As my devoted readers will know, I’m a lover of great food and international cuisine. As sales director of Party Krakow, I have to answer loads of questions about restaurants and good tucker. I’m frequently required to inform our Krakow stags about what to eat and where but, not unsurprisingly, the popularity of Poland has provoked an interest in its national cuisine.

So what is Polish food all about?  That’s a good question and I hope you can learn a bit from these brief notes.

Most good Polish restaurants lack the typical glamour of competitors offering the joys of French, Italian, Corsican and other menus. But you can be sure of very prompt service and a very clean environment and, since this is reflected in the prices you pay, most of you will never notice the difference and be very glad you chose Polish.

There is one rule in Poland that is never disobeyed: “A guest in my house is like God in my house.” During even the leanest years of Stalinist domination, the Poles observed their feasts and the cooks always emerged from their ordeals with distinction. This same culture continues and pervades our local Polish restaurants and guests go home feeling well fed for a fraction of the price that they would have paid for other cuisines.

It seems a quite simple deal:

• Vast amounts of food will be served
• Every home prepared dish is as good as your Grandmother’s
• Soup is the starter to every meal (sometimes even breakfast)
• Main dishes are enormous
• Beer is the main drink
• Service is good but simple
• You will want to return

So what kind of food can our horny stag expect to eat? There is really too much to describe but good party organizers will point you in this direction:

Stag Dinner in Traditional Krakow Style:

Typical soups

Cream of onion with croutons

Cream of garlic

Cream of tomato

Zurek

Barstch

Typical Main Dishes, usually served with an optional side salad

Veal cutlet with vegetables

Fried chicken

Pork in many styles (highly recommended is galonka*)

Sauteed trout

Pike

Salmon

Desserts

Desserts are quite simple and if you require sweetening up after the first two courses, choose something like this:

Ice cream

Cheese cake

Crepes with various fillings

So. Our hungry stag groups can be assured of very good food in Krakow and the local cuisine is very well worth trying. As always, however, the recommendations of a reputable, locally based stag party operator are useful when it comes to getting the very best.

For the more adventurous stag or his partner, here is a recipe got galonka. This is roasted ham hock in beer marinade and once tasted, never forgotten!

*Galonka

Ingredients

1 pork knuckle (hock) per person

Bay leaves

10 juniper berries

10 black pepper corns

Curry powder (optional)

Cooking oil

Beer (I use Guiness in UK but any beer is OK – the sugar content adds colour and the beer adds flavour)

2 medium onions quartered

3-4 garlic cloves

2 sliced carrots

Method

Wash and dry the knuckles.

In a large stock pan, place the knuckles and cover with boiling water to a depth of 2 inches. Return to the boil and skim off as much scum as possible

When the stock is reasonably clear, add the bay leaves, pepper corns, juniper berries, and the vegetables with some curry powder. This is optional and is only there to provide a background flavour. So maybe one teaspoon of strong curry or one tablespoon of milder types, but not more

Cover the pan and simmer gently for 1.5 – 2 hours. Have the occasional look and add more water if necessary

After the cooking time, remove the knuckles from the stock and rinse them off. The stock can certainly be used in soups but need to be left until cold and then thoroughly skimmed of the lard that will form on top

The lard can also be used – your Granny called it dripping but in these days of cholesterol consciousness – you may wish to discard it. Please don’t do the same with the stock – once skimmed it will be a marvelous base for soups, stews and casseroles

Heat the oven to 350F

Place the knuckles in a roasting pan. I normally use a rack over a half can of Guiness. Cover will foil and pop them into the hot oven for about 90 minutes or until tender. Every 15 minutes or so, spoon a little more Guiness over the meat. 15 minutes before the cooking time is finished, add a bit more beer and then return to the oven uncovered. This crisps up the outside layer of fat, adds flavour and makes the dish look great. Because of the thick layer of fat (which you do not eat!!) it‘s difficult to overcook this dish

Serve on individual plates with bread, mustard and horseradish

Each person has to slice through about half and inch of fat that has kept the interior meat in fantastic condition during the cooking process

Eat well!

The Brewery Dinner – sumptuous food and scrumptious beer

Krakow has many special secrets but one of them that the dedicated beer-coiffing, party- loving stag should learn about is the microbrewery. This is a genuine beer producer situated about a minute’s walk from the very centre of town so it’s no big deal to stagger from here to any of the other fantastic stag venues in Krakow.

You enter the establishment by a wide stairs from the street and move into a large, open hall where the drinker enjoys the fresh brews for which the brewery is famous. But the diner turns left and goes to the rather more exclusive rooms reserved for those who want to eat well whilst having tremendous fun with the beers.

The brewery dinner is the perfect way to start a Polish stag night with a menu that is as tasty as it looks. And it looks gorgeous! The restaurant is stylish, the service excellent and portions ample.

The smart Krakow stag (as long as he has no objection to pigs!) should enjoy the galonka. ‘What the ****,’ I hear you ask, ‘is “galonka”?’ Galonka is a mini joint of pork that comes from the “wrist” or “ankle” of the animal. Before being individually roasted, it is marinated in dark beer and herbs, then skewered on a mini spit and served at the table with sauces, bread and salad. Each person gets his own version the size of a small chicken!

The surrounding fat is a deep golden brown in colour and almost an inch thick. The hungry stag simply peels this aside and finds tender, dark meat in large quantities inside. It is simply stunning food and is the best way to prepare the body for a long, long stag night.

But what about the beer? This is served in 5 litre containers called “giraffes”. The beers of choice, whether that is light, medium or dark, are served by the diners from a tap at the base. Sounds whacky, works a treat!

And the beer itself is unique. Full of flavour, freshly tapped and easy to drink since its sparkle is natural and not the result of artificially introduced bubbles! It’s also bloody strong!

The menu is pretty extensive, so those stags that have issues with meat in general or pork in particular, still do very nicely as well.

So, gentlemen members of stag parties in Krakow, there you have one of the best ways to eat and drink in Polish style before hitting the town!