Background
Polish Kugel is the official traditional dish of the Fałków region in south-western Poland. Kugel is mostly known for being a Jewish dish. However, when the Poles seen the Jewish/German version of the recipe in the early 19th century. They weren’t exactly impressed by the whole kosher/no pork approach. For those who don’t know, the Polish are massive pork lovers. So much so that Beef is not easy to come by in Poland without knowing where to look.
Thus we can safely call this recipe Polish, as the meat types to use traditionally is bacon, boneless ribs or pork knuckle. Additionally the recipe also differs in cooking time. Poles traditionally used the bread ovens to cook Kugel overnight, making a 5 hours bake the initial minimum. However, as times changed this became less popular and the dish is most commonly cooked in under 90 minutes nowadays, with exceptions to those using inherited recipes.
Ingredients for Polish Kugel
| – 1.5kg of Potatoes – 250g Raw smoked bacon – 4 Large eggs – 350g White onion – 4 Cloves of garlic – 3 Tablespoons of cooking oil – 1 Teaspoon of Salt & Pepper |
Preparation for Polish Kugel
- Peel the potatoes
- Peel & finely chop the onions
- Peel the garlic ready for crushing (alternativity you can finely chop it)
- Dice the bacon if its not already pre-cut
Method
Fry it first
Pre-heat a small or medium sized frying pan to medium heat with the cooking oil. Once ready, throw in the bacon and the onions together. After around 5 minutes, add the crushed garlic. Then continue until the bacon is cooked and the onions are slightly browned. When they’re finished, set aside to cool.
Spud Science
I feel its important to mention a few things about use of potatoes in this dish. Within Poland there is two common types of potato. Light skinned, with a white centre & Dark skinned with a yellow centre. After doing some asking around I was told for this dish, surprisingly both are required. Why? it comes down to water and starch content. The light skinned waxy potatoes tend to have less starch, more water. The dark skinned potatoes being the opposite. Using a 1:1 ratio generates a the perfect texture, not to watery or pasty once baked.
Not everyone has time for potato hunting in the supermarkets (myself included). For that reason I recommend you use all purpose potatoes such as Yukon Gold, Maris Piper, or Vivaldi potatoes. As the water and starch content will already be mostly balanced.
That being said any potato will work if you treat them the correct way. If the water content is high you can squeeze the water out by hand after grating. If the starch is high, then I recommend adding some sour cream of 12% fat content to the mix (around 100g/3.5oz).
With consideration of the above advice, grate the potatoes using a hand grater or food processer. Place the grated contents in a large bowl which will be used for mixing.
Mix it up
You should now have a nice big bowl of dry-ish grated potato. Crack and add the eggs, followed by 1 teaspoon of Salt & Pepper. If you have starchy potatoes then you can add sour cream in now too. Mix the contents well until the egg yolks are no longer whole.
Next add the cooked bacon and onion to the bowl and mix until everything is thoroughly combined.
Transfer & Bake
For this portion I use a 19x24cm (7.5×9.5 inch) baking dish. If you have a larger baking dish you may need to reduce the cooking time slightly as it may cook quicker. Grease the inside of the baking dish and transfer the contents of the mixing bowl, spreading evenly.
Place the Kugel (uncovered) in the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven and bake for 80 minutes at 180°C (355°F). Around 40 minutes into baking, look in the oven and check if there is too much burning on the top. If so you can reduce the temperature to 160°C (320°F) or move the Kugel to the lower shelf of the oven.
Serving
Kugel is quite filling and traditionally is served on its own. However, common sides used in Poland for such a dish is Salad or fried cabbage.
Storing Polish Kugel
If stored in the refrigerator within an hour of cooking, using an airtight food safe container. Kugel can be stored for up to 3 days.