production."
 
The Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development maintains a List of Traditional Products, which includes ''[https://www.gov.pl/rolnictwo/pierogi-koscieleckie pierogi kościelnickie,]'' or pierogi from Kościelniki, the village where Saint Hyacinth allegedly performed the miracle of saving the hailed-out crops. In Kościelniki, the filling for savory pierogi is traditionally made of cheese seasoned with a herb commonly known as ground-ivy. It should be noted, though, that "traditionally" doesn't necessarily mean "for centuries past"; according to the Traditional Products Act ([http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20050100068 Dz.U. 2005 Nr 10 poz. 68]), "methods that have been in use for at least 25 years are considered to be traditional methods of production."
  
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}}
 
}}
  
What follows is a recipe for ground-ivy pierogi from Mr. Waldemar Sulisz of Lublin, although I don't know to what extent it resembles the recipes from Kościelec.
+
What follows is a recipë for ground-ivy pierogi from Mr. Waldemar Sulisz of Lublin, although I don't know to what extent it resembles the recipës from Kościelec.
  
 
{{Cytat|'''Ingredients:''' pierogi dough, 4 potatoes, 1 onion, half a brick of twaróg (Polish farmer cheese), 1 brick of bryndza (soft brined sheep cheese), 1 teaspoon of unsalted butter, a handful of ground-ivy leaves and flowers, a bunch of chives, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, ground-ivy-flavoured yogurt.
 
{{Cytat|'''Ingredients:''' pierogi dough, 4 potatoes, 1 onion, half a brick of twaróg (Polish farmer cheese), 1 brick of bryndza (soft brined sheep cheese), 1 teaspoon of unsalted butter, a handful of ground-ivy leaves and flowers, a bunch of chives, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, ground-ivy-flavoured yogurt.
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| oryg = Składniki: Ciasto na pierogi, 4 ziemniaki, 1 cebula, pół kostki białego sera, kostka bryndzy, łyżka masła, garść listków i&nbsp;kwiatów kurdybanka, szczypiorek, 2 ząbki czosnku, sól, pieprz, jogurt kurdybankowy
 
| oryg = Składniki: Ciasto na pierogi, 4 ziemniaki, 1 cebula, pół kostki białego sera, kostka bryndzy, łyżka masła, garść listków i&nbsp;kwiatów kurdybanka, szczypiorek, 2 ząbki czosnku, sól, pieprz, jogurt kurdybankowy
  
Wykonanie: Ziemniaki ugotować w&nbsp;mundurkach. Obrać, utłuc w&nbsp;garnku z&nbsp;masłem, dodać ser i&nbsp;bryndzę, doprawić posiekanym kurdybankiem, solą i&nbsp;pieprzem. Na patelni zeszklić posiekaną cebulę z&nbsp;czosnkiem, dodać farsz, przesmażyć. Ciasto rozwałkować, wycinać kółka, nakładać farsz, lepić, robiąc falbanki. Gotować w&nbsp;osolonej wodzie. Podawać polane masłem i&nbsp;udekorowane szczypiorkiem. Osobno podać jogurt z&nbsp;posiekanym kurdybankiem.
+
Wykonanie: Ziemniaki ugotować w&nbsp;mundurkach. Obrać, utłuc w&nbsp;garnku z&nbsp;masłem, dodać ser i&nbsp;bryndzę, doprawić posiekanym kurdybankiem, solą i&nbsp;pieprzem. Na patelni zeszklić posiekaną cebulę z&nbsp;czosnkiem, dodać farsz, przesmażyć. Ciasto rozwałkować, wycinać kółka, nakładać farsz, lepić, robiąc falbanki. Gotować w&nbsp;osolonej wodzie. Podawać polane masłem i&nbsp;udekorowane szczypiorkiem. Osobno podać jogurt z&nbsp;posiekanym kurdybankiem.
 
}}
 
}}
  
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[[Category: Pierogi kościelnickie]]
 
[[Category: Pierogi kościelnickie]]
 
[[Category: Pancakes]]
 
[[Category: Pancakes]]
[[Category: Kiev]]
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[[Category: Kyiv]]
 
[[Category: Cracow]]
 
[[Category: Cracow]]
 
[[Category: Tatars]]
 
[[Category: Tatars]]
 
[[Category: Middle Ages]]
 
[[Category: Middle Ages]]
 +
[[Category: Samuel Adalberg]]
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[[Category: Miguel de Cervantes]]
 +
[[Category: Magdalena Gessler]]
 +
[[Category: Domingo de Guzmán]]
 +
[[Category: Leszek the White]]
 
[[Category: Jacek Odrowąż]]
 
[[Category: Jacek Odrowąż]]
[[Category: Leszek the White]]
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[[Category: Recipës]]
[[Category: Magdalena Gessler]]
 
[[Category: Miguel de Cervantes]]
 
[[Category: Samuel Adalberg]]
 
[[Category: Recipes]]
 
  
 
[[pl:Święty Jacek z pierogami]]
 
[[pl:Święty Jacek z pierogami]]

Latest revision as of 07:44, 31 May 2022

A stand at Pierogi Festival in Cracow

If you know anything about Polish cuisine, then you must have heard of (and, hopefully, sampled) pierogi, the delicious Polish member of the large and diverse family of stuffed dumplings. Possibilities for the filling are limited only by the cook's imagination, but the typical stuffings include seasonal fruits like strawberries or blueberries, and farmer cheese with sugar for the sweet varieties, and for the savoury ones: ground meat, sauerkraut with mushrooms, and farmer cheese with potatoes and fried onions. The latter kind (so simple, yet so tasty!) is known in Polish as pierogi ruskie, suggesting an origin not in Russia (as some folks, even in Poland, might think), but in Kyivan Ruthenia (a.k.a. Kievan Rus') – a medieval civilisation centred in what is now Ukraine. Of course, pierogi are still as popular in Ukraine as they are in Poland, except, over there, they go under the name varenyky.

This year, the 16th Pierogi Festival took place in Cracow's Mały Rynek (Lesser Square). It always happens around August 17, that is, the day when the Catholic Church remembers Saint Hyacinth, also known as Jacek Odrowąż. Authors of the festival's best pierogi are awarded a statuette of the holy man, who is often called the patron saint of pierogi. Other pierogi celebrations are held in other parts of the country – invariably on or near Saint Hyacinth's Day.

So what does the Dominican friar from Cracow have to do with the flavorful farinaceous dish? What do the Internet and popular publications have to say on this topic and what can we find in historical sources? Let's find out!

Two legends, linking Saint Hyacinth with pierogi, are briefly cited on the official website of Ms. Magdalena Gessler, a Polish celebrity cook.

How did pierogi find their way into Poland? A legend says that Saint Hyacinth Odrowąż brought them back from Kyiv. He was captivated by their taste, which he learned to appreciate during his missionary travels to 13th-century Rus, or modern-day Ukraine. Hence the name, “pierogi ruskie”.

Potatoes being still unknown in Europe at the time, the pierogi which made such an impression on Hyacinth must have been filled with cheese and buckwheat. Another version of the legend says that, during a famine caused by Tatar raids, the saint fed the poor with pierogi he had made himself, giving him the moniker, “Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi”.

M. M.: Święty Jacek z Pierogami, in: Smaki Życia, own translation
Skąd się wzięły w Polsce pierogi? Legenda głosi, że św. Jacek Odrowąż przywiózł je z Kijowa. Był zachwycony ich smakiem, który poznał podczas swoich podróży misyjnych w XIII wieku po Rusi, dzisiejszej Ukrainie. Stąd też wzięła się nazwa – pierogi ruskie.

W ówczesnej Europie nie znano jeszcze ziemniaków, więc pierogi, które zachwyciły Świętego Jacka musiały być z serem i kaszą. Inna wersja tej samej „pierogowej” legendy głosi, że podczas głodu po najazdach tatarskich święty miał karmić ubogich pierogami własnego wyrobu. Dlatego przylgnął do niego przydomek „św. Jacek z pierogami”.


Original text:
Skąd się wzięły w Polsce pierogi? Legenda głosi, że św. Jacek Odrowąż przywiózł je z Kijowa. Był zachwycony ich smakiem, który poznał podczas swoich podróży misyjnych w XIII wieku po Rusi, dzisiejszej Ukrainie. Stąd też wzięła się nazwa – pierogi ruskie.

W ówczesnej Europie nie znano jeszcze ziemniaków, więc pierogi, które zachwyciły Świętego Jacka musiały być z serem i kaszą. Inna wersja tej samej „pierogowej” legendy głosi, że podczas głodu po najazdach tatarskich święty miał karmić ubogich pierogami własnego wyrobu. Dlatego przylgnął do niego przydomek „św. Jacek z pierogami”.

Life and Legend

A statuette of Saint Hyacinth at Pierogi Festival in Cracow

How much truth is there to it? Let's start with a short introduction to Saint Hyacinth himself (if you're easily bored with biographical details, please skip this paragraph). Jacek Odrowąż (pronounced: yah·tsek aw·dRaw·vawnsh), to use his Polish name, was born around 1183 in Kamień, Silesia, in the affluent Moravian-Silesian Odrowąż family. His uncle, Iwo Odrowąż, was a bishop of Cracow and a chancellor at the court of Leszek the White, Duke of Cracow, so it comes as no surprise that Jacek was educated at the cathedral school of Cracow. Once ordained priest, Jacek continued his studies at the University of Bologna. During his visit to Rome, he met Domingo de Guzmán, or Saint Dominic, the founder of the Dominican Order. By the time he returned to Cracow, he had become a Dominican friar himself. On his way back he founded a new Dominican monastery everywhere he stopped – in Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and finally in Cracow, at the Holy Trinity Church. He would later work as a missionary in Prussia and – what matters to us – in the homeland of pierogi (or the ruskie ones at least), that is, in Rus, in the years 1228–1233.

Our chief source of knowledge about Jacek is the hagiography penned by Lector Stanislaus at the Holy Trinity Monastery, entitled De vita miraculis sancti Jacchonis (The Miraculous Life of Saint Hyacinth). Written for the purpose of presenting the case for his canonization, the work is focused more on the miracles attributed to Hyacinth than on the details of his earthly life. Interestingly, neither the biographical, nor the miraculous part, contains any mention of pierogi.

Fortunately, religious people have the acquired skill of reading between the lines what the author never wrote. Just as you can interpret the Purgatory or the Trinity out of the Holy Scripture, so you can read pierogi out of Saint Hyacinth's CV. Father Tomasz Gałuszka, a Dominican from Cracow, will show us how:

There is a grain of truth to every legend. This one is based on the stories from the Life of Saint Hyacinth by Lector Stanislaus. The work was created in the 1350s–70s and is so far the basic source of knowledge about Saint Hyacinth’s life. The book mentions an event of 13 July 1238. Hyacinth was then invited to the village of Kościelec, 27 km away from Cracow. On that day a violent hailstorm completely destroyed the crops in the local fields. The villagers were grief-stricken, threatened with poverty and famine. Saint Hyacinth asked them to pray. On the next day, the ears of grain rose up and the crops were saved. So much for what Lector Stanislaus says. The rest is a legend, which says that the grateful villagers milled the grain into flour, which they used to make pierogi that were then served to Saint Hyacinth.

There is another legend, related to the Tatar raid of Cracow in 1241. It says that Saint Hyacinth fed pierogi to the Cracovians during that time. Which is plausible, as the Dominicans had well-stocked granaries and certainly aided the inhabitants of a plundered city. We’re now gradually discovering the traces of these buildings thanks to the archeological work performed by Dr. Dariusz Niemiec.

Tomasz Gałuszka: O cudach św. Jacka, który karmił krakowian pierogami, in: Gazeta Krakowska, w rozmowie z Martą Paluch, Kraków: Polska Press, 15 August 2013, own translation
W każdej legendzie jest źdźbło prawdy. Ta jest oparta na opowieściach z „Żywotu św. Jacka” autorstwa lektora Stanisława. Dzieło to powstało w latach 50.–70. XIV w. i jak na razie jest podstawowym źródłem wiedzy o życiu św. Jacka. W księdze opisano wydarzenia m.in. z 13 lipca 1238 roku. Został on wtedy zaproszony do miejscowości Kościelec, 27 km od Krakowa. Tego dnia rozpętała się gwałtowna burza z gradobiciem, która całkiem zniszczyła zboże na polach. Ludzie byli zrozpaczeni, groziła im gigantyczna bieda i głód. Św. Jacek powiedział, żeby poszli się modlić. Następnego dnia zniszczone kłosy podniosły się i zbiory zostały uratowane. Tyle mówi lektor Stanisław. Reszta to legenda, według której z tego zboża zrobili mąkę, z niej pierogi, którymi ugościli św. Jacka.

Jest też druga historia, związana z najazdem tatarskim na Kraków w 1241 r. Mówi, że w tamtym czasie św. Jacek karmił krakowian pierogami. Co nie jest wykluczone, bo dominikanie dobrze gospodarzyli, mieli zaopatrzone spichlerze i z pewnością wspomagali mieszkańców splądrowanego miasta. Ślady tych zabudowań z czasów św. Jacka powoli odkrywamy dzięki badaniom archeologa krakowskiego dr. Dariusza Niemca.


Original text:
W każdej legendzie jest źdźbło prawdy. Ta jest oparta na opowieściach z „Żywotu św. Jacka” autorstwa lektora Stanisława. Dzieło to powstało w latach 50.–70. XIV w. i jak na razie jest podstawowym źródłem wiedzy o życiu św. Jacka. W księdze opisano wydarzenia m.in. z 13 lipca 1238 roku. Został on wtedy zaproszony do miejscowości Kościelec, 27 km od Krakowa. Tego dnia rozpętała się gwałtowna burza z gradobiciem, która całkiem zniszczyła zboże na polach. Ludzie byli zrozpaczeni, groziła im gigantyczna bieda i głód. Św. Jacek powiedział, żeby poszli się modlić. Następnego dnia zniszczone kłosy podniosły się i zbiory zostały uratowane. Tyle mówi lektor Stanisław. Reszta to legenda, według której z tego zboża zrobili mąkę, z niej pierogi, którymi ugościli św. Jacka.

Jest też druga historia, związana z najazdem tatarskim na Kraków w 1241 r. Mówi, że w tamtym czasie św. Jacek karmił krakowian pierogami. Co nie jest wykluczone, bo dominikanie dobrze gospodarzyli, mieli zaopatrzone spichlerze i z pewnością wspomagali mieszkańców splądrowanego miasta. Ślady tych zabudowań z czasów św. Jacka powoli odkrywamy dzięki badaniom archeologa krakowskiego dr. Dariusza Niemca.

If you dig deep enough, you will find much older versions of both legends. What they all have in common is that the pierogi are always tacked on at the very end of the story, with little to do with the actual plot. Here's an example from a sermon attributed to Father Felix of Sieradz, a 16th-century prior of the Cracovian Dominicans:

“Why, it is Saint Hyacinth who drives out the want of the hungry gap. When his memorial draws near, the barns start to fill with grain, harvest ends and you can say that hunger leaves your cottages and in comes Saint Hyacinth with his pierogi.” The poor folk understood these words and echoed the preacher: “O come, Saint Hyacinth with pierogi!” From then on, this simple folk prayer became a common saying.
Konstanty Maria Żukiewicz: Święty Jacek Odrowąż: jego życie i czyny, Lwów: Księgarnia Gubrynowicza i Schmidta, 1905, p. 108, own translation
„Wszakże to św. Jacek, rok rocznie wypędza przednówkową biedę. Za zbliżeniem się jego święta stodółki zapełniają się zbożem, wtedy kończą się żniwa i można poniekąd powiedzieć, że głód uchodzi z waszej chaty, przychodzi św. Jacek z pierogami.” Zrozumiał te słowa lud biedny i jednem echem powtórzył za kaznodzieją:

– „A przychodź-że św. Jacku z pierogami.” Odtąd to prosta ta prośba ludu weszła w przysłowie.


Original text:
„Wszakże to św. Jacek, rok rocznie wypędza przednówkową biedę. Za zbliżeniem się jego święta stodółki zapełniają się zbożem, wtedy kończą się żniwa i można poniekąd powiedzieć, że głód uchodzi z waszej chaty, przychodzi św. Jacek z pierogami.” Zrozumiał te słowa lud biedny i jednem echem powtórzył za kaznodzieją:

– „A przychodź-że św. Jacku z pierogami.” Odtąd to prosta ta prośba ludu weszła w przysłowie.

As you can see, it's simple: on Saint Hyacinth's Day farmers' barns fill with grain, there was grain in monastic granaries during Saint Hyacinth's lifetime, and thanks to Saint Hyacinth's intercession hailed-out grain miraculously rose up. And if there was grain, there was flour; and what can you do with flour? That's right, pierogi!

What was to be demonstrated.

Jacek & Placek

Whoa, whoa – someone might say – there are other things you can make out of flour as well. What about bread, a much more obvious, one would think, flour-based product? Or cakes! Why not cakes?

In his Book of Polish Proverbs, Samuel Adalberg cites a number of sayings about Saint Hyacinth, most of which have to do with one of two farinaceous, or flour-based, dishes – flat cakes and pierogi.

On Saint Hyacinth's, you will eat a flat cake.
On Saint Hyacinth's, you need to bake a flat cake.
On Saint Hyacinth's, reap some oats, bake a flat cake.
On Saint Hyacinth's, a flat cake of new wheat.
Saint Hyacinth ate a flat cake with tripe.
O Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi!
Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi, pray for us!
Have mercy, Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi!
He looks like Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi.

Samuel Adalberg: Księga przysłów, przypowieści i wyrażeń przysłowiowych polskich, Warszawa: Emil Skiwski, 1889–1894, p. 178, own translation

Na św. Jacka najecie się placka.
Na św. Jacka trza upiec placka.
Na św. Jacka ukoś owsa, upiecz placka.
Na św. Jacek z nowej pszenicy placek.
Św. Jacek zjadł z flakami placek.
O św. Jacku z pierogami!
Św. Jacku z pierogami, módl się za nami!
Zmiłuj się, św. Jacku z pierogami!
Wygląda, jak św. Jacek z pierogami.


Original text:

Na św. Jacka najecie się placka.
Na św. Jacka trza upiec placka.
Na św. Jacka ukoś owsa, upiecz placka.
Na św. Jacek z nowej pszenicy placek.
Św. Jacek zjadł z flakami placek.
O św. Jacku z pierogami!
Św. Jacku z pierogami, módl się za nami!
Zmiłuj się, św. Jacku z pierogami!
Wygląda, jak św. Jacek z pierogami.

The Polish word placek, which I've rendered as "flat cake" above, may refer to a variety of flat-shaped, flour-based foods, from tarts to pancakes. Whatever it means, it rhymes with Jacek, the Polish equivalent of "Hyacinth". This makes the association between the saintly friar and all kinds of flat cakes almost obvious. With pierogi – not so much. On the one hand, we've got the association, dating back to the Middle Ages, between Saint Hyacinth and food of any kind – due to his reputation as feeder of the poor and to his liturgical feast day coinciding with harvest. On the other hand, associating him with this particular dish may have been humorous from the beginning; a joke based on the absurdity of linking the venerable figure of a saint with the most mundane pierogi.

O Saint Hyacinth!

My Mom making pierogi

"O Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi!" is a now largely forgotten, but once widespread Polish exclamation expressing surprise, startlement or annoyance – usually unrelated to food. We can find one of many examples of this usage in a 19th-century Polish translation of Don Quixote:

“O Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi!”, quoth the niece, “may I perish if my uncle has not a mind to turn knight-errand again.”
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Don Kichot z La Manchy, tłum. Walenty Zakrzewski, Warszawa: 1899, paragraph 2027. English translation of the quoted fragment based on: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra: Don Quixote de la Mancha, translated by Charles Jarvis, vol. II, London: Henry G. Bohn, 1842, p. 12. The actual English translation has "Alas!" instead of "O Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi!"
– O Święty Jacku z pierogami! – wrzaśnie siostrzenica – a bodajem zmarniała, jeżeli wujaszkowi znów się nie zachciewa pójść na błędnego rycerza.
ibid., tłum. Zakrzewski

Original text:
– O Święty Jacku z pierogami! – wrzaśnie siostrzenica – a bodajem zmarniała, jeżeli wujaszkowi znów się nie zachciewa pójść na błędnego rycerza.
ibid., tłum. Zakrzewski

It seems to be a minced oath – a saying that is devoid of any deeper meaning, but is derived from a religious invocation that has been altered either to avoid blasphemy, or – in modern times – as a joke. In English we might exclaim "holy smokes!" instead of "Holy Ghost!", "oh my gosh" in place of "oh my God!", or "zounds!" in lieu of "Christ's wounds!" I find it quite likely that "Saint Hyacinth of Pierogi" is the result of a similar alteration and an example of a medieval absurdist sense of humour. The legends meant to explain it arose later.

That's all for today. In the next episode we will continue the topic of saints and their role in the history of Polish food and drink. And as for pierogi and some (modern) surreal humour...

Eat Pierogi by Mee and the Band (2018)
Eat Pierogi by Mee and the Band (2018)


Recipë

The Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development maintains a List of Traditional Products, which includes pierogi kościelnickie, or pierogi from Kościelniki, the village where Saint Hyacinth allegedly performed the miracle of saving the hailed-out crops. In Kościelniki, the filling for savory pierogi is traditionally made of cheese seasoned with a herb commonly known as ground-ivy. It should be noted, though, that "traditionally" doesn't necessarily mean "for centuries past"; according to the Traditional Products Act (Dz.U. 2005 Nr 10 poz. 68), "methods that have been in use for at least 25 years are considered to be traditional methods of production."

As locals point out, “ground-ivy pierogi are as common in Kościelec as ground-ivy itself.” They stand out due to their taste. “It's because these pierogi taste different. Those who like herbs, they also like this kind of pierogi. Ground-ivy is king around here.” “It was once commonly used as a seasoning thanks to its sharp, piquant taste. It's got a really peculiar taste and smell. It grows everywhere. [...]” Ground-ivy pierogi are usually served with browned fatback or bacon, but also with clarified butter or cream. Fried fatback or bacon is also added to the filling, as well as browned onion. But, according to the locals, “everything except cheese and ground-ivy is optional.”
Kolejne produkty z Małopolski trafią na Listę Produktów Tradycyjnych, in: Malopolska.pl, Biuro Prasowe UMWM, 28 September 2016, own translation
Jak podkreślają mieszkańcy: „Pierogi z kurdybankiem są w Kościelcu tak powszechne jak sam kurdybanek.” Wyróżniają się „smakiem. To jest inny smak tych pierogów. Ci co lubią zioła, to lubią te właśnie pierogi. Kurdybanek jest tu najważniejszy”. „Był traktowany dawniej jako roślina przyprawowa. Ten jego pikantny, ostry smak zastępował wiele przypraw. Jego smak i zapach jest naprawdę specyficzny. Rośnie wszędzie. […]”. Pierogi z kurdybankiem podaje się najczęściej okraszone przyrumienioną słoniną lub boczkiem, ale również sklarowanym masłem lub sklarowaną śmietaną. Do samego farszu często dodaje się przyrumienioną słoninę czy boczek, niekiedy również przyrumienioną cebulkę. Jednakże jak podkreślają mieszkańcy: „To co się daje poza serem i kurdybankiem, to już pod kątem własnego smaku. Podstawa, to jest ser i kurdybanek. […]

Original text:
Jak podkreślają mieszkańcy: „Pierogi z kurdybankiem są w Kościelcu tak powszechne jak sam kurdybanek.” Wyróżniają się „smakiem. To jest inny smak tych pierogów. Ci co lubią zioła, to lubią te właśnie pierogi. Kurdybanek jest tu najważniejszy”. „Był traktowany dawniej jako roślina przyprawowa. Ten jego pikantny, ostry smak zastępował wiele przypraw. Jego smak i zapach jest naprawdę specyficzny. Rośnie wszędzie. […]”. Pierogi z kurdybankiem podaje się najczęściej okraszone przyrumienioną słoniną lub boczkiem, ale również sklarowanym masłem lub sklarowaną śmietaną. Do samego farszu często dodaje się przyrumienioną słoninę czy boczek, niekiedy również przyrumienioną cebulkę. Jednakże jak podkreślają mieszkańcy: „To co się daje poza serem i kurdybankiem, to już pod kątem własnego smaku. Podstawa, to jest ser i kurdybanek. […]

What follows is a recipë for ground-ivy pierogi from Mr. Waldemar Sulisz of Lublin, although I don't know to what extent it resembles the recipës from Kościelec.

Ingredients: pierogi dough, 4 potatoes, 1 onion, half a brick of twaróg (Polish farmer cheese), 1 brick of bryndza (soft brined sheep cheese), 1 teaspoon of unsalted butter, a handful of ground-ivy leaves and flowers, a bunch of chives, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, ground-ivy-flavoured yogurt.

Preparation: Boil the potatoes in their skins. Peel and mash with butter, add twaróg and bryndza, chopped ground-ivy, salt and pepper. Brown the chopped onion and garlic in a pan, add the filling and sauté for a while. Roll out the dough, cut out round pockets, wrap pockets around the filling and seal. Cook in salted water. Serve drenched with melted butter and chopped chives. On the side, serve the yogurt with chopped ground-ivy.

Waldemar Sulisz: Kurdybanek czai się wszędzie: nawet w pierogach, in: Jem Lublin, 23 May 2015, own translation
Składniki: Ciasto na pierogi, 4 ziemniaki, 1 cebula, pół kostki białego sera, kostka bryndzy, łyżka masła, garść listków i kwiatów kurdybanka, szczypiorek, 2 ząbki czosnku, sól, pieprz, jogurt kurdybankowy

Wykonanie: Ziemniaki ugotować w mundurkach. Obrać, utłuc w garnku z masłem, dodać ser i bryndzę, doprawić posiekanym kurdybankiem, solą i pieprzem. Na patelni zeszklić posiekaną cebulę z czosnkiem, dodać farsz, przesmażyć. Ciasto rozwałkować, wycinać kółka, nakładać farsz, lepić, robiąc falbanki. Gotować w osolonej wodzie. Podawać polane masłem i udekorowane szczypiorkiem. Osobno podać jogurt z posiekanym kurdybankiem.


Original text:
Składniki: Ciasto na pierogi, 4 ziemniaki, 1 cebula, pół kostki białego sera, kostka bryndzy, łyżka masła, garść listków i kwiatów kurdybanka, szczypiorek, 2 ząbki czosnku, sól, pieprz, jogurt kurdybankowy

Wykonanie: Ziemniaki ugotować w mundurkach. Obrać, utłuc w garnku z masłem, dodać ser i bryndzę, doprawić posiekanym kurdybankiem, solą i pieprzem. Na patelni zeszklić posiekaną cebulę z czosnkiem, dodać farsz, przesmażyć. Ciasto rozwałkować, wycinać kółka, nakładać farsz, lepić, robiąc falbanki. Gotować w osolonej wodzie. Podawać polane masłem i udekorowane szczypiorkiem. Osobno podać jogurt z posiekanym kurdybankiem.


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