Cheese calculator
Winemaking
We invite you to read the second installment of our new special series, in which we present culinary curiosities—and, in the background, fragments of history, both distant and more recent—by peeking, thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Piotr Rydzewski, into an exceptionally interesting family archive. And so—a few lines of a story and unique photographs.
As we already mentioned in the previous installment, we begin with snapshots concerning the first of the two main branches of Mr. Piotr’s family tree—the Kuźnicki family. This is a family strongly connected with Łódź, to which the city owes a great deal—among other things thanks to engineer Roman Kuźnicki, one of the creators of the Łódź waterworks—but more about that in the next parts of our series. Roman (Mr. Piotr’s grandfather) was the son of Aleksandra née Lipska Kuźnicka, who, as we already know, passionately wrote down recipes useful in the family kitchen. Today, this is for us an invaluable testament to the beauty and richness of Polish culinary art, cultivated, creatively refined, and passed down from generation to generation. Mrs. Aleksandra’s husband (and Roman’s father) was Antoni Kuźnicki—an inspector for the Kalisz railway district. We will mention Mr. Antoni again in our series when we present a certain exceptional document…
© Piotr Rydzewski
In the photo, Antoni Kuźnicki. The photograph was taken in 1913 at the “Leonardi” Artistic Photography Studio, located in Łódź at 13 Dzielna St. (today Gabriela Narutowicza St.).
Now let’s look at the family photo below from 1905, taken to commemorate the silver wedding anniversary of Helena née Kuźnicka—Antoni’s sister. Antoni is standing in the last row, first from the left. His wife, Aleksandra née Lipska Kuźnicka, is seated first on the left (above the children). In front of the table, against the tablecloth, sits Stanisław, and next to him on the right is his brother Roman Kuźnicki (the one from the waterworks—here as a boy who probably hadn’t even thought about that yet…:)). We will devote a separate installment to Stanisław—he is an extraordinary figure as well…
© Piotr Rydzewski
Time for the recipe—this time a very timely one—for fermented peppers, quite original thanks to the addition of oak leaves…
In the recipe, the original spelling has generally been preserved, with only necessary linguistic and editorial changes introduced, to facilitate the use of the recipe.
FERMENTED PEPPERS
Place healthy [pepper] fruits, rinsed and cleaned, tightly next to one another, one into another. Also put oak leaves and horseradish roots in the jar. Pour over a brine: 4 dkg of salt per 1 liter of water. When the fruits sink—the fermentation is finished. Top up the jar with oil so that the end [part] does not mold.
[Recommended for use] a narrow jar.
© BROWIN
© Piotr Rydzewski
Enjoy! ...because homemade is better!
