Pieczonki, prażonki or maścipula

Today’s post is very unusual. I didn’t cook the dish (I only ate it), and the photos come from two sources (my parents’ and my own, taken at Jacek’s). But let’s start at the beginning. Ladies and gentlemen, last weekend I posted this photo on the Prymitywna Kuchnia Facebook fan page:

and promised a recipe for pieczonki. However, I was waiting for it myself, for the very simple reason that I have never actually made pieczonki. I have tasted them many times, though, because this is a traditional dish from Zagłębie Dąbrowskie. But if you don’t know what pieczonki, prażonki or maścipula are, allow me to quote Wikipedia, and then I’ll hand over to my dad 🙂

Prażonki – (pieczonki, duszonki) a dish originating around Zawiercie and Myszków. Poręba, in the Silesian Voivodeship, hosts the „World Prażonki Festival” every year. Prażonki are made from sliced or diced potatoes, stewed in a cauldron with lard, onions, sausage, bacon and, optionally, beetroot and carrots. They are covered with a cabbage leaf or, alternatively, sandwich paper, then pressed down tightly and sealed with a screw-fastened lid.

Pieczonki should be made over campfire embers in a cast-iron cauldron currently manufactured only in Poręba. You can try making them in the oven, but I can’t guarantee the result. In any case, this is definitely a dish worth trying, especially in chilly autumn weather. I recommend it.

Here’s proof of how popular this dish is in Zagłębie at this time of year: last Sunday I was invited to eat pieczonki, and, quite independently, my parents rang to say that friends were coming over for duszaki and to ask whether I wanted the recipe and photos 🙂

Yes, pieczonki is also a dish with many names, several of which have already appeared here. The ones I officially know are maścipula, pieczonki, prażonki and duszaki.

At a glance: 

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: about an hour (an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes)

Cooking: preferably in campfire embers

Serves: easily enough for several people (although I know people who can polish off the whole pot between two of them)

How many calories: this is a traditional dish, and tradition dictates that you don’t count calories in such cases

Ingredients for maścipula:

• 1 kg of fatty sausage
• 0.5 kg of smoked bacon
• 2 kg of potatoes
• 0.5 kg of carrots 
• 3 medium beetroot (if you don’t like beetroot, you can make it without)
• 1 tablespoon of lard
• 3 large cabbage leaves
• ground black pepper
• salt
• dried lovage
• dried thyme
• fresh parsley (optional)

Recipe for traditional prażonki from Zagłębie:

Dice the sausage, carrots, beetroot (which can be omitted) and smoked bacon; slice the potatoes into rounds.

Line the cast-iron pot (the special kind, preferably from Poręba) with foil (to make washing up easier after eating), and place a cabbage leaf on the bottom.

Arrange the prepared ingredients in layers, seasoning with pepper, salt, lovage and dried thyme, and adding a little lard.

Place another cabbage leaf on the top layer and screw the pot shut.

Light a campfire to produce embers, then spread the embers out and place the pot in the middle.

Arrange wood around it so that it burns gently, and make sure it doesn’t go out. Cook for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. When ready, unscrew the lid and serve straight onto plates. Pieczonki are best eaten outdoors in beautiful autumn weather 🙂 Enjoy!

UPDATE 🙂 Jacek read the post and responded. Since my expertise lies in eating duszaki rather than making them, this time I’ll hand over to Jacek. Let this be a duel between pieczonki makers. Jacek came out all guns blazing, calling my dad an amateur. Waiting for your response, Dad! 🙂 Jacek’s full post is on the PrymitywnaKuchnia.pl Facebook fan page.

Ah… The most important thing in pieczonki is the wood. I lit the birch as early as 11.00 in the morning. An hour later I added a thicker piece. Birch, as we know, loses its calories at lightning speed; only Kaja can do it faster, but that’s unhealthy. On top of the birch, at around 12, I placed the first piece of seasoned oak. By 14 it was already hot, and I broke it up into something like „hot coals”. Properly made pieczonki have no idea what fire is. They know only embers, spread evenly beneath the pot. Burning the birch is the perfect time to sample a sausage cooked on a stick. Horror of horrors, I bought one „made from pork leg”, and the lady didn’t mention how lean it was. Prymitywna Kuchnia is disgusted by such leanness, and so am I. So I promptly dashed to the shop for a „proper, coarsely ground, nice and fatty” sausage. Amateurs and kitchen primitivists can put aluminium foil on the bottom of the pot. That’s fear of burning talking. I think foil is fine for salmon and school sandwiches. I line the bottom with thick pieces of bacon rind. Those can burn; everything else should be no more than lightly browned. After about 25-30 minutes on the embers, the pieczonki begin to whisper to us. It sounds like bubbling and hissing; usually steam escapes under pressure through a narrow gap in the pot. That’s when we start drooling, while Kaja packs for the gym and flees. The pot is crucial. Despite the achievements of Chinese civilisation, those pots are crap. You have to look around Zawiercie: cast iron, expensive, and obtained through connections. Wojtek can help; he charges a modest commission. The first hisses mean you can lift the pot and give it a vigorous shake. It’s also the perfect time to level out the hot fire bed. After 60-70 minutes, about 40 minutes after the first hiss from the pot, take the whole thing off the heat and open it. If a representative of Prymitywna Kuchnia is coming over for a meal, it’s advisable to feed him something beforehand: something heavy, calorific and filling. Then he eats one portion, and the cook gets four. Enjoy.

I’m crying with laughter. I think I’ll invite Jacek to make guest appearances on Prymitywna more often 🙂