I find that Polish cuisine is a very interesting mixture of eastern and western traditions. The Russian, German and French influence is obvious but there is something in the dishes that makes them unique - like the people and the country. Today's post is about mazurek, an Easter specialty that could be labelled as tart.
The base for this dessert is usually from shortbread topped with chocolate frosting and decorated with biscuits (eggs, flowers, rabbits etc.) In between, there may be layers of cake, jam and/or marzipan. The edge of the dessert is also made with shortbread. Pretty samples of mazurek grace the windows of Polish sweet shops around Easter. How the recipe was developed is unknown. A theory says mazurek reached Poland from what is now Turkey during the 17th century. Etymologically, it's been suggested that 'mazurek' is derived from the name of a distinct ethnic group, the Masovians, who live in central Poland. Alternatively, the dessert has been linked to mazurka, a musical form that was introduced to Europe by Chopin. Both theories are enchanting.
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| The Dukes of Masovia (Anonymous illumination, c. 1450) |
The Polish name for the Masovians who migrated west, into German territory, during the Middle Ages was Mazurzy. These people considered themselves both Polish and German, and in the nineteenth century Prussian. Their numbers have been steadily decreasing and the same goes for the Masovians who remained in what is today Poland. Mazur is also a common Polish name for boys. Now the Mazur - the musical form (or mazurka outside Poland), which became famous thanks to Chopin and entertained music-lovers in the ballrooms of 19th century Europe, was based on three folk dances from Masovia. The first of them was called mazur. Popular among rural folk in the Early Modern period, it also became a court dance. So either way, the name of the festive cake has something to do with the ethnic group.
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| Polish dances (Cover of a music collection, 1890) |
I looked up some historic Polish books and found mazurek recipes in Gospondyni polskiej kucni czyli (The Polish Kitchen Housewife) by Tereza Twarowska - published in 1873. They are eleven versions of mazurek, starting on page 309. The base in all of these desserts is made of shortbread, often enriched with almonds. The dough is loaded with butter, the filling in several cases is made of fresh apples or apple jam so the finished dessert looks like a delicious apple-tart. Some of the recipes used hard-boiled eggs in the dough, which is also found in Czech and Russian traditional desserts. Some of the recipes in the Polish cookbook referred to 'mazurki' (plural form): if filled, these were shaped into tarts and if not, into wafers.
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