ROBERT MAKŁOWICZ POLSKA odc.79 „ Flamandzkie wytchnienie”.
[ automatic translation ] I am standing here not without some pleasure, although the chill is bothering, but then I am in an emblematic place for our capital and this is where I derive this pleasure. It is the intersection of Aleje Jerozolimskie with Nowy Świat. Rondo de Gaulle'a, lots of emblematic things just for Warsaw. The palm, which has become emblematic for a short time, because it was supposed to stand there temporarily, but it has become so fused with the landscape that it is there. Somewhere there, on the horizon, there is the spire of the Palace of Culture and Science, the de Gaulle monument, the former Branicki Palace there.
This is all there is and one could talk about it, but I want to deal with a specific thing. Very specific and it would seem that in the course of reasoning it is acrobatical, but as you know this course of reasoning, you will see that it will not be any acrobatics. Namely, I will deal with today's Flemish traces in Warsaw. Not only inscribed in history, but also contemporary.
Where do we start this mental thread that will illuminate the whole thing for you? In those buildings. National Museum. That's where we're headed. As I know you, you are very eager to visit various other museums in Poland, not only in Poland, but now let's focus on our country. Well, what does that architecturally remind you of? Bingo! The building of the National Museum in Krakow. The building of the Jagiellonian Library.
These are the same years. The end of the 1930s, so some kind of pomposity. Difficult times in Europe. Mussolini, who made a new Brescia. And that's the style.
But there is nothing wrong with this style. This architecture still works well today, especially in the exhibition sense. Well, let's see inside.
This huge complex of museum buildings was opened in 1938. Where was Poland then? In 1926, after the May Coup, we ceased to be a fully democratic country. There were times of soft autocracy, but in 1935 a new constitution was passed.
The April Constitution, which made Poland a fully authoritarian state. And this pompous time followed. Dreams of Power. Maritime and Colonial League. "We are not giving away a button." Besides, such winds then blew almost all over Europe.
And we have architecture that was supposed to refer to these claims. It was supposed to satisfy them, but paradoxically, it works fantastically today, because in my humble opinion, it was only in recent years that equally wonderful, of course in a different style, but equally useful museum rooms were built in our country. This is really good architecture that serves art well to this day. Each exhibition floor of this building has, of course , a fascinating exhibition, but my goal is the second floor, because it is here that the Old Art Gallery presents Dutch, Dutch and Flemish paintings from the collections of the National Museum in Warsaw. In fact, I used three different terms for painting from the same part of Europe, so you need to briefly tell about the history of this place.
We have the Netherlands. The Netherlands, which falls to the Spanish Habsburgs. The townspeople rebel against their supremacy and against Catholicism , and from this arises, in a nutshell, the Protestant Netherlands. Some of the Netherlands remain with the Habsburgs and Catholicism , and in short, Flanders. A fragment of today's Belgium.
And images from these three categories. Dutch, Flemish, and the category that connects them, Dutch. Well, it could be painted by both a Catholic and a Protestant. Both a Dutchman as understood today or a Belgian, because it is a hunting scene.
The hunting scene, i.e. the image that ennobled this image of its owner. Because who couldn't hunt? Peasants. So when you had such a picture at home, you knew that you are at least a townsperson.
The townspeople in that part of the world meant much more than in our country. Something that is still synonymous with culinary Dutchness today. Extremely modest thing, Protestant. We have here herring, onions, bread, beer in this vessel, and here something milky, probably buttermilk. Until today, when we go to the Netherlands, what's the best of the Netherlands to eat? That's green herring.
A wonderful, wonderful herring from the North Sea, and if we want to eat something more unusual in the Netherlands, we must take advantage of the colonial offer. Yes, the Dutch had just created huge trading companies that were bringing in overseas goods. So we have lobster here, we have wine here, we have lemons here, we have grapes here. This is Dutch foreignness. If we go further, we will end up in Belgium in the current sense of the word, i.e. in Flanders. What are the Flemish doing here? Flemish here learn to smoke tobacco.
Tobacco that was brought to Europe by the Spaniards from the new world, that is, the Spanish Netherlands. The world is moving away from tobacco today, of course, but I still remember from the 1980s, during my visits to Belgium, the guys who pushed supermarket carts and had smoking cigars in the corners of their mouths. This is something you must see. And in a moment, something you can see, thanks to us.
I am extremely excited, because thanks to the kindness of the employees of the National Museum, we can visit a place where people are not allowed in during the tour. We are in museum warehouses. Once, as a history student, I had an internship at the National Museum in Krakow, and I spent some time in warehouses there.
I have watched the great canvases by Vlastimil Hofmann never exhibited. And I also saw why Stanisławski's miniatures could easily fall victim to looting, because they were dishonest then, and it was in the 1980s, the robbers carried them out under their coats. Therefore, of course, the entry here is extremely restrictive, but we are not wearing our coats. And the dimensions of these paintings most often would not allow them to be carried under the coat. In any case, not all of the images here will interest us. You know what we're here for.
Dutch and Flemish painting, 16th and 17th century. The custodian of this collection is Ms Aleksandra Janiszewska-Kardone. Mrs. Aleksandro, why such a selection?
I'm talking about the top, not the top here. By the way, thank you very much for being able to enter here. The selection of what is at the top is always dictated by our idea for a permanent gallery. This time we chose a layout that tells about old art, because there we not only have Flemish art, but also Italian and Dutch art divided by function, that is, just as people needed these works.
We have a court, a city, and various other religious works, so we are limited by a certain space there, and unfortunately we cannot show everything we have in our collection, and here you can see how much we still have. Well, we focus today on culinary matters and we did a kind of query here. I am afraid to touch it.
You can try it here. This is pretty good ... Yes? Can i pull? I'll help you get it started ... Oh, and here we have two great creations right the first time. Yes, I think that already ...
The most associated with cooking. Let's start with this. This, it seems to me, was a kind of warning in the first place. Yes, and at the same time ... I
mean this work is quite drastic in its dimension, because ... I hope you can see it too. We have a cat here that eats dead birds. Here we have a large number of different species of these birds. Probably some of them are hunting and not breeding at all.
Well, they are probably hunted, but here are the little ones waiting in the nest. Yes, even if we imagine the sound that accompanies this composition, there is quite a hustle and bustle here, because these children , we can also call it that, these chicks watch the cat devouring the already dead birds and such works were both an image of a certain prosperity that they could have had. the townspeople were pleased, but they also had such further possibilities of reading as, for example, allegories of the senses.
And here we could even find two of them, because on the one hand the cat that snatched the bird like this is an allegory of touch. However, when we still see these little birds, the sound comes in and such performances could also function in sets. So we would have other senses inscribed. Well, yes, but this is a kind of memento, and this image below can really only be a warning to those who consume excessively high amounts of food.
Well, because we have seafood, crabs, we have shrimps here, we have bread, attention to white bread, we have red wine, we finally have an overseas lemon, so we have the Spanish Netherlands here, in my opinion. As much as I would fit the Dutch people today, that is to this Protestant Puritanism, it is more carefree, Roman Catholicism in my opinion, and the joys of the table, and let's eat, and we'll see what will happen next. Do you agree with this opinion? A bit, a bit because they are really connected in this painting by Alexander Adriaenssen, who was an artist from Antwerp ... Well, today's Belgium.
That's right. However, this composition is very much modeled on Dutch compositions. So-called small meals, odd bites, such scenes showing a table that is set with some food. Yes, but ... Brutally and brutally I stopped a moment ago. I shyly ask for continuation with this painting. So here we have a completely different scene, because we do not have a meal, but we have a wealth of fruits, vegetables, flowers also and this scene was also painted in Antwerp, which has a double meaning for us here in this painting.
First of all, such garlands of flowers and fruit were first used in Jan Bruegel's paintings to decorate some holy picture that would be in the center here. And it is very Catholic, because remember we are in the South Netherlands , we are ... the Spanish Habsburgs. Protection of Catholicism, of course. Here, however, the artist went a step further and showed the painter's portrait.
We do not know whether his self-portrait or simply the image of the artist as such a profession, who is able to paint everything we see here and what seduces us with its realism. And these nutritional tips are also unusual. And they are related to the wealth of Antwerp, which was then one of the main ports of Europe at that time. One of the richest cities in the world.
Paris did not take off to Antwerp then. Yes, Antwerp really had a remarkable position and apart from those vegetables and fruits that are local, such as apples or peaches, then ... Oh no ... Peaches do not grow in the Netherlands. But maybe in Spain? Well, maybe in Spain, in neighboring France, yes, but grapes ... But we have corn.
Well, the new world, that is, the link between what the Spaniards won and what they brought from America. And here we also have this picture of the wealth of Antwerp as the city itself, including those figs that often appeared in the representations back then as well. Figs in general have biblical connotations, so here we have such adding meanings. Erotic connotations too. Maybe.
But I don't know if they were then ... If they were then. Well, if they have such connotations, they certainly knew about them. Yes it ... Well, it is a very ambiguous picture.
So a painter in God's place, framed with garlands, and lots of good food. It can't be a Protestant job. It is true. The richness of culinary props in this picture makes him boldly call himself Le Grande Bouffe, which is a great grub, but it seems that, just like the film of this title, it is not a praise of gluttony. Yes, not at all.
Pictures of this type, such as this great composition by Frans Snyders, were created to warn against excess. An excess of flattering the senses, whether in the form of hearty meals, but also against too much enjoyment of such ... Sensual.
Yes, and here are the oysters that appear many times in the pictures, but also the stuffed birds ... Well, this is an aphrodisiac. This is a phallic symbol. Yes, and also birds in Dutch - vogelen.
It was intercourse. It was a word used in jargon, so here we have a lot of elements that lead us to derive sense enjoyment from life. What's more, hidden, because the darkest instincts are always hidden, we have such a monkey. A monkey is an animal that succumbs to various impulses and eagerly reaches for what it wants. She is also here somehow, as such an animal is shown on this side. Piglet, pheasants, wild birds, artichokes, bacon, it looks like pancetta, fruit, also grapes.
What we were talking about in the foreground, and in the background a kitchen and a modest woman who prepares a simple meal in accordance with the logic of the terroir, that is, plays only with what this land gives, i.e. there must be cabbage here, potatoes are not there yet, because there is no this time, but there are some vegetables there, not those foreign artichokes, that is, praise for the local at the same time. Yes, such compositions are perverse, because in the foreground the depiction of such an abundantly stocked pantry or kitchen was already painted by Pieter Aertsen, who gave rise to such representations, but then he, as it were, showed biblical scenes in the background. Scenes like these which had to be considered and just going through this kitchen, which stops us to take something from here, was in his compositions for religious reflection, and this artist did not use religious scenes anymore, but rather gives us an alternative, which is just focus only for meeting basic needs.
Healthy but in moderation. In a way, this is a message that is understandable to me, although I must be honest about everything that is in the foreground and what is supposed to be this extraordinary warning, it also attracts me very much. Well, a man is just a sinner.
We are only a few kilometers from the National Museum, but this is a different district. It is the Will. This place looks completely different today than it did a few years ago. Everything around me is probably no more than 10 years old.
There used to be low buildings here, quite chaotic, and now a new city, tall, and some of these things are so fresh that they are not even on google maps. We are on the 46th floor, but that is not the last word on high-altitude in this building. It rises to floor 50. Except that there are technical floors up there. This is Warsaw UNIT.
Next to Warsaw Spire. What do these buildings have in common? Well, both were created by the efforts of the same Belgian developer. Belgian-Flemish should be said more precisely. It is the highest vantage point in Warsaw today. Soon this place will be open to the public. A bar will operate here.
You can rent it for a party, and, for example, sit in an armchair and admire this landscape with a glass of something in your hand . The only landscape in Poland resembling New York, Hong Kong or Kuala Lumpur. Years ago, I was cooking at the top of the Palace of Culture and Science. Of course, not at the top of the spire, because I am not a spider human, but on the highest terrace accessible to a human. So what was I cooking? Well, as always, I tried to do everything according to the terroir rule.
What was the Palace of Culture and Science? Well, it was a gift from the Soviet nation to the Polish nation, so I cooked soljanka there, i.e. soup of Russian origin, and here I want to cook something Flemish, Belgian, and in addition something that combines the extraordinary history of Spain, the Netherlands or Flanders. The story that I have already told you about today. So I'll make croquetas.
In Spanish, speaking or also Kroketten speaking in Flemish. Sorry for my Flemish imperfect accent, something that we meet in tapas bars in Spain and something they eat in Flanders en masse. These will be croquettes speaking Polish. You see butter, milk and flour here.
Everyone who cooks already guesses that I will be making béchamel. Croquettes, both Spanish and Belgian, are based on extremely dense béchamel. In our company, the term croquettes is used to describe, for example, a kind of pancakes which are breaded, stuffed and fried.
Meanwhile, Spain, Belgium always very dense Béchamel. In Belgium, the most popular croquettes are with small, gray North Sea prawns, but you can't buy them here. Fortunately, there is another type of croquette that is very popular. Namely, cheese croquettes. I have three types of old cheese here. This is ementaler, here Parmesan or Grana cheese, and here griel.
Anyway, you can mix these cheeses, grated, but we start with béchamel, and since we start with béchamel, we first melt the butter in the pan. About a third of the cube. When the butter is melted, gradually add the flour , stirring all the time. We cannot get the temperature too high because it is not a golden roux. It is not supposed to turn brown. Of course, this amount of flour is very large here, so the butter will not absorb it all, but remember that we will have to make something of it later.
It will have to freeze, it will have to be a kind of plastic that can be formed. I will tell you everything precisely. For now, keep mixing and trying to let the butter engulf all the flour. Although, anyway, you will get such crusts, because as I said, butter less and more flour than with traditional béchamel, which is just a sauce, but we have liquid here.
Namely milk. You certainly need more than one glass of this milk. Look, it looks a bit like crumble at the moment and now we take the pot off the fire, change the device, take this whisk and gradually pour the milk so that all the lumps melt beautifully. It is already quite thick at the moment, but it will thicken naturally when we put it on fire, when it boils, and it will thicken even more, because it is precisely in this mass that the cheeses must melt. And there is a considerable amount of these cheeses here. So what do you have to do? Just add them, stir them without putting it on the fire, then heat it over a little fire and stir it all the time.
It has to be a smooth, smooth, smooth, soft, soft sauce. Okay, the steps are uncomplicated but require some patience. In a moment, the cheese will melt under the influence of heat and now I would suggest, there are no lumps from the flour, change the device, which is now a wooden spoon, which will also allow you to grasp the edges of the vessel. So that no lumps here are made. A little fire and we mix.
From a dietary point of view, from a weight loss point of view, this is pure evil, because it will still be deep-fried. But it's so good that wow. Ready. It is dense like mortar. Look, and this will thicken even more. Now the whole thing needs to be seasoned.
Of course, in Belgian, which is the most typical, apart from salt for Belgium, spices in the middle. Namely nutmeg, cayenne pepper. Yes, cayenne pepper, which is indispensable here, because paprika, even spicy, has a paprika flavor, and cayenne pepper is more taste-neutral, but has that sharp twist. Knob is everywhere in Belgium, so it will be here as well.
And white pepper is also used very often in Belgium. Here a little note, I was looking for a grinder in Poland ready with white pepper. There is no, so white ground pepper, but it has just opened, so it should be ok. Rubbing a lot of scoops there, I will tell you that when I came back from Belgium, and very often in Belgium I was in the 1980s as a student, I always gave out fragrances for a long time it was the time of nutmeg and beer, and my poor mother used to say: "Son, you're so fat," as you can see, this kitchen is not the lightest one, but I have great memories with Belgium. There they always welcomed me very warmly and in the times of the Polish People's Republic they even tolerated the fact that I spoiled their various interiors by ineptly laying wallpapers or pretending to paint window frames, that is, pretending ...
By painting, but terrible. And they hosted me, paid me for it. I was crossing the Belgian-French border illegally through corn, because I had to go to Paris, and I did not have a French visa then, and the Benelux visa was easier to get, so a lot of memories and I could talk about it for hours, and in fact I should still talk for about 10 minutes, because 10 minutes is enough for it to cool down to allow the next steps.
But don't be afraid. I'm not talking anymore. Glass floor, which is an additional attraction of this terrace.
You can climb it, and in addition, this part moves, but don't make me experience it. I suffer from the fear of heights, so you can see for yourself how much I am devoting myself to you. Now that this thing is not boiling here, add the yolks. The point is that they do not condense and additionally thicken the whole thing.
So we have egg yolks and we have to mix it thoroughly. The croquet base prepared in this way should be done the day before or two days in advance, because it needs to be cooled in the refrigerator to let it solidify. Anyway, you'll see it frozen in a moment. You take the vessel, line it with transparent foil and pour the mass over it, and then, also on top, put a layer of foil tightly to the mass, sticking it ...
Sorry, I thought to myself that I was standing on this glass floor. Because if it did not have this cover , a sheepskin coat would become here, and in this case, we do not want a sheepskin coat, that is, we simply lay it out, spread it, put the foil on it and press it carefully so that there is no air between the foil and the croquet base. And a fridge, and a minimum of a dozen or so hours. Before I finally make the croquettes, this solidified mass is waiting here. I'll make lettuce. Well, I have a limited amount of space on the table.
Lettuce, which will also somehow combine Spanish and Belgian tastes. No vinaigrette, but not Jerez vinegar, not sherry, but beer vinegar. In Belgium, such vinegars are very common. They also produce them here. In Spain, they would not use one. In Spain, they wouldn't add a little sugar to the vinegar, too, a little brown sugar.
A little salt at once and now mix it all together so that it melts, and when it melts, pour the oil over here and make a smooth emulsion. Gradually, just like that. Because I prepare it in advance, so if I had used butter lettuce and put it in the sauce , it would have gotten bogged down, but I have romaine lettuce. Nothing will happen to her.
Must be cut or kidnapped. Then I'll mix it up. For now, I just throw it in, add black olives to it and set it aside. It is not mixed yet and it is waiting, and now I am preparing the battlefield, the teatum for the final making of croquetacs vel Kroketten.
The top layer of foil is removed from the mass. See how hard it is. And now you have to shape it, cut it first. Just one cut lengthwise and now we cut the bars that need to be taken out, have a bowl of water. Well, check it out for yourself. Wet hands, you have to help yourself with a knife and such a portion ...
Idealmente comes out. And now wet hands. We form some kind of such rollers. And what are we doing in this? And we coat it. So flour, egg, bread crumbs.
Classic. Hot deep fat, in this case vegetable oil, in Spain they would do it with olive oil, at least the pomace, but here we are following the Flemish trail more. Not too hot. So that it doesn't catch fire right away. Anyway, see the shapes of it show how the human brain works. I made the first crotch very shapely, shapely, but because I have to bend down here, because my back hurts, each next one is subconsciously bigger and uglier to do it as soon as possible and fry it.
And now shaken off the excess breadcrumbs. Yes, she's dancing around and she's not gonna get hot. See? And it doesn't melt away. If this béchamel was less frequent, it would have run out, and it will turn brown on both sides. Of course, before putting the croquettes on the dish, you need to drain them on a paper towel.
Lemon is a must. In Spain , scraps of jamon iberico, that is this wonderful Spanish, matured black pig ham, are often added to such a bechamel mass . When the slices are cut, they are left with such chips, and it is in this mass that gives the whole flavor. Well, in Belgium, especially in Flanders, either cheese or , as I said, prawns. And you really have to make this béchamel very thick, because it may happen that the cheese flows out a bit. The point is that he should get out as little as possible.
Yes. Nutmeg, that cheese explosion, plus lettuce. So what? Another Belgian beer and we have a few things in one. We have new Warsaw, we have Flanders, we have the Spanish Netherlands, and above all we have something good to eat. Warsaw is the capital of Poland, of course, but otherwise it is a large and cosmopolitan city.
So we found here without difficulty a place devoted almost exclusively to Belgium and its, for some, the best products. It is a Belgian pub called Elephant, and we are in Warsaw's Old Town. In a place like this, of course, you can meet Belgians and one of them in front of the country. Namely Mr. Thomas Castrel.
You represent the general representation of the government of Flanders for Poland and the Baltic States. Flanders because the task of your institution is to promote Flanders. Belgium is a federal country. Yes, sir, federated.
So Flanders, or Ghent, Bruges, and in general ... Antwerp. Antwerp, beautiful places. Great food. I always get extremely fat after coming back from there and of course we know that you support initiatives such as the exhibition we were at today.
But do you also promote the culinary culture of your region? Exactly. We, as a representative office, promote Flanders as a region that falls into this shape of our Belgian federation. And we are also involved in the promotion of food, for example, or tourism, because Belgium as a federal country, Flanders as one of these three regions has a lot of its competences.
For example, education, but also culture, also trade, encouraging investments. This is what we do here in Warsaw. Mr. Thomas, I think that you should intensify your offensive because ...
And today I realized that, of course, Belgian products, Belgian beers can be found in many places in Poland, but it seems to be the only pub in Poland that has offer only Belgian beers. Three hundred as many of these types, and much more of this beer is produced in Belgium. Belgium in general, so Flanders is also a real beer treasure chest. Not only beer, so even more Flanders. This is my appeal.
Flanders on every corner, Flanders in every Polish city and town. How much time do we give ourselves? Because we'll meet and check how well it went. I am in favor of it. All ahead, but the fact is that there are not many Belgian or Flemish pubs in Poland, so we still have some work to do in this respect. That's right. So please check if you have a Belgian place, and if it has not, please write indignant letters to the editor.
Lord, I can see a little quack. I have a lambika, and we are both happy, because what is produced in your country simply makes people happy. Jesus, I don't know Flemish for health. Gezondheid. And simply, that's what the Germans would say, gesundheit, but in a different context.
Because it is a Germanic language. Or we simply say too. Well, let's make it simple. It will be easier this way.
We have flagship Belgian food items in front of us. Just a few of them. Thomas, in the meantime we have switched to you as you can see how the table culture is approaching. Thomas, I only know these names in French, but here it is appropriate to use Flemish names due to the institution in which you work. Okay then. I will say quickly and legally incomprehensible - Moules-frites.
Moules, frites. We open. It seems to me that it is done on the witchery, that is, on the blanche de Namur. My nose tells me so. What about this? Well sorry for the French interject again, carbonnade flemish Yes, we call it stofless. Stofless and both is something you eat at home every day? I mean yes.
As I am at home, in Belgium, maybe not every day, but when it is high season, we eat these mussels, these Moules, once a week. And always with chips? I like ... Do you have toast? For example, my mother always eats with bread, but I always eat with chips.
Before we start eating, because when we stuff our mouths, we will not be able to speak, my conclusion and I am curious if you will agree with me. Flemish and today's Dutch was once one Dutch language, you can say that and you still understand each other perfectly, but when you cross the Belgian-Dutch border, we have completely different food right? So sometime one nation, two countries, one region of this and a country and other food. Oh yeah, culture difference.
However, there is a little difference. Do you prefer to eat at home in Flanders or in the Netherlands? I prefer at home. There is no doubt. Are fries always with mayonnaise? Of course.
They need to be fried in tallow. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a demonstration.
Well, we just sit here and eat in Belgian. Where do we start? Yes, here it is. Yes exactly. Proszę Cię bardzo.
Ja wiem, że trzeba najpierw wybrać sobie jedną sztukę, wyjeść, a potem już mieć w ten sposób widelczyk. Tak, białe piwo tutaj jest w środku. Doskonałe. Zawsze jak wracałem z Belgii, a spędziłem tam trochę czasu, jak wracałem moja mama krzyczała: "Jezus! Jezus! Jak cię spaśli!". Raz mnie nawet nie poznali. Tak, z Belgii zawsze przywozi się parę kilo obywatela więcej, ale to jest ta wartość dodana.
Człowiek przyjeżdża cięższy od pozytywnych doświadczeń. Dziękuję Ci bardzo. No i jeszcze raz, ofensywa musi być. Musi być.
Musi być. Gezondheid.
2022-03-14 18:22
