Czernina is very rare nowadays and I think 90% of Poles have never eaten it.

After recently visiting my girlfriend in Poland for 3 months (I'm American) I've tried all of these things and I LOVED EVERY SINGLE ONE. FAKT

You really need to find a better source of Potato Pancakes. Their should be thinner (so they don't feel undercooked in the middle)+ on a less oil (that is a relict of older times when people used crappy pans, now we have the 'teflon' ones). And (important!) as soon as they are taken off the pan they should end up on the paper towels for the very purpose of drying them from both sides, soaking any excess oil into the towel. This way they are much, much better. PS: Great complaining skills, you are assimilating pretty hard into Polish society with skills like that ;)

another one of those "Hate my Poland" episodes, I love them! I'm happy to see you complaining for 10 minutes, congratulations - you're a real Pole now :D

w życiu nie jadłem czerniny i nie wiem co to 'staropolski sernik', ale polski sernik potrafi być pyszny

A już myślalem że na 1miejscu będą Flaczki. Chociaż dla mnie Flaki to coś co mogę jeść codziennie z bułką, na ostro... zawsze.

Understandable, You're forgiven, but now because of you I have craving for some pickled herring in cream... Rozumiemy, wybaczamy, ale zrobiłeś mi teraz smaka na śledzika w śmietanie...

The key with potato pancakes is to put them on a piece of cooking paper right after frying them. It will drain most of the oil and make them great.

Fascinating, my American wife loves Polish cheesecake made at home precisely for all the reasons you hate it. She appreciates it being significantly less overwhelmingly sweet. Hers is nice and fluffy though, I admit I've had some of them that had the rough consistency of a brick.

I'm a bit shocked by this video, potato pancakes, Polish cheesecakes and blood sausage are some of my top Polish foods! How can someone not like them I don't understand 😅 You're absolutely right about the fish though, that's horrible 😂

Hey Russel! There is no such thing like "too much vinegar" in poland ;)

Królu złoty z Ameryki - właśnie mi przypomniałeś że muszę zakupić kaszankę bo bardzo dawno jej już nie jadłem ale jesli znajdziesz takową dobrej jakości to palce lizać 😀

Kaszanka z cebulką podsmażoną, cymes. Serniczek pierwsza klasa. Placki ziemniaczane z kefirem, mniam... Szproty super z chlebkiem, bez chlebka się nie najesz... Śledzik najlepszy do mocnego alkoholu

You've just listed almost all of my favourite foods😂 😂 I really enjoyed your views on some of these because they're so different from mine, especially the hearing! I actually went to the fridge to check and you might be onto something with the 'skinned snake' ;) All the best Russ!

I am surprised you didn't mention Flaki. Me and my girlfriend love them but many Poles hate that dish. I still remember from my navy days, each week when there was that specific dish being served, from the entire company of 153 only 16 were going to the mess hall 😂

In my region (Cieszyn Silesia, about 100 km to the south from Częstochowa) there is an old (but still alive here) recipe for potato pancakes fried without any oil, on big metal sheet which is placed on furnace. Those pancakes taste much more healthier. I think you should try it! It's named "placki z blachy". It's hard to find them in restaurant, but they are avalible in some tavern in Beskid Śląski, for example in "Pod lasem" near to town Ustroń.

I'm turning 30 this year, and what I've noticed in my most recent ten years, is that you learn tastes similar to other things. I hated certain foods at first (and even though I'm Polish, I hated herring too!) until I tried them enough times to start appreciating their taste. The first time you try something completely new, your body seems to think it might not be perfectly safe to eat, hence the horrible taste... But if you eat it a few times, it's like some switch magically goes off in your brain that tells it "okay, this doesn't seem to be poisonous after all, since you're still alive... Go on, you can enjoy it now". That's how I "learned" to eat sushi, herring, blue cheese and a lot of other foods that I (and many others) found disgusting at first. And boy am I glad I did that, as they are some of my favourite things to eat now.

That's awesome. I never laughed so hard 🤣. I can see your point. I still love most of them. 😉

Wszystko rozumiem... ale sernik! Szok. Widocznie trafiłeś na bardzo, bardzo zły sernik.

You should be interested how Czernina was used in great drama "Pan Tadeusz" written by polish romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz. During action of this master piece It was served as representation of refused engagement by head of family. Although it states in text as 'czarna polewka'.

Wow... Czernina, that's an experience... I have to admit that I've never had an opportunity to try and don't know anyone who has (as far as I know). Did you know that way way in the past it was served to a suitor as a sign that his marriage proposal was rejected?

I love all the foods you mentioned with exception of czarina. As a Pole living in the United States for over twenty years I can understand your point of view. We all come from different backgrounds, and grew up accustomed to different things and traditions. There are many American dishes I don’t like, for example all kinds of pies. Just way to sweet.

Grandparents from Poland. I’ve never had the 2 “blood” items but love the rest, especially the herring. 👍🏻

When my family visited Greece and to the lesser extent Spain we couldn't bear their desserts, they were so damn sweet. Every cake had too much sugar in it, it tasted too sweet and was even more unhealthy than normal cake. I've heard that the American cakes and pies are very sweet as well, I've never had them so can't compare to the Greek levels of sweetness. It's true that some people in Poland might make cheesecake not sweet enough and too bland, a friend of my family was gifting us her cheesecakes and they were exactly that, the only cheesecake I've had that tasted like you described. But I find most of the polish cheesecake to be perfect, not bland and with barely and sugar in it and not way too sweet like in Greece or possibly the US. But it't normal that after growing up in the US with its desserts your more used to how they're made there. But I think that most Polish would like the Polish cheesecake way more than the American one,

This episode is great! It is hard to belive that someone from other culture, can't stand the "greatest hits" of polish meals :D but it is normal. I was listening it with great interest! You absolutely have to make more episodes od this style :)

As a Pole, I don't think you've tried these well-prepared dishes. I don't like fish and seafood and I won't try blood soup. The rest of the meals, when prepared properly, will please everyone.

Very few people can do potato pancakes correctly. They require VERY hot oil and skill. The undercooked center is part of the charm, but it should be just a hint. Also my mom did an oven baked-version, not as tasty, but much easier to digest. A Czech talking here :).

kaszanka is a polish haggis

1. Sustained - sometimes potato pancakes are too oily and undercooked, so I never buy it ready and always cook to myself. 2. Sustained - cheesecake (as well as any other cake) is owfull but for completely different reason - for me is too sweet and I do not eat sweets at all (only one exception is single doughnut in Fat Thursday due to tradition). 3. Overruled - I don't have black pudding very often but don't mind; with fried onions and mustard is delicious. 4. Overruled - I love to have it mixed with chopped onions + black pepper and spread over the slice of bread. Smoked mackerel served in similar way is tasty as well but less convenient due to tiny bones. 5. Sustained - I like pickles as well as salads made from fresh vegies but this particular product is horrible. 6. Overruled - herrings are my favourite sweets and I can have them all round the clock! 7. Sustained - it's definitely not my cup of tea thou I can have it for special occasion. Regarding that blood soup had been traditionally served for would-be fiancee to let him know the girl is not for him, I'd rather never be honored this way. Nr 8 (my childhood nightmare) - zupa owocowa (fruit soup). It's pasta mixed with sort of compote. I was forced to eat this until once I vomited the entire canteen in my kindergarten. Since then they left me alone.

Russell, as a Pole and your regular viewer I feel like I have to comment on each food you mentioned haha 7. Potato pancakes - as a teenager I also struggled with eating them - either to raw, soaked in oil or burned almost to coal. But when you find someone who knows how to prepare them - they are delicious, especially in the "Hungarian" style 6. Polish cheesecake - again, for younger me it was also a no go. Too cheesy and not similar to any other cake I then preferred. But now I'm in love with cheesecakes - I love the same taste which was disgusting before :) if well baked, it becomes fluffy and there is a perfect match between its cheesiness, the sweetness of the chocolate glaze (or other top layer - there are a few of them) and other optional ingredients. I'm not sure if you are aware of a great debate over cheesecake and whether there should be raisins in it or not - people keep arguing with each other regarding this topic and it is a serious thing! By the way, during my visit in the US so much food tasted sweet to me, even meat so I understand your impression about the cake which is not sweet at all ;) 5. Blood sausage - oh and there comes something really really tricky. The thing is, when you have a good and proven supplier of things such as kaszanka, then you are quickly in love with it. It tastes great, you can eat it in a few different ways and you quickly fall in love with it. However when you try to buy it in the regular store or market in the city, then it is easy to buy something disgusting. I did it only once in Kraków and it was awful - now I only eat kaszanka when I'm back home in northern Poland. 4. I'm not the biggest fan of sprots and only eat their canned version from time to time. Nothing special. 3. Pickled veggies - here again I agree with you. As long as there is not too much vinegar amd there are only a few veggies pickled together, the taste is great (i. e. Pickled spicy cucumbers with onion, picked zucchini). However if you mix to many, you lose the taste amd it's terrible. Another thing is, when you buy it, it usually has too much vinegar, so i personally recommend eating homemade pickled veggies only! :) 2. Herring - their taste is also specifi, i only like the few variations of herring and none of them is based on vinegar. The vinegar fish I may recommend is the fried cod in vinegar and onions - fantastic! 1. Czernina - never tried, nor want to hahha Have a great upcoming weekend! :)

Russell: "I have to pass, sorry." My stomach: growls intensively

You can make your own potato pancakes, and they will be 100% better than in restaurants. In my opinion there is 2 options to make them well. First one is you have to use vegetable grater and grate them on large meshes, then add some potato starch, then make pancakes and fry them in a pan in a deep oil, then use paper towels to try them from excess oil. Second one is to mash potatoes to be like creamy substance, then add a little bit of spiritus (almost 100% alcohol), but just a littlebit (it is an old tip to make polish donuts, you have to put a little bit spiritus to donut dough before you deep fry them, works also with potato pancakes). With this they will not absorb so much fat), but of course you should also use paper towel after frying them to dry them from excess oil, then add a little bit of potato starch and finely chopped onion. Then make thin pancakes and fry them in a pan. You have to remember that oil need to be hot before you put them in it. In my childhood we ate potato pancakes with sour cream and a little bit of sugar, now i prefer just with sour cream or hungarian goulash + a little bit of sour cream on a top of it. Rest of the dishes is also good, but have to be preper well, and its hard to do it.

Now I'm craving blood sausage and herring. As for cake, most American recipes seem to call for double sugar to flour ratio

Jestem wielkim fanem czerniny oczywiście jeśli jest na kwaśno bo na słodko to po dziękuję

Lol! Your vivid descriptions are hilarious and very accurate too. I agree with you wholeheartedly. As a fellow Texan I definitely see the "snake in the herring"! Brrrr..... Looking forward to your favourites.

You had me on the floor laughing at 4:05 , the kaszanka medley bit !!! priceless. It's an acquired taste , for sure . I love it though !

I think herrings don't look like snakes to us because we do not eat snakes here. ;P

The Polish cheesecake is good if you're drinking some sweet tea or coffee with cream maybe try that combination see if it improves it. I do find the Polish cheesecake to be a bit on the dry side but I'm okay with it not being super sweet.

Here in my family we make pickled vegetable salad a little different, we tend to put a teeny bit less vinegar to the solution, and chop in bell peppers, carrots, a good amount of sliced up cucumber and even parsley root! It goes along great with fries, especially during summer grills. Greetings from Krzepice right below Częstochowa!

Almost nothing made me more hungry than your poetic description of kaszanka, yummie:)

Zgadzam sie ze wszystkim oprócz sernika i placków ziemniaczanych. No i śledzi w occie tez nie lubie, za to w smietanie...mmmm...pycha

Hmmm.... Dziwne, You need another 10yrs in Poland ;) You will love all of them. Ps: is depends how is made, food from the market are not that good like made from natural products in home made.

All of my grandparents were from Poland and I have to agree with you about Blood Sausage. My mom would cook this and I couldn't even stand the smell. And, pickled herring - yikes! My dad was always trying to get me to eat some. He just loved it. Thanks for your videos - all of my grandparents are deceased as well as my parents. Your videos remind me of the wonderful heritage I grew up with.

My American wife also hates pickled herring. I cannot get enough of it, and in the US it is EXPENSIVE. You opened that jar, and I started salivating...

Placki ziemniaczane are a big hit or miss for me, I loved them when I was a kid but now they are too oily for me and I feel sick after eating more than one but placki po węgiersku are great! Kaszanka is a bit problematic because I'm well aware what it's made out of but I just love the taste and interestingly enough it doesn't taste like blood for me 🤔 but I always eat it pan fried with onions so maybe the preparation has something to do with it. Czernina on the other hand.. I know it exist but I have no intention of going anywhere near it 😅

Russell, I'm with you when it comes to potato pancakes. To me, they are just too heavy and they sit like a rock in my stomach! Kaszanka or blood sausage is awful but not the way my mother made it. She used very little buckwheat. Her recipe was mostly meat and it was yummy. I enjoy both the Polish and American cheesecakes. However, the older I get, the less I like the American variety because it's just too rich! Too much cream cheese! Czernina - hated it as a kid but I've grown to tolerate it. It's a food you either love or hate. Pickled foods are great! Yes, the pickled veggie flavors are indistinguishable but I still love them. I LOVE pickled beets. Have you tried them? I can't get enough pickled herring! Yes, the skin does look like snake skin but that can be remedied by removing the skin from the fish and then pickling it. It's always been a great Christmas-time treat in our house! You didn't mention other pickled food but when I was a kid, my mother couldn't stand ANY wild meat ... deer, rabbit, squirrel. It didn't matter if it was pickled or not. However, she'd prepare it for my father and I loved the pickled rabbit and squirrel but we never pickled venison. You are allowed to pick and choose food that you like and I would never feel offended by your choices. Thanks for sharing ... I'm just a 1st generation Polish-American!

I like Kasznka(aka Kiszka there was a famous Polish-American song singing its Praises). My Grandfather pickled his own herring every year to prepare for Lent. Pickled herring was one of the foods that would get you through Lent. And I love Czarnina. When I visited my relatives in Gniezno, they mad me fresh Czarnina, it was so fresh, that the youngest child was playing with the source of the dinner before it became dinner

Pickled herring has always been a favorite depending on the brand and if it is of the creamy white variety, I believe it's sour cream, much better. If the vinegary flavor of the bottle veggies turn you off just add some sugar and let them stand a few days in the frig, the difference will amaze you. Sometime it's not what's in your hands, it's in how you open it.

Russell, try filety sledziowe pirackie, I buy them here in the USA, delicious !

Some of these are an acquired taste, and some of those I also am not that fond of. I guess what one likes depends a lot on what they grew up with. I think American-style cheesecake is a mediocre dessert, in part because yes, it's too sweet and too bland for me. The way you look at blood soup is probably similar to how I look at very rare steak, to be honest. I can't wrap my mind around the idea that meat is better when basically raw. I've been told by American friends that cooking a steak ruins the quality of the meat, and I concluded that I probably am not a steak person, then. Meat is tasty when you let high temperature break it down and bring out the flavour. That's like 60% of the point of cooking anything. Why skip that step. And, yeah, if someone doesn't like fish, they don't like fish. I completely get it, even though I love fish in just about any preparation method and could probably live on fish and nothing else. I am a bit curious what your favourite Polish foods are, so waiting for that video.

Great job Russell, we especially like the sign behind you on this episode…! :). Best from Las Vegas…! 🇺🇸🇵🇱

Yea I never heard about czernina 🤔 good video looking forward for the 7 favorite food

I absolutely love Polish food, and with Polish in-laws, I've tasted some of the most delish dishes ever. However, I do have to agree with you about kaszanka, but then again I'm not much for buckwheat no matter how it's prepared. Otoh, being of Lithuanian heritage potato pancakes were almost a staple - but never greasy nor undercooked, although never quite right unless they're made by your grandmother by hand with that almost inevitable drop of blood when she'd scrape a knuckle on the grater. 😁

Kaszanka nie ma smaku krwi (farby) jest pyszna jami! 👍

My grandmother's placki were so delicious! They were never raw in the middle & never too oily, I think she would put them briefly in a tea towel after coming out the pan. Some times we would have them with a sprinkle of sugar on top.

I always eat kaszanka made on pan with onion (i cut open and mix) and i add it to cooked potatoes and it is one of my favorite meals

Śledź, szprotki i sernik są genialne. Z całą resztą jestem gotów się zgodzić, bo dobrze przyrządzone placki ziemniaczane są rzadkie.

Poor Russell. Czernina was a childhood favourite around Baltimore. I wish I could find the blood to make it here in western Canada. If anyone can help me find the makings, please, please, please, let me know!

I actually share most of your opinions and can understand the reasoning for the others. I don't mind some well-made placki that had been placed on a paper towel right after frying to get as much of the excesive oil as possible, but I consider them pretty boring on their own, so you're definitely right about placek po węgiersku. Another potato-besed cakes that I prefer over the usual Polish hash-browns are the cakes made from a mix of boiled potatos with sliced ham or sausage and herbs, rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. I don't eat blood either. When it comes to kaszanka, thankfully we have blood-free alternatives that range from okay tasting, to quite good. Of course there is biała kaszanka, which is the Barley Groat, herbs and spices and offal (usually the liver) or even meat, which is okay. I once had a mexican-style biała kaszanka which was spiced with paprika and had choppings of spicy peppers and even corn in it which was quite tasty. But if I had to choose, I'd rather have kiszka ziemniaczana or kiszka jaglana instead of kaszanka. When it comes to traditional quark cakes, yeah I can eat them, but I am not a huge fan of them. I pretty much prefer what we call the cold cheesecake in here (sernik na zimno) which consists of a sponge cake or a base made of biscuits (biszkopciki or herbatniki -- pretty underwhelming as a sweet snack, but work perfect as a cheesecake base! Americans tend to crumble their cookies for the cheesecake base, but me and my mom rather put the cookies whole on the bottom of the cake tin and pour the cheese mix on top. once the biscuits get some of that moisture out of the cake, they are just amazing) with a mass made of fromage blanc (usually vanilla flavored) mixed with gelatin, topped with fruits and jelly, which I think you honorably mentioned a variant of in your top 10 list. I also don't like pickled veggies. We now live in the times we can have fresh veggies all the year long, so it's not as useful and... it just all tastes of vinegar. The only thing I can stand are the pickled cucumbers, but I would always pick gherkins over vinegar pickles anyway. And I hate herring too! 🤣 So don't worry, Russel, you're as much of a Pole as I am. Cheers 😉

Super pretty t-shirt! I would wear it myself 😊 haha the only Polish food I won't touch is czernina actually (but I like kaszanka with lots of fried onion)

I am polish (live for 41 years in USA) I agree with all the seven foods you mentioned, however the cheesecake depends on who bakes it or where you buy it :)) Our cheesecake here in USA tends to be too sweet and a lot of artificial stuff goes to it for enhancement of the flavor, fake stuff:))) Polish cheesecake is most of the time wholesome , natural and not too sweet, the best when you buy it in good bakery or babcia bakes it:))

If "Tatar" is not on your list then your for sure a Pole now. Usually this is the first thing that gets people from abroad grossed out.

As for cheesecake- there are probably 40 different variations across Poland, if not more. For example Kraków has one of it's own. Not all of them are equally dry or equally sweet. As for light and sweet and great for summer, maybe a hot apple pie with vanilla ice cream would suit an American palate? If yes, check out " szarlotka na ciepło z lodami wanilowymi".

Great video as always. My aunt used to make Czernina for my Dad and me . My Mom and sisters would not eat it. I cannot speak for varieties, only hers, which had plums in it. I am now an old man and have not had any for many years. I still think about it every now and again. I loved it. But did not get it often. Only when my aunt made it because the butcher let her know he had fresh ducks blood.

Dobra rada od stałego widza: Russell w najbliższych dniach nie powinieneś wychodzić z domu 😅

If I was granted a wish from God.....ONE food that I love but it's no longer available to me....it would be my Grandmothers "Kapusta Soup". Some rye brad and butter and a glass of cold beer? HEAVEN! Grandma always made enough to feed an army. She came from a big family and also married and had 7 kids. In Heaven Grandma is probably running the kitchen for God. Grandma was Polish/Ukrainian and man could she ever cook and bake! Placki's LOVE THEM! Always let the oil drain off on a paper towel first.

Gotta say I was VERY surprised by this list,I was curious since yeah there's some really nasty stuff that is popular in this country but then the first entry is potato pancakes?Potato pancakes are propably some of my all time favorite Polish food:D and then Polish cheesake and kaszanka like it's they're not as much of a favorite but I do enjoy having some at a barbecue or a party? Totally agree with you on all the fish though,and on the pickled salads even though I like pickled vegetables in general then yeah when they're all pickled together it kinda becomes an indistinguishable mush. I'm curious what you think about zimne nóżki and flaki ( I think it would be aspic and tripes soup in English?) bc it's some of the nastiest most nauseating things i've ever eaten in this country

Russel, I concur with you on several dishes. I have had good pickled herring in wine sauce. But that can vary by brand. Czarnina as made by my mom and aunts was not a vegetable soup it had prunes and a tartness from vinegar. Then would be garnished with sour cream. It's an acquired taste. Finally, we make our potato pancakes with finely grated potatoes. They don't have the hash brown texture and they are cooked through. Wrapped around a breakfast sausage or topped with applesauce or preserves they are a favorite.

I am a native Pole lining in US for 30 years now. I've aquired some American food preferences such as sweet barbecue sauces, or the sweet meat dishes, which are almost unexistant in Poland. But the American cheesecake is a misnomer because it is actually a cheese cream cake. While the Polish cheesecake is where you can taste actual cottage cheese. Try Sernik Krakowski from a good pastry shop or home made Cracow cheesecake, that one is very sweet and smooth, has a lot of nuts sweet orange peel bits, and let us know how you lived it😁👍

You missed the ultimate gross food - flaczki or tripe. Growing up in Toronto my Mom would sometimes make flaczki and I could smell the cooking from a block away when coming from school - then I would run away and only come home when the street lights came on. My wife loves the stuff and I cannot even look at it. Great video and I agree with your choices 100%. Give me a good burger anytime. LOL

Russell, this was painfully honest and funny, and my Canadian wife was with total agreement with you on most of the foods, but not potato pancakes and cheese cake. She loves those. And, I'm also watching your videos from the beginning, by the way.

I love kaszanka. There is Polish grocery store in Edmonton that sells, and I believe that a nearby German deli has something similar although I have yet to try it.

Russel. Next time just try placki ziemniaczane from an oven, the basic recipe is the same, you just put them in an oven instead of an oily, fatty pan and that really makes a difference! :D

Apart from pickled vegetables, all the other stuff I basically never touch either. You're not alone (oh, I'm 100% pure Polish)

Hey Russell! Next time when you will be visiting Wisła city in the mountain please try "kołocz" it's some called it "sernik" too, but it's way better then "old-fashioned cheesecake

I’ve never tried or heard of czernina... doesn’t sound very appetizing. Love blood sausage though... slice it open and cook it on a pan with sautéed onions. I rarely have it now, but I’ve been living in Canada since I was 7. Other than the soup, it’s all pretty yummy. Glad I found your channel. I’m going to check out your other videos. 😊

Russell, a co z flakami? Jadłeś? Podzielam zdanie na temat czerniny, no ale jak mogłeś tak obrazić kaszankę?! ;)

Ja też nie lubię większości z tych dań :D

My grandparents were Lithuanian. Haven't tried the others, but thanks to my grandfather I really like pickled herring. That and some good fresh rye bread. YUM!

Czarnina is delicious! It is difficult to find here in the Chicago area aub I really do like it.

We have two kinds of cheesecake, one is called baked cheese cake which is baked in the oven and it’s less sweet and more solid, however we do have as well chilled cheesecake which is usually served with jelly and fruits on top and this is the one which turns into cream once eaten! :) you have to try it!

I'm a fan of kaszanka, but I have to buy it from a trusted store. It can be very good or absolutely nasty. There's one commercial meat provider with green conifers in their logo from which I usually buy mine nowadays and I like these a lot. No random weird-to-bite chunks, no strange aftertaste, minimal heartburn and the casing becomes completely crispy after frying

I'm a Pole and on the one hand I must say that whole thing why the cheese cake is so good is exactly that it's one of the cakes that aren't overwhelming sweet and I love potato pancakes and my mum makes them perfectly - she adds onions to the potatoes, fries them quite thin so everything inside is cooked well and crispy and the moment a pancakes is taken from the pan it lands on paper towel to get the oil from it. It's delicious. On the other hand I agree on the fishes, I can stand herring or szprot (and herrings don't look for us like snakes because we have almost no snakes here). Moreover I never heard about czernina soup so it can be regional and what you called sałatka naddunajska I know as sałatka szwedzka (Sweden Salad).

You should know that harring was once a main food staple for Baltic states . Meat was in short supply and solted harring packed in barrels for centuries was a main source of protein in Poland , Sweden , and Germany .

Russell, Great video! As an American I see we agree. I would also add jellied fish.

So you know how a typical box grater has these "eye" slots, round with a sharp ridge on one side, and these "shredder" slots made of four quarter-leaves of metal bent out? I believe that when Americans make hash browns, potatoes are grated on the eye side of a grater and then are squeezed in cheesecloth to remove a lot of water they have, they're rinsed of starch, and then as a result when heat-processed (one possibly unorthodox way is to use a waffle iron) they're pretty crispy. My mom makes potato pancakes by shredding potatoes on the shredder side of a grater with no squeezing afterwards, so the potatoes kinda turn into this weird off-pink glop that's then scooped in flat pats onto the pan to fry. They're alright - they're also sprinkled with non-powdered sugar as a garnish - but I'm going to prefer the former as a potato preparation method.

Aww you guys crack me up!!! Off to in laws for BBQ. Man, if Babcia doesn't have blood sausage, I'm leaving. I love that so bad. Thanks for the sweetest videos, Russel.

śledź w occie sam w sobie nie jest jakiś specjalny, ale koreczki z jakimś dodatkiem w oleju potrafią wyjść nieźle, chociaż oczywiście nadal jest to śledź a najlepiej połączyć śledzia w śmietanie z ziemniakami w mundurkach, niektóre połączenia smaków działają zupełnie inaczej, niż można by tego oczekiwać, i jeśli zachowany jest odpowiedni balans otrzymujemy coś zupełnie wyjątkowego ale sam śledź + ocet? no nie, również podziękuję tak jak i przesiąknięte octem skrawki warzyw ogórki konserwowe potrafią wyjść nieźle, ale "sałatki" w occie to pomyłka a czernina na króliku to ciekawy przypadek, ale pewnie wynika z tego, że królik był (albo i nadal jest) traktowany jak drób tylko o ile kaszanki nie lubię, a czerniny nawet nie próbowałem, to nigdy nie czułem smaku krwi jako takiej, żadnych takich skojarzeń, po prostu mi nie smakuje do tego stopnia, że póki mam wybór to nie zjem

Your choice of food was making my wife hungry, and we already had dinner. I have to agree with pretty much everything you listed (just in concept, not that I've tried them all) except maybe for herring and mustard.

Omg potato pancakes, cheesecake, herrings are the best! What I noticed about your experience is just you had certain expectations and these were the ones that failed you. I think that if you didn't have them, you'd feel completely different about most of them. Btw, these bloody sausages and soups are terrible for most of us too

Hi there Russel! It so nice video. Anyway, why won't You a video about something everyone loves? The snacks... A lot of people want to know how do You find the "przysmak świętokrzyski" for example - so want I. This material could be so cool.

One thing I’ve noticed about travelling is people from English speaking countries claim not to eat sour things, they even called Germans Krouts because of sauerkraut. But all countries geographically from Germany east all the way to china eat sour things. I’m Polish my wife is Chinese and they eat even more sour things then poles do. The same applies to countries like Russia Ukraine South Korea etc.. sour sour sour but more sea food

I actually have no problems eating anything on your list Russ but that’s because I legitimately enjoy them 😜 As a non-Polish dude living in the Chicago suburbs with mostly Polish friends, I’ve eaten my fair share of these foods. Czernina and kaszanka are acquired tastes for sure but I also grew up eating Filipino pork blood stew so this was familiar to me. I agree with the placek but I’ve got my cooking technique down to keep it light and crispy. I also agree sernik can be a textural dilemma for lovers of American cheesecake. It’s better drizzled with miód. I’m also a huge fan of flaczki and golonka w piwie. Keep up the entertaining videos. Smacznego!

FYI Czernina was formerly served to a bachelor who was denied the hand of a virgin.

Never had czernina, would try. All the others I've had. Pickled herring on rye toast is the breakfast of champions. Curious about what you live on. Pierogis and mushrooms?

I was a bit surprised about some of your choices 😄 The blood soup and szprot fish I don't like but I love smoked makerel. My Brazilian partner doesn't like the dry and smoked fruit kompot we serve on Christmas Eve,the rest he devours and sometimes makes himself.Maybe you would like better the cheesecake made of serek waniliowy and budyń powder,it's more spongy and sweeter.

I think a better translation for czernina would be 'black soup'. Fun fact, apparently a man would be given this soup by the parents of a woman that rejected his proposal. It's even mentioned in 'Pan Tadeusz' which is one of the most important pieces of Polish literature (even though most high schoolers hate it :P )

My thoughts exactly (about "potato cakes":). ) Finally someone who shares my feelings;)

Russel, you're breaking my heart right now... ;-) You just listed my top 6 favorite Polish food - I'm on your side with czernina though... BTW, what you showed as a potato pancakes looked more like swiss roesti (unless in Cz-wa region they make it that way). I'm from Pyrlandia and for us the real potato pancakes are like the ones served hungarian style.

1:43 I always, fry it on the mid-high, after removing it from the pan, I place it on the paper towel and cover it with the top layer. It removes oil and gives a different taste. With food, you like something or not.