200 g wheat grain (7 1/4 oz)
200 g poppy seeds
200 ml honey (7/16 pint)
100 g walnuts, chopped (3.5 oz)
100 g almonds, chopped
50 g currants (1.8 oz)
4 figs
4 dates
1/2 vanilla pod
1 tsp grated lemon peel
70 ml rum (1/8 pint)
2 tbsp cream
10 almonds, whole
Directions
(Keep care: preparation 6 hours !!)
Wash the wheat grain, leave to soak in cold water for
6 hours. Drain, then pour 2 l of boiling water over
the wheat, cover and cook over a low heat for 3 hours.
The grains should be soft but not mushy. Strain the
cooked wheat and leave to cool.
Wash the poppy-seeds thoroughly in cold water, scald
with boiling water and drain. Pour boiling water over
them, bring to a boil, remove from the heat and leave
to stand in a warm place for 3 hours. Drain and mince.
Soak the currants in rum or cognac. Cut the figs and
dates into thin strips. Crush vanilla pod in a mortar.
Pour the poppy-seeds into a mixing bowl, add cream,
honey, vanilla and lemon peel. Grind for 15 minutes,
then add the wheat, crushed walnuts and almonds,
currants, figs and dates. Mix well and transfer to a
glass bowl. Decorate with whole almonds and chill.
(From: Polish cooking, Warszawa 1993, ISBN
83-85477-34-9) Posted by Rene Gagnaux
Servings: 8 servings
Kutia (Christmas Pudding) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Christmas; Dessert; Holiday; Polish
The History of Recipes
Written cooking instructions as an idea can be traced back into history, at least as far back into history as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that is, generally, these ancient cookbooks were just simple hieroglyphic or cunieform instructions for meal preparation.
Fascinatingly, the oldest recipe discovered, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are some ancient tablets in Sumerian describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel blissful and exhilarated. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, there are a couple of interesting books dating from the 14th Century ; one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, they are not about the spicy food that we all know today, but rather accounts of the types of food cooked for the nobility of the time. In the 15th century, knights returning from the crusades brought us many foods, spices and herbs from the holy lands, such as parsley and basil. The introduction of these new culinary ideas was responsible for a torrent in cookery books, most of which are now in private libraries. Over the following few centuries, the wealthy families of Wesstern Europe competed with each other to offer the best banquets, and consequentially cooks and their recipe collections were greatly in demand. However, it was during the nineteenth century the formal cooking and recipe books rose to prominence. Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated the best years of their lives to collating, testing, and publishing recipes that were common in the better off homes of the day. When we get to the 1900s, recipe publications are in great demand, due to better eduction, people having more free time and being a little richer. The arrival of TV brought us TV cookery programs and the spin-off recipe books. Which pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing everybody to search through massive numbers of recipes like the ones you can find on this web site. |
We hope you enjoy this Kutia (Christmas Pudding) recipe.
