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Here comes a list of modern and traditional Polish first courses. Under descriptions you can find some authentic recipes. Going to visit Poland and would like to taste some delicious foods not choosing on spec? You are welcome. All Polish foods listed below constitute a typical Polish menu up to this days. Therefore, while visiting Poland, one will certainly come across many of them. I wish you good luck in exploring Polish tastes and… Smacznego!
List of Polish first courses
Polish: pierogi [ˈpʲjɛrɔɟi], diminutive: pierożki [ˈpʲjɛrɔʒci]
Well-known Polish dumplings called pierogi are one of national dishes and for sure one of the best recognizable Polish food at the same time. The popularity of pierogi probably originates from a fact that this Polish food appears in few kinds, differing in a filling type. So what we have is not only ruskie pierogi (these with cheese & potatoes; translation into English is Ruthenian pierogi, 'Russian' is incorrect!) which are well-known in the USA but, let me be frank with you, not the most popular in Poland. In general, we have a whole gamut of tastes ;) For example there are delicious pierogi with forcemeat, mushroom or cabbage. As a gourmand, I enjoy sweet pierogi with a filling made of a sweet curd cheese or fresh fruit like bilberries or strawberries 
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Pierogi dough recipe
Pierogi with meat filling recipe
Pierogi or uszka with mushroom & cabbage
Uszka for the Christmas Eve clear borscht
Pierogi with bil-, blue- or strawberries recipe
Pierogi with white mushrooms and eggs recipe
Most traditional Polish pierogi fillings
First two images - pierogi with mushrooms (what does not mean a 'white mushroom' from a grocery; rather some wild but edible species one can find in a forest). Third and fourth image depicts pierogi with meat lavishly sprinkled with some fried onion, although bacon or pork scratching is more typical.
Polish: bigos [ˈbʲiɡɔs]
Bigos, in English language known as the Polish hunter's stew, is one of national and traditional Polish courses. A true touristic 'must eat'. Bigos is a stewed dish made from a cabbage as a main ingredient. A fresh cabbage can be used as well as acidified one, called sauerkraut. Hence, more than one kind of bigos exists in the Polish cuisine. Since cooking bigos usually lasts two to four days, the delicious taste of this Polish food is something really original and different compared to what you are used to :) Apart from the cabbage, on a list of ingredients you can also find: diced sausage, dried mushrooms, onion, sometimes apple or dried plums and a characteristic unchanging set of spices: a bay leaf, grains of black pepper and an allspice. White wine is sometimes added but this is not a rule. Polish first course bigos is usually eaten with bread, only sometimes with potatoes. A ring of a good sausage can be an addition. Bigos is also known in the Lithuanian cuisine.
An appearance, color and taste of Polish hunter's stew depends on a kind of cabbage used (fresh or sauerkraut?), additions (dried mushrooms?, sausage?) and probably most profoundly on the time of cooking (few hours, whether five days?). Top image by Laurel Fan, bottom image: Wikipedia.
Polish: gołąbki
Golabki or stuffed cabbage is one of a traditional food of Central and Eastern Europe. Polish golabki is a cooked knob of forcemeat wrapped up in a leaf of a white cabbage. Important ingredients are: groats (nowadays rice is much more popular), onion and an appropriate blend of spices. Sometimes mushrooms are added to the filling. Also some other variants of the filling exist in the traditional Polish cuisine, e.g. fowl, mutton or even with no meat at all (some vegetable-based golabki, but these are less spread). This Polish food is stewed or fried before eating. When laid on plates golabki is poured over with a delicious dense home-made tomato sauce. Polish cabbage rolls are eaten with bread, sometimes with boiled potatoes. In Czech Republic and Slovakia a stuffed cabbage is called holubce, in Germany the Krautwickel/Kohlrouladen. This great food is also known in Sweden where it is called the Kåldolmar.
Top image by quinn.anya, bottom by Kake Pugh.
Polish: like above
Kotlet schabowy is one of the most usual dinner in Poland. This Polish food is just a pork cutlet in a coating, dished up with potatoes (sometimes chips) and vegetables or a stewed shredded white cabbage. This is closely related with a schnitzel. The history of Polish kotlet schabowy dates back to the 19th century. The first recipe in writing can be found in a cookbook from 1860 by Lucyna Cwierczakiewiczowa.
Polish: like above
Kopytka is a next kind of delicious Polish dumplings. I must admit that I love it. To experience a full magnificence of this Polish first course it is important to learn how to concoct kopytka properly. In my life I had both poorly made and not so tasty kopytka and perfect one. These are characterized by a delicate taste and softness. Kopytka are dished up as a separate dish with pork scratching, fried onion etc., or as an addition to sauces (e.g. Polish goulash).
Kopytka with lard and pork scratchings
Polish: kluski śląskie
Kluski slaskie are a special kind of potato dumplings. Silesian dumplings are characterized by a great softness and a delicate flavor. When well prepared, this Polish food almost melt in a mouth. Kluski slaskie are made from cooked potatoes and starch, and has a shape of a flattened ball with a characteristic hollow in the center. Kluski slaskie are eaten with meat sauces (in Silesia with a so-called Silesian meat roll (rolada slaska in Polish)) or alone, spiced up with a molten smalec (lard) and some browned onion. Since it is possible to freeze Silesian dumplings losing neither quality nor taste, nowadays the majority of Polish families buys ready-made frozen kluski slaskie in grocery.
Few minutes of boiling is enough for silesian dumplings to be ready to eat.
Silesian dumplings with beef sauce and ogorek kiszony.
Polish: like above
Polish kotlet mielony is somehow similar to hamburger meat. This is a piece of fried minced meat (most oftentimes pork neck is used), previously mixed with a raw egg, onion fried in butter, garlic, breadcrumbs, parsley leaves and some spices added to taste. Quite a nice food but personally, I do not eat it oftentimes. Polish ground cutlet, just like its more popular 'brother' kotlet schabowy, is served with potatoes and a vegetable salad. In case of ground cutlet potatoes can be replaced by groats. Oftentimes groats and cutlet are poured over with a beef sauce. Moreover, this Polish food is sometimes made from chicken, turkey, game or beef.
Polish: like above
Placki ziemniaczane is a Polish name for a quite well-known, simple and good food made from grated potatoes fried in a fat. An egg, onion and spices (pepper, salt, sometimes marjoram) are added to potato mass before frying. In Poland placki ziemniaczane are a representative of a sweet dish (!), because this course is dished up sprinkled with sugar or more rarely poured with some powidl, apple mousse or with a sweet curd cheese chunks. More refined and really wonderful version of this dish is a Polish food called placek po zbojnicku (served with meat, sauce and vegetable salad; see below). Potato pancakes is an international food. Some slightly different varieties are known in Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Romania, in Anglo-Saxon countries (hash browns), and in the Jewish cuisine.
Photo from Wikipedia.
Polish: placek po zbójnicku
Placek po zbojnicku is a refined version of Polish potato cakes (placki ziemniaczane). While placki ziemniaczane are small here much bigger pancake is fried. Polish brigand's pancake is dished up with a beef sauce and beef chunks, as well as gives a vegetable salad. Some people like to pour a ketchup over it.
Brigand's pancake.
Polish: like above
Golonka gotowana is one of Polish-German foods. In Germany it is known as a Schweinehaxe. Golonka gotowana is a fragment of a pig's leg cooked altogether with the bone. This piece of meat is served with a sauce and vegetables.
Polish: pyzy
Pyzy are peculiar Polish dumplings in a form of knobs. This Polish food is made from grated potatoes and often stuffed with meat. Pyzy are very cheap and tasty dish. Some Polish people like to stir-fry it slightly. Polish dish pyzy is usually eaten with pork scratching, some lard or fried onion, although it can also constitute an element of a bigger dish. In Greater Poland a word pyzy means pampuchy which are specific steamed dumplings filled with fruit (search below for a description).
Pyzy with pork scratchings (skwarki) and slices of kabanos sausage.
Polish: zrazy
Zrazy is an traditional Old Polish food coming from the Polish Gentry and the cuisine of hunters. Zrazy is made from slices of beef, veal or game, stir-fried and stewed with an addition of vegetables and spices. Most oftentimes the slice of the meat is rolled up and stuffed with one of many kinds of stuffing. In our times this Polish food is well-known in cuisines of nations of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (18th century): Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Similar dishes exist in other European traditions. Rinderroulade, bragioli or paupiette are some of examples.
Photo from Wikipedia.
Polish: like above
Polish Greek-style fish is one of a completely marvelous originally Polish food which, as a traditional food in many Polish families, is a sure hit on the Christmas Eve table. It is ethnically Polish and to spite the name of this dish, Greeks do not have a slightest inkling about it. Completely nobody in Poland was able to explain to me whence this name had come. Maybe several dozen years ago a Pole who hit an idea of Greek-style fish recipe wanted to grant it a bit of exoticness and nobleness? Anyway, the name is common.
What is interesting, the Polish Greek-style fish is eaten cold although it is not a rule. This Polish food is made of fish filets fried in a coating. Next, fish is being arranged in a bowl together with a special, red-colored blend made from boiled vegetables. What we have got here is parsley, celery, onion, tomato concentrate, as well as some seasoning. But the main ingredient, a highlight is a carrot. This unique Polish food is slightly sweet and quite aromatic.
Polish: like above
Polish cutlet de volaille is a rolled chicken or turkey breast, fastened together with skewers and fried in a 'golden' coating. A word 'volaille' is from French and means 'poultry'. Inside this Polish food you can find some tidbits. Classically Polish chicken de volaille is filled with butter or herbal butter mixed with a garlic and parsley. However, most oftentimes de volaille is stuffed with chopped up and stir-fried mushrooms, rolled up slices of a hard cheese or stewed leaves of spinach. This tasty Polish first course is served with vegetables and chips / boiled potatoes.
Polish: karp smażony
Fried carp is one of national Polish foods, eaten only once a year - during the Christmas Eve supper. Depending on local and family traditions carp is fried in a coating or without it. Some superstitious Poles believe that carp brings luck. For example, you can put a scale of the carp into your wallet. As a consequence, in the following year the best of luck in business matters is guaranteed.
Generally speaking, in western countries a carp is believed to be an inedible fish. Well, there is some truth in it. Nevertheless in Poland carps is bred in special conditions, thanks to which the taste of the fish should not be sludgy and its meat should not stink. So believe me that this festive fish is really nice when purchased at a reliable source. Moreover, before a carp is being faced with a dramatic end of its existence, the fish is kept in clean water for few days. Some Polish people regard the fried carp as a real delicacy. It looks like the tradition of carp eating does not weaken with time. Not a bit!:)
Polish: karp po żydowsku
Jewish-style jellied carp comes from the Jewish cuisine. What is interesting in Poland this food is usually eaten on occasion of the Christmas. Actually, Catholic-type Christmas does not obviously exist in Judaism. Jewish-style carp is a slightly sweet food made from carp grinded with challah, raisins, almonds and onion. Most oftentimes pieces of Jewish-style carp are arranged in a serving plate and poured over with an aspic.
Polish: like above
Polish-style pikeperch (zander) is a great and quite simple food. The pikeperch is cooked in a vegetable broth, poured with molten butter and sprinkled with a diced hard-boiled egg and some parsley leaves. In some recipes the Polish-style pikeperch is poured with a sauce made from the cream, horseradish, diced hard-boiled eggs and parsley leaves. In my humble opinion this one tastes even better.
Polish: like above
Goulash is a dense, Hungarian/Balkan sauce. In Poland goulash is known and popular for ages. Sometimes Polish People call it fairly gulasz wegierski what means 'hungarian goulash'. Polish goulash is made from beef, red bell pepper, tomatoes and onions. Garlic, chili pepper, marjoram, salt and black pepper are used as spices. Goulash is thinned with a vegetable broth or some wine. This food is usually dished up with Silesian dumplings, groats or potato pancakes (see placek po zbojnicku).
Polish: knedle
Knedle are another kind of Polish dumplings. These are larger than pyzy. Knedle are usually served as a sweet first course. Traditional Polish sweet knedle are filled with plums, bilberries or with a poppy mass. As such this Polish food is then served poured with the sweet cream, fruit sauces, yoghurt, etc. There are also knedle filled with a forcemeat or even mushrooms.
Polish: like above
Lazy pierogi is a food with quite the same shape like kopytka. But this is a totally different dish. This Polish dumplings are made from a curd cheese, eggs, flour and cooked in slightly salted water. Most oftentimes lazy pierogi are served with a whipped cream, sugar and cinnamon or spiced up with some butter and breadcrumbs. Because of its ingredients this Polish food is slightly sour what combined with sugar, constitutes a specific mix that might not be acceptable for everyone.
Polish: fasolka po bretońsku
Fasolka po bretonsku is a food made of beans stewed with meat in a tomato sauce. This delicious Polish food has some British origin and is very popular in Poland for decades. Apart from a white bean, less obvious ingredients of Polish Breton beans are: diced Polish sausage, bacon, large amounts of onion, tomato concentrate and some spices. This dish is easy to prepare and has a great taste. It requires, however, a prolonged cooking.
Polish: like above
For decades Poles serve scrambled eggs with chanterelle mushrooms. Admittedly, it is a flagship example of making a delicious food with a refined taste, from something cheap and as one could say: trivial. If you will have a chance to try Polish scrambled eggs with chanterelle mushrooms during any of your future breakfast, I would frankly recommend that. Oftentimes also bacon is an ingredient, as well as some chopped chives.
Srambled eggs with chanterelle mushroom and chives (without bacon, however).
Sweet courses (usually for a supper)
Polish: naleśniki
Typical of many cuisines, Polish nalesniki are just pancakes with various fillings (from sweet to spicy). Nalesniki evolved from Old Polish pies and pancakes under an influence of French cuisine, and remain very popular in Poland for decades.
Polish pancakes with cherry jam (top)
and sweet twarog / curd cheese (bottom).
Polish: ryż z jabłkami
Rice with apples is a very simple, sweet Polish food oftentimes present on Polish tables. It is made of cooked rice and some apples previously stewed with a cinnamon. Sometimes cardamom or vanilla is also added. Another version of this dish is made of rice and apples that are baked in an oven rather than being boiled or stewed.
Polish: like above
Pampuchy also known as bulki na parze (what simply means steamed rolls) is a kind of roll or a soft dumpling made from a yeast cake. After steaming pampuchy are dished up covered with some sauces. Polish steamed dumplings can be sweet (stuffed with jam or fruit) or spicy (without the filling and poured with a meat sauce). Pampuchy is very similar to a highly popular and tasty national dish of Czech and Slovak cuisine - Knedlík, as well as German Klöße. It is a regional food of Greater Poland.
Polish: like above
This is a very simple dish made of pasta and white cheese (Polish curd cheese) mixed with sugar and cream. This Polish food is served with an addition of jams or fruits.
Pasta with a curd cheese mixed with cream and sugar,
sprinkled with brown sugar and decorated with a morello cherry jam.
Polish: like above
Another simple but delicious summer Polish food made of pasta and strawberry or bilberry mousse (fruit mixed with cream and sugar).
