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Polish Winged Hussars pass
in review before King Sobieski
after the defeat of the Turks in the Battle of Vienna
by Wojciech Kossak |
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The Turks had threatened to take over Europe on several occasions and in
1786 the final battle line had been set outside of Budapest. The Turks
ingeniously attempted to tunnel under the city walls and surprise the
Christian army defending the city. The scheme might have worked except for
the alertness of the Hungarian bakers.
The bakers began work at about 2:00 AM when the city was normally very
quiet. They heard the noise made by the Turkish sappars excavating under
the city and warned John Sobieski, the Polish King who led the Christian
army. This warning provided a successful surprise counterattack which
decimated the Turkish troops and permanently eliminated the Turkish threat
to Christian Europe. The victory was commemorated by Pope Innocent XI by
setting September 12 aside as a feastday honoring the Holy Name of Mary
who was
the patroness of the Christian army.
Bakers
had a penchant for commemorating this important victory against the Turks
The Viennese bakers created two culinary tributes representing the
crescent on the Turkish flag. The first was a crescent-shaped
variant of
puff pastry
that was later taken to France by the Austrian Princess, Marie
Antoinette (October 16), and was refined into the croissant (in
French, croissants are often referred as Viennoiserie).
They also creating the kipfel, a crescent-shaped cookie filled with
nuts and raisins that my grandmother used to make for holidays and
birthdays.
Sobieski was worshipped as a living saint in Poland and the crowds would
run up to him as he passed through the crowds on horseback. They reached
out to touch his stirrups and crossed themselves as if privileged to touch
the relic of the true cross. Not to be outdone by the Austrian bakers, a
Polish bakers also commemorated the victory with a roll in the shape of
Sobieski's stirrup. The Polish word for stirrup is beugel
and this was the birth of the bagel, a roll created to celebrate a
Christian victory.
At press time, there is a planned film for 2008 about Battle of
Vienna and discussions with Mel Gibson as the potential director and
starring as Jan Sobieski.
Because the feast of the Holy Name of Mary is also interrelated with the
victory over the Turks, there is a legend of how Mary invented a process of
cooking in which one vessel containing food was placed in another vessel
containing water which was then heated. The vessel containing the heated
water was called a bainmarie (literally, a "Mary bath") and
has been used as a cooking process for at least two thousand years. The
recipe for Potage à
la vierge
(Virgin Mary's soup) was so named because of its whiteness,
representing purity, and its method of preparation in a A
double boiler is one form of cooking in a bainmarie (also called a
bain-marie).
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Croissants
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Ingredients
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3 TB flour
3 sticks butter softened at room temperature
4 cups all-purpose flour, approximately
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 packages dry yeast
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1/4 cup warm water
1&1/2 cups milk, warmed to 80° F to 90° F
1/2 cup half-and-half cream, warmed
1 egg
1 TB water
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- Sprinkle 3 TB flour over butter and blend together on the work
surface.
- On a length of foil, fashion a 6" square of soft butter; fold over
the sides of the foil to enclose. Place in the refrigerator to chill
for 2 to 3 hours
- While the butter is chilling, prepare the dough. To mix by hand,
in a large mixing or mixer bowl, blend 2 cups of the flour with salt
and sugar. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add it and the warmed milk
and half-and-half to the flour mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon or
the flat blade of an electric mixer to thoroughly blend the
dough for about 2 minutes.
- Stir in additional flour, 1/4 cup at a time, to make a soft but
not sticky dough (it will stiffen when chilled.) Knead by hand or
under a dough hook for 5 minutes to form a solid mass. If using a food
processor, attach the steel blade.
- Place 2 cups flour in the work bowl and add the dry ingredients.
Pulse to mix. Pour the 1/4 cup water, milk, and cream through
the feed tube. Pulse once or twice to be certain that all dry
ingredients are moistened. Add the balance of the flour, 1/2 cup at a
time, turning the machine on briefly after each addition. When the
mixture forms a mass and begins to clean the sides of the bowl, knead
for 30 seconds. Don't overknead!
- This begins the process of cooling the dough and at the same time
allowing it to rise. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the
refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
- Determine that both butter and dough
are about the same temperature — 65° F is ideal. This may mean taking the butter out of the refrigerator an
hour or so early to reach workable temperature. Likewise for the
dough. Place the dough on a floured work surface and with the hands
press it into a 10" square. Unwrap the block of butter and lay the
block diagonally on the dough. Bring each point of dough into the
center, overlapping the edges at least 1". Press the dough into a neat
package. With a heavy rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle,
approximately 8" x 18". This dimension is not critical.
Caution: If the butter seems to be breaking into small pieces under
the dough rather than remaining solid, allow the dough/butter to warm
a few minutes. But if the butter softens, becomes sticky, and oozes
while making the turns, put the dough back into the refrigerator for
several minutes.
- Fold the length of dough into thirds,
as for a letter. Turn so that the open ends are at twelve and six
o'clock. Roll again into a rectangle. This time, fold both ends into
the middle and then close, as one would a book. The dough will now be
in 4 layers. Wrap the package of dough in a cloth (an old tea towel is
good) that has been soaked in cold water and wrung dry. Place the
wrapped dough in the refrigerator to relax and chill for 1 or 2 hours.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator
and place on the floured work surface. Unwrap, roll out, and fold in
thirds, as for a letter. This is the final turn before it is rolled
out and cut into croissants. Dampen cloth again and wrap loosely
around the dough. Place the package in a plastic bag so moisture will
be retained (not pulled out of the cloth). Leave in the refrigerator 4
to 6 hours or overnight.
- Mix together the egg and 1 Tsp of
water. Have ready the egg wash, a knife or pastry cutter, and a wooden
yardstick if you wish the pieces to be cut precisely otherwise, plan
to cut them freehand. You may have or can borrow a French croissant
cutter that cuts the dough into triangles.
- Sprinkle work surface with flour. Roll
the dough until it is a generous 10"x38" rectangle, and, most
importantly, about 1/4" thick. This is a crucial dimension, since it
determines the size and texture of the croissants. Trim irregularities
to make the strip uniform in width. Cut the strip lengthwise to make
two 5" pieces. Mark the strip into triangles, 5" wide on the bottom.
Using a yardstick as a guide, cut through the dough with a pastry or
pizza cutter or knife. Separate the triangles, place them on a baking
sheet, and chill for 15 to 20 minutes. Roll the dough into the
traditional croissant shape, by rolling the triangle from the bottom
to the point.
- Place the croissants on a baking sheet
and allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours, in which they will double in
volume.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F . Bake the croissants for 22 to 25 minutes. Allow them to cool
on a rack before serving.
Yield: 24 to 30
croissants
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Kipfels
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Ingredients
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1/4 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 lb butter, softened
3 egg yolks
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp grated orange zest
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1 pkg yeast dissolved in 3 TB warm
orange juice
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup white raisins
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg
whites
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Instructions
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- Mix flour, sugar and salt. Blend in
butter thoroughly. Add egg yolks, zest, yeast, and cream. Stir to make
a Smooth, soft and sticky dough.
- Place dough in a buttered bowl. Cover
with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least 6 hours.
- When dough is chilled, beat egg whites
until stiff. Mix butter, nuts, raisins, and vanilla thoroughly.
- Fold still egg whites into separate
dough into 5 balls. Keep remaining balls refrigerated.
- Take 1 ball and roll it out on a
sugared breadboard into a 10" circle. Brush with melted butter and
spread with 1/12th of filling.
- Cut into 8 triangles and roll each
triangle from the outside to the center of the circle ) and form a
crescent. Repeat with balance of balls.
- Preheat oven to 350º F.
- Place cookies on foil-lined cookie
sheets and bake for about 20 minutes, or until light brown.
Makes 40 cookies
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Bagels
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Ingredients
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4 TB oil
2 TB sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hot water
2 TB instant mashed potatoes
1 pkg dried yeast
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1 egg
3 cups flour
plus extra flour for breadboard
4 quarts boiling water
butter for greasing cookie sheets
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Instructions
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- Mix oil, sugar, salt, instant mashed
potatoes with warm water. When mixture becomes lukewarm, add yeast.
After 5 minutes, stir thoroughly.
- Beat egg, add it to yeast mixture and
then add flour. Kneed dough for about five minutes and shape into
doughnuts. Place on floured breadboard and cover with a towel.
- When bagels begin to rise (after 1/2
hour) drop them one at a tine into boiling water and cook than until
they rise to the top.
- Preheat oven to 450º F
- Place bagels on greased cookie sheets
and bake for 25 minutes or until golden
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Makes 24 to 30 bagels.
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Potage à la vierge
(Virgin
Mary's Soup)
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Double boiler
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Ingredients
6 eggs
6 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup dried fresh white bread crumbs
2 poached chicken breasts, skinned, and boned
16 blanched almonds pealed |
3/4 cup whipping cream
salt and freshly ground white pepper to taste
6 slices of stale white bread (without crusts) cut into
2-inch squares
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Instructions
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- Boil eggs for 9 minutes. Place under
running cold water to cool. Removes hells and whites, retaining only
the yolks.
- Place bread crumbs and 1&1/2 cups
bouillon in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
- In a food processor, puree chicken
breasts, almonds, egg-yolks, and stock containing bread crumbs. Add
1/2 cup cream, salt and pepper. Place puree in the top of a heated double
boiler to keep warn. Do not let boiling water touch bottom of upper
part of boiler
- Heat remaining stock over low heat for
15 minutes. After first 5 minutes, add bread squares to stock.
- While stock is heating, whip 1/4 cup
whipping cream for garnish.
- Remove stock/bread mixture from heat.
Whisk in puree. Garnish with whipped cream and serve immediately.
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Serves 6 |
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