Polish Wisdom

Polish jokes were big for a few months in grade school. Take any ‘dumb blonde’ joke, substitute ‘Pole’ for ‘blonde’ and there’s your joke. Har. Why a playground of children in California would adopt this fad remains a mystery as I can’t recall even one Polish youth amongst our peers. 

Since then, some of my favorite people have been Poles and they have – unsurprisingly – proven playground wit wrong. I would like to take this opportunity to offer a blanket apology for potentially offending an entire nation of people before I had any basis for judgment (or secondary sex characteristics, for that matter), and before I’d ever read this:

Fish, to taste right, must swim three times – in water, in butter and in wine. —–Polish proverb

See now, these people are not dumb by a long shot.

You could argue that fish can taste ‘right’ prepared numerous other ways, but the larger wisdom here is irrefutable: anything bathed in water, butter and wine will taste right. Moreover, as long as I have water, butter and wine I will feel right.

If I’m feeling really flush, I might add salt, flour, sugar, garlic, onion, olive oil, milk and eggs to that essential shopping list. The fish will swim, the birds will swim, even the occasional hoofed beast of the field will take to swimming. And I will float off happily to bed.

Cooking well is simple, eating well is simple and living well is simple, but simple is not necessarily easy. Anyone who’s ever had to catch a fish for dinner could tell you that… even especially the Poles, it seems.

Here is a simple recipe for wine-poached trout:

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled butter

1 very large leek (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled & julienned

4 trout, boned, butterflied

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

2 bay leaves, broken in half

1 cup Riesling (or similar dry white wine)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add leek and carrot; sauté until al dente. Open fish and arrange skin side down in large roasting pan. Season fish with salt and pepper and all but a pinch or three of your thyme. Top fish with leeks and carrots, then add bay leaves. Dab all over with 2 tablespoons butter. Pour your wine over the whole lot.

Bake fish until just opaque at center, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and tent with foil to keep warm. Meanwhile, pour pan juices into heavy medium saucepan. Boil until reduced then discard bay leaves. Add remaining 3 tablespoons butter and thyme and whisk just until butter is melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over fish and serve. Pour yourself a glass of wine. Contemplate simplicity.

Simple and delicious... a noble life