Celebrating the Day of Potato Pancakes in Poland

The Polish calendar celebrates two things on November 11: Independence Day ( Dzien niepodległosci)   and Dzien  Św. Marcina, (Feast of St. Martin of Tours). On November 13, Poland celebrates the Day of Potato Pancakes, i.e., Dzien placki ziemniaczane.

Photo from Wikimedia commons.

According to official sources, the cultivation of potatoes had its first beginnings in Poland as an ornamental plant when King Jan III Sobieski (1674-1696) sent seedlings to his gardener in Warsaw from Vienna, where he had won a smashing victory over the Turks. Initially enjoyed for their flowers, the tubers gained popularity as a food very slowly, replacing parsnips, turnips and rutabaga which had served as primary foodstuff for the common people. By the 1700’s, all of Poland and Lithuania, rich and poor alike were eating potatoes every day.  It became the salvation of the poorest peasant. When flour was unavailable to bake bread, potatoes were a valuable substitute to fill the belly with its numerous possibilities and variations as a soup, boiled, or fried. 

​According to Polish sources, one of the first recipes for fried potato pancakes comes from the 17th century Stoczek Warmiński, a monastery in Warmia, in northern Poland that served it to the monks. The pancakes of that time, like the ones we have today, were made of grated potatoes, eggs, onion and flour in the proportion of a spoonful for every kilogram of potatoes. They were served only with salt and pepper. Today's popular additions come from the time of the partitions of Poland with influences coming from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia.  They were eaten alone, that is, plain, or with sour cream or pork cracklings. Sugar was a rarity for the poor but sour cream obtained from milk from a cow, was more readily available. Versions with goulash also called  placki po węgiersku, that is Hungarian pancakes, were the fare of the rich and noble. It is still found in restaurants all over Poland.

Photo: Wikipedia. Pancakes with goulash

An interesting note is how the pancakes were fried in the past. In today’s times we think of a frying pan and oil.  In some regions of Poland, specifically the Kujawy region, the pancakes were called klepacz and fried directly on the top of the black coal stoves, called fajerki, that were traditionally found in old Polish kitchens. The top of it was thoroughly cleaned. More flour (rye, wheat, white) was added to the grated potato mass to make a stiffer dough which allowed the pancake to be turned over without falling apart.

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The above photo is from my cousin Zbyszek's kitchen in Poland where he installed the old fashioned Polish kitchen along with his new one.

Potato pancakes are a dish as traditional as pierogi but much easier to make, tasty, filling and can be served for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack
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Here is a recipe from my cookbook titled Polish Country Kitchen Cookbook published by Hippocrene Books, 2012.  My mother called them placki kartoflane, just another, old-fashioned name for potatoes - kartofle. Fresh chives in the batter adds adds another note of flavor.


Smacznego! May it be tasty!

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