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Eastern European Food: Most Popular Articles

These articles are the most popular over the last month.
Cake Pops Recipe
This recipe for cake pops on a stick can be dressed up as elegantly as you like or turned into wacky characters the kids will love.
Polish Stuffed Cabbage Recipe
Every Eastern European country has its version of stuffed cabbage rolls. For Lithuanians, it is holubki, for Poles it is golabki, for Serbs, it is sarma. However they are spelled, stuffed cabbage rolls are the original pocket meals.
Serbian Dessert Recipes
Here are recipes for popular Serbian dessert recipes.
Top 10 Hungarian Desserts
Hungary is renowned for its fine pastries, some of them borrowed from Austria which, in turn, borrowed from France. In any case, Hungarians have created a delightful repertoire of rich desserts and stories to match.
Cheese Blintzes Recipe
These Jewish cheese blintzes are made with a sweetened filling.
Spit-Roasted Lamb and Pig
Spit-roasted lamb and pig are very popular with many Eastern Europeans, especially Serbians, Croatians, Bulgarians, Lithuanians, and more.
10 Hungarian Recipes
Does anyone really need a reason to try Hungarian food? Well, if convincing is what you're after, consider this. Hungarian cuisine has been influenced by the French, Germans, Italians and Turks, not to mention the Polish, Slavs and Asians. The result is a rich blend of one-pot meals cooked for hours over open fires and pastries that would put Vienna to shame. Take your palate on a magic carpet ride with these 10 recipes from Hungary.
How to Make Pierogi
Once you've selected the dough and filling you want for your pierogi, follow these steps for rolling, cutting, folding and cooking.
Vanilla Charlotte Recipe
Vanilla Charlotte Dessert is a cross-cultural pastry commonly found in the Eastern European kitchen.
Top Eastern European Desserts
Eastern Europeans have a charming tradition of offering "cake and coffee" to any guest who visits, expected
Roasted Peppers in Oil
Peppers can be roasted by broiling, grilling or oven baking.
Favorite Polish Desserts
Desserts vary from region to region in Poland, but this list of favorite Polish dessert recipes seem to be universal throughout the country.
Braised Pork Belly
This recipe for braised pork belly is from chef Donald Link of Cochon Restaurant in New Orleans, La.
Goulash Soup Recipe
This recipe for Hungarian goulash soup or gulyas leves is hearty enough to be eaten as a main course.
Hangover Foods
Eastern Europeans believe these foods will cure a hangover. Try one and see if it works.
Serbian Sausage - Cevapcici
Cevapcici or cevaps are casing-less sausages favored by Eastern Europeans.
Basic Pierogi Dough Recipe
This basic pierogi dough recipe is a simple combination of flour, eggs, water and salt.
Polish Kolaczki Recipe
Polish kolaczki are flaky little pastries, sometimes considered cookies, filled with fruit, cheese, nut or poppyseed pastes.
Cheese Pie Recipe - Burek
Burek sa sirom is a Croatian-Serbian cheese pie made with flaky filo dough.
Hunter's Stew - Bigos
Bigos or Hunters Stew is considered the national dish of Poland. Traditionally, it was full of the fruits of the forest -- venison, mushrooms, dried fruits. Today, anything goes.
Polish Cheesecake #1
Among the standard desserts in Poland is cheesecake, also known as sernik or serowiec.
Stuffed Cabbage - Golabki
A step by step recipe for making cabbage rolls, also known as golabki, holubki and sarma.
Hungarian Fried Bread Recipe
Langos is Hungarian fried bread sometimes called Hungarian pizza. It is a favorite street and fair food.
Charbroiled Oysters
This recipe for charbroiled oysters was developed by Tommy Cvitanovich of Drago's Restaurant in New Orleans and Metairie, La.
Polish Cucumbers in Sour Cream
Mizeria is the Polish name for cucumbers in sour cream, a refreshing dish served year-round.
Smoked Sausage and Kraut
This smoked Polish sausage and sauerkraut recipe makes a great potluck or tailgating dish.
Polish Potato Pancakes
Crispy, thin potato pancakes or Placki Kartoflane or Ziemniaczane are a perfect meal for meatless days and a great accompaniment for roast pork or braised short ribs.
Hungarian Chicken Paprikash
Chicken Paprikash is a classic Hungarian comfort food dish.
Polish Paczki Recipe
Paczki or Polish doughnuts are eaten on Fat Thursday in Poland and Fat Tuesday in the United States.
Rye Breads
Eastern Europeans, especially Poles, Lithuanians, Russians, Ukrainians and Slovaks, love rye bread. The coarser and darker, the better. There's a staggering variety of ryes, from sourdoughs to buttermilks to cracked rye meal breads. One could conceivably enjoy a different rye bread every day of the week.
Poppyseed Roll Makowiec
Poppyseeds are a favorite ingredient in Eastern European cooking and find themselves whole in savory dishes like noodles and ground to a paste in pastries like poppyseed rolls.
Polish Pork / Ham Hocks
Polish pork hocks, also known as ham hocks, are called golonka in Poland, and considered a national dish.
Polish Xmas Cookies
Weeks before Christmas, my family would get out the cookie tins and start baking traditional Polish cookies or ciasteczka na swieta for the holidays. It was such a fun time. We played Christmas carols and sang while we worked -- a regular Santa's Workshop.
Dobosh Torte Recipe
This Hungarian Dobosh Torte recipe sports seven layers filled with chocolate buttercream and topped with a caramel layer.
Roasted Filet of Duck Breast
This recipe for pan-roasted filet of duck breast is fast and easy and is delicious with a honey-brown sugar sauce, recipe provided.
Thin Nalesniki Recipe
Polish crepes are known as nalesniki. They can be filled with fruit, jam, or sweet or savory fillings and rolled or folded. Many people then call them blintzes.
Easy Smoked Pork Chops
Smoked pork chops are quick and easy to prepare and make a satisfying meal with braised cabbage and a green vegetable.
Potato Knishes
Jewish Potato knishes are a baked dumpling filled with potatoes similar to a Mexican empanada, a British pasty, a Russian pirozhki and an Italian calzone.
How to Make Polish Sausage
Boiling is one way to cook Polish kielbasa sausage.
Eggplant Spread - Ajvar
Ajvar is Croatian / Serbian combination of roasted, mashed eggplant and sweet peppers served as a side dish with grilled meats or as an appetizer on bread.
How to Peel Kiwi
These step-by-step instructions make peeling kiwi fruit easy.
Top Rhubarb Recipes
Rhubarb is a favorite vegetable among Eastern Europeans and it finds its way into everything from beverages, alcoholic and nonalcoholic, to soups to compotes to desserts. Rhubarb packs a lot of pucker power and is usually married with other fruits or the quintessential Eastern European sweetener -- honey.
Chocolate Mousse Cake Recipe
This recipe for Hungarian Chocolate Mousse Cake - Sutemeny Rigo Jancsi - is made with a chocolate sponge cake, chocolate mousse and chocolate glaze.
Polish Dill Pickle Soup #2
Polish dill pickle soup is common in Eastern Europe where pickling is a favorite way to preserve fruits, vegetables, meats and eggs.
Polish Crullers - Chrusciki
Polish crullers, known as chrusciki, are a favorite fried Polish dessert popular especially at the holidays and for weddings. They are also known as angel wings.
Bulgarian Salad Recipe
Bulgarian shopska salata is a refreshing salad of tomatoes, peppers, onion and parsley in a vinaigrette dressing.
Polish Kielbasa Sausage
Polish sausage (kielbasa) is a pork sausage flavored with garlic, marjoram and black pepper that can be smoked or unsmoked (fresh).
Serbian Hamburgers
Pljeskavica are juicy Serbian hamburgers made with pork, lamb and beef. They are popular in one form or another throughout the Balkans.
Polish Breaded Pork Cutlets
Pork is a favorite meat for Poles and this breaded fried pork cutlet dish is very popular.
Creamy Kohlrabi Soup
Kohlrabi soup, made with this cabbage-like vegetable, is beloved by Eastern Europeans, in particular the Hungarians, Polish, and Russians.
Pomegranate Vinaigrette
This pomegranate vinaigrette recipe combines pomegranate juice, honey and oil for a tasty salad topper.
Krakover Bagels Recipe
This recipe for egg-free Jewish Krakover Bagels ( Krakover Beyglach ) is also known as Polish Obwarzanki
Royal Icing Recipe
Royal icing is the mortar that holds a gingerbread house together.
Vanilla
Pure vanilla extract is so important in baking. When you're going to take the time to create a delicious Eastern European dessert or pastry from scratch, use pure vanilla extract. Artificial vanilla simply won't do. But did you realize where it comes from? Read on.
Stuffed Kohlrabi Recipe
This recipe for stuffed kohlrabi is typical of Eastern Europeans love of hiding food in other food.
How to Make Farmer's Cheese
Here is a recipe and step-by-step instructions for making farmer's cheese, also known as dry curd cheese, at home.
Cube Steak Recipe
This easy beef cube steak recipe is fast and budget-friendly.
Polish Beet Barszcz
Easy Polish beet barszcz is a sour soup made with beets.
Traditional Polish Cheesecake
This recipe for traditional Polish cheesecake or sernik has a sweet pastry crust.
Serbian Chocolate Torte
This recipe for Serbian chocolate torte or torta cokolada is a moist, rich cake perfect for any occasion.
Stuffed Cabbage Recipes
Here are stuffed cabbage recipes from Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Ukraine, and other countries.
Hungarian Beef Goulash
Hungarian Beef Goulash is another delicious one-pot offering with the trinity of onions, tomatoes, green peppers and, of course, paprika.
Top Picnic Dessert Recipes
The perfect ending to a picnic meal is usually watermelon, but for those who like something more substantial that will hold up to the heat, these should fill the bill.
Polish Apple Cake Recipe
This is just one version of hundreds of recipes for Polish apple cake.
How to Fill a Pastry Bag
Step-by-step instructions with pictures showing how to fill a pastry bag with icing.
Serbian Stuffed Cabbage #1
Sarma is the Serbian version of stuffed cabbage.
Hungarian Stuffed Peppers
This recipe for Hungarian stuffed peppers or tolott paprika is made with paprika and tomato sauce, two common ingredients in Hungarian cooking. What makes them Eastern European is the ever-present garnish of sour cream.
Blini Recipe
Russians love buckwheat blini with caviar, smoked salmon, minced onion, chopped eggs, sour cream and a sip of vodka.
All About Squash
Squash is considered a fruit and can be divided into summer squash and winter squash varieties
Where to Buy Polish Foods
Here is a list, by no means comprehensive, of Polish delis, import stores and online grocers where one can purchase Polish foods.
Leftover Egg Whites
Here is what you can do with leftover egg whites.
Sunday Beef Roast
This recipe for Perfect Sunday Beef Roast uses a top sirloin cut of beef.
Plum Cake Recipe
Plum cake is a favorite Polish dessert. It's quick and easy and uses fresh fruit. It can also be made with apples, nectarines or peaches.
Polish Sorrel Soup Recipe
This Polish recipe for sorrel soup is popular in the springtime when sorrel is at its most tender.
Easy Russian Rye Bread
This recipe for easy Russian rye bread does not require a starter and contains no eggs or oil.
Top 10 Strawberry Recipes
Strawberries are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. What's more they're good for you! Try them in one of these top 10 recipes.
Cream Puffs Recipe
This recipe for Hungarian Cream Puffs or Moors Heads - Indianer - is filled with sweetened whipped cream.
Sour Cream Pierogi Dough
This pierogi dough uses sour cream as one of its ingredients.
Czech Christmas Cookies
Starting on St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6, Czech families begin their Christmas sweets baking or vanocni cukovri.
Bublanina Dessert Recipe
Bublanina is a simple dessert made with whatever fruit is most plentiful at the time.
Easter Treat Recipes for Kids
Cake pops are easy to make with the kids. They can be decorated elegantly or as wacky as you wish.
Cepelinai Recipe
Potato-meat dumplings known as zeppelins or cepelinai are a traditional Lithuanian dish.
Sourdough Rye Bread Recipe
A rye sour adds tang to this Polish rye bread recipe.
Dragon Fruit Sorbet Recipe
This recipe for dragon fruit sorbet is magenta-colored and delicious.
Fruit Tart Recipe
This fruit tart recipe has a nut crust and a no-bake filling crowned with seasonal, glazed fruits.
Smoked Pork Butt Recipe
Smoked pork butt is a versatile piece of meat that can be cooked with poratoes and cabbage and the leftovers can be turned into many different meals.
Hungarian Lecso Recipe
Hungarian lecso is a vegetable dish of stewed tomatoes, peppers and onions. It can be served as an accompaniment to a meal, an appetizer or the main meal itself, depending on its preparation.
Hungarian Trifle Recipe
This decadent Hungarian trifle recipe or somloi galuska consists of three layers of sponge cake, pastry cream and chocolate sauce.
Polish Coffee Cake Recipe
Polish coffee cake or placek z kruszonka is a simple sweet yeast-raised cake with a crumb topping.
Eastern Europe Defined
Through war and politics, Eastern European borders have fluctuated for years. It's trickier than one might think to name the countries considered to be part of this region of Europe.
Balkan Tulumbe
This Balkan recipe for tulumbe is a popular pastry that is fried or baked and then saturated in simple syrup.
Raspberry-Cream Roulade
Hungarian Raspberry Cream Roll or malna piskotatekercs uses a sponge cake base, raspberr jam, and fresh raspberries and whipped cream.
Polish Kiszka Recipe
Polish blood sausage or kiszka is made with pig's blood, seasonings and, usually, barley.
Esterhazy Torte Recipe
Esterhazy torte is a rich dessert consisting of chocolate buttercream sandwiched between four layers of sponge cake.
Rack of Pork Recipe
Roast rack of pork is a showy cut of meat similar to a standing beef rib roast or rack of lamb.
Potato Panckes
This recipe for Polish potato pancakes or placki ziemniaczane is from Gwizdaly village.
Evolution of Gingerbread
The origins of gingerbread are said to date to the ancient Greeks and Egyptians.
Top Picnic Salad Recipes
You can never be too careful when it comes to mayonnaise-based salads in the warm weather. It's best to stick with sour cream- or vinegar-and-oil-based dressings.
White Borscht Recipe
White borscht soup or Polish bialy barszcz or zurek wielkanocny is made with the cooking water from white Polish kielbasa sausage and often the leftovers from the Holy Saturday basket of blessed food.
Hungarian Plum Dumplings
Hungarian plum dumplings are made with a mashed potato dough and can be eaten as dessert, a meatless main dish or side dish.
Polish Xmas Desserts
My Polish family started baking for Christmas around St. Nicholas Day, Dec. 6. The tasty treats we made were so full of butter and sugar, they theoretically could last until the Feast of the Three Kings on Jan. 6. But we and our company gobbled them up so quickly, we invariably had to make more after Christmas to see us through Twelfth Night.
Breakfast Recipes
When you want to pamper someone, think breakfast in bed. What better way to let someone know they're special. These recipes are perfect for anyone, but especially those with Eastern European hankerings.
Crab-Stuffed Salmon
This recipe for Polish crab-stuffed salmon pinwheels is known as zrazy losos i krab.
How to Make Chrusciki
These step-by-step photo instructions walk you through the preparation of Polish-style crullers known as chrusciki or chrust faworki.
Serbian Potato Salad Recipe
Serbians and Croatians prefer potato salad made with oil and vinegar instead of sour cream or a mayonnaise base.
Breaded Chicken Cutlets
Chicken Kiev Polish style is known as kotlet kurczeta. This breaded chicken cutlet was said to have originated in Poland, not in Russia.
Easy Dark Rye Bread Recipe
This easy recipe for Lithuanian dark rye bread or rugine duona is a dense loaf that requires no sourdough starter.
Serbian Pogacha Bread
Pogacha is a round loaf of utilitarian white bread. It accompanies nearly everything on the Serbian, Croatian and Macedonian tables and is a favorite with kajmak and ajvar.
Zurek
This recipe for Polish ryemeal soup with sausage is from chef Marek Widomski of the Culinary Institute in Cracow, Poland.
Black Bread Recipe
This Eastern European black bread recipe requires a rye sourdough starter and a special pan called a pullman pan.
Slovak Stuffed Cabbage
This recipe for Slovak stuffed cabbage, also known as holubky or halupki, is made with ground beef and pork, sauerkraut, paprika and tomato sauce.
Potato-Cheese Pierogi
This recipe for potato-cheese pierogi or pierogi ruskie is from chef Marek Widomski of the Culinary Institute in Cracow, Poland.
Kremowka Papieska
This recipe for Polish cream cake has been renamed papal cream cake or kremowka papieska when it was learned the late Pope John Paul II loved this dessert.
Polish Dill Pickles
This easy recipe for Polish dill pickles is known as ogorki kiszone.
Beef Stroganoff Recipe
This recipe for Russian beef stroganoff or govjadina po strogonovski is made with beef tenderloin.
2011 Fancy Food Show Products
These are some of my favorite new and not-so-new items shown at the 2011 Winter Fancy Food Show.
Chicken Paprikash Recipe
This recipe for Hungarian chicken paprikash uses no green or red peppers and is served over rice.
Sour Cherry Soup Recipe
This recipe for Hungarian cherry soup is served cold and made with tart Morello or Montmorency cherries.
Cold Cucumber-Beet Soup
This Polish cucumber-beet soup, zupa letnia or chlodnik, is a summer offering as it is served cold. Hard-cooked eggs, buttermilk and sour cream make it especially refreshing.
Meat Burek Recipe #3
This Croatian-Serbian recipe for meat burek or burek sa mesom is made with ground beef, ground pork, ground lamb and flaky filo dough.
Traditional Kajmak
Kajmak or kaymak is a Serbian/Croatian/Macedonian unripened (not aged) cheese similar to clotted cream still made in many kitchens today. It is usually served with bread as an appetizer.
Where Buy East European Foods
Here is a list, by no means comprehensive, of Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian delis, import stores and online grocers.
Solyanka Soup Recipe
Solyanka Soup is popular in Russia and Ukraine, and is a combination of sausage, cured meats, rich broth, olives, capers and more.
Red Onion Marmalade
This red onion marmalade is a sweet-and-tangy condiment that can be used to top burgers, steaks, chicken, seafood and as an appetizer. Substitute cranberry or pomegranate juice for the red wine, if desired.
Authentic Bajadera Torte
This recipe for bajadera torte comes directly from Osijek, Croatia.
Serbian Krofne Recipe
Serbian dougnuts or krofne are eaten year-round but especially before the Great Lent begins.
dziadzia
Dziadzia is the Americanized Polish word for grandpa, which in Polish is dziadek or dziadziu.
Hungarian Sweet Palacsinta
Hungarian palacsinta sweet pancakes are like crepes or nalesniki or palachinke.
Traditional Easter Babka
This traditional Polish Easter Babka recipe is a sweet, yeast-risen bread with raisins and candied citrus rind.
Drop Potato Dumplings Recipe
This recipe for Polish Drop Potato Dumplings - Kartoflane Kluski - is made with raw potatoes, not mashed potatoes.
Croatian Plum Dumplings
Croatian plum dumplings, known as knedle s sljivama, are made with a mashed potato dough and are coated with buttered bread crumbs and sugar.
Easy Pastry Cream Recipe
This easy pastry cream recipe can be used to fill napoleons, eclairs, cream puffs and other pastries.
Sweet Cheese Palachinke
Palachinke are Croatian and Serbian crepe-like pancakes filled and rolled with sweet or savory fillings like blintzes.
Blueberry Blintz Recipe
This recipe for blueberry blintzes calls for a thin, crepe-like pancake that exists in every Eastern European culture.
Easy Lithuanian Kugelis
This easy Lithuanian kugelis recipe is speeded up because it's made with frozen hash brown potatoes.
Custard Sauce Recipe
This recipe for easy vanilla custard sauce takes much less time because cornstarch speeds up the thickening time.
Bulgarian Cheese Banitza
Bulgarian cheese banitza recipe is similar to Serbian cheese burek and Greek cheese pie recipes.
Keep Potatoes White
Use this tip to keep your grated potatoes from turning dark.
Top 12 Grilling Recipes
Eastern Europeans are well known for rotisserie- or grate-style cooking over an open fire. Kebabs, sausages, patties, whole pigs and lambs all show up at outdoor celebrations.
Serbian Stuffed Cabbage #2
This is another version of Croatian / Serbian stuffed cabbage known as sarma.
busia
Busia is the Americanized Polish word for grandmother, which is babka or babcia.
Caviar Tell-All
Caviar is a favorite appetizer of Eastern Europeans. Learn the different types of caviar and what to look for.
Peach Butter Recipe
This Peach Butter recipe calls for just three simple ingredients - fresh peaches, water and sugar.
Polish Zapiekanka Recipe
Polish zapiekanka or open-face sandwiches are popular street food fare in the bigger cities of Poland.
Jewish Stuffed Cabbage
This Jewish stuffed cabbage recipe or holishkes is a traditional dish for Sukkot, the harvest festival in autumn.
Croatian Sarma Recipe
This recipe for Croatian stuffed cabbage or sarma is from Klara Cvitanovich of Metairie, La.
Eastern European Street Food
Eastern Europeans love street food, because it's portable and easy to eat without the benefit of table and utensils.
Crispy Wafer Cookies Recipe
This recipe for crispy vanilla wafer cookies - Polish wafle - can be made on a special wafer iron or baked on a conventional pan.
Croat-Serb Strudel Dough
Croatian strudel dough is different from filo or puff pastry strudel doughs. It is a flaky dough that bakes up golden brown and light.
Basic Sponge Cake Recipe
This basic recipe for Hungarian sponge cake or piskotatekercs can be used for rolled or layered desserts.

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