There’s a scene in the animated Disney movie “Ratatouille” when the big restaurant critic tastes the dish prepared for him by the new — and woefully inexperienced — chef, Linguine. The entire staff holds its collective breath, waiting for the culinary verdict.
The dish creates its own buzz, and the next thing you know, it becomes a signature staple of the restaurant.
Nearly every successful restaurant has such a dish. Some lucky culinary establishments have several. I aim to root out some of those signature staples in the Treasure Valley. Ladies and gentlemen, open your recipe boxes and get ready to titillate your taste buds as local chefs take their secret recipes out of the vault and share them occasionally in the Life section.
THE DISHTo kick things off, I thought we’d start off with a nice, hearty stew to stave off the winter chill: bigos.
This stew is related to “hunter’s stew,” Majka Szarmach said, which has been around for about 500 years in Poland. The story goes that whatever animal the hunting party was hunting and had on hand — venison, boar — would go into the pot, along with sauerkraut, cabbage and spices.
Because bigos does not use wild animal meats, it technically is not a true “hunter’s stew,” Szarmach said. Nevertheless, it is popular in Poland.
“This is No. 1 in Poland at every party,” Szarmach said. “On every table there is a big pot of bigos.”
THE RESTAURANTBigos is one of the signature staple dishes at Mycaffé European Food, 450 S. Meridian Road, Meridian. Szarmach and her husband, Jacek (ya-sek) Szarmach, are co-owners, but it’s Majka (mike-a) who does the cooking. Both are from Poland and while they speak English, they do so with exotic, movie-star accents.
They lived in California for a while and then fell in love with Idaho while on vacation in McCall.
“I told my husband we should change our life and move to Idaho,” Szarmach said.
The restaurant specializes in Polish cuisine — think Polish sausage, bratwurst, cabbage rolls, Schnitzel potato pancakes, pierogies, and, of course, sauerkraut.
Laurie Matthews of Boise was hired to help Szarmach for a few days a couple of years ago, and now she’s the manager.
Nearly all the sausages, hams, bacon and meats come from Chicago, where the Polish population numbers more than the population of Boise, Matthews said. “They make the sausage there. I used to think Polish sausage is Polish sausage, but this is different,” she said.
Other items — the restaurant features a mini-market of canned goods, including sauerkraut, pickles, borscht, mustards and canned fish — come from Poland, via a distributor in Chicago.
Only Polish spices and Polish recipes are used here, Szarmach said.
Szarmach makes all of the soups, and they change daily. You might see Ukrainian borscht. “It’s great for Valentine’s, it’s almost pink,” Matthews said. It’s a thick, vegetable soup with peas and beets. “Some people are afraid to try, but after they do, they are just coming back often,” Szarmach said.
Another day could feature Kurnik, a chicken and barley soup, or gulash with beef, potatoes and onions, or sauerkraut soup with mushrooms or Zur, a brine-based soup with a combination of sausages, potatoes and boiled eggs.
Szarmach whips everything up herself, except for the time and labor-intensive pierogies. But don’t worry, they’re also home-made, by “Kasha, she’s a woman my mother’s age who lives in Chicago,” Szarmach said. “She makes them and sends them to us.”
Matthews said there are legions of loyal customers, many who are Europeans now living in Idaho, looking for the comfort food of their homeland.
“They say, ‘This reminds me of my aunt, my mom; of home.’ Here, everybody remembers smell from kitchen.”
“You know, we miss our country and we miss our food. So when you make, you make it better. We have secret recipes.”
Mycaffé is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday - Thursday; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday; 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday and Monday. Be forewarned: it gets crowded on weekends, especially in the evenings. Sometimes the wait for a table is so long, they have to turn folks away.
It’s a good idea to call for a reservation: 888-5599.
Jeanne Huff: 377-6483
The recipe: It’s not quick, but worth the effortMajka Szarmach said this recipe can take up to two days, but the result is worth the wait.
“The whole process takes several days. Every day it gets better and better,” she said.
By the way, you can buy all the recipe ingredients at Mycaffé — or if you don’t want to go to all the trouble of making it yourself, order a plate at the restaurant for $7.50, or a bowl for $9.50. It comes with grilled Polish sausage and crusty bread.
Bigos1 29.7-ounce jar of sauerkraut
1 medium head of cabbage, chopped
Water to cover sauerkraut and cabbage
3 small onions, sliced
2 - 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 pound of pork short ribs, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound of pork loin, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound of chicken, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 pound of sirloin beef, boneless, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon paprika (or to taste)
1 16-ounce can tomatoes, skinless or 3 or 4 medium fresh tomatoes, skinless
1/2 cup dried plums (you can use raisins, if you like)
1/2 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced very fine
1 cup dried wild mushrooms
2 cups water
Pinch of marjoram
Pinch of caraway seed
Pinch of garlic salt
In large, heavy stockpot, bring sauerkraut, chopped cabbage and water to a boil, then simmer for two to three hours.
In the meantime, heat olive oil over medium to medium high heat in a large skillet.
Add onions and stir-fry until golden.
Add the onions to the sauerkraut mixture.
In a very large skillet, fry the meat over medium heat. Add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. Cook until the meat is done.
Add meat to sauerkraut mixture.
In large skillet, simmer tomatoes, plums and fresh mushrooms for 20-30 minutes. Add to sauerkraut mixture.
In a saucepan, boil dried wild mushrooms in 2 cups of water for an hour. Strain mushrooms from mixture and chop. Put chopped mushrooms back in saucepan with mushroom water. Add to sauerkraut mixture.
Cover, reduce heat and simmer for four hours, stirring often to keep from burning on the bottom.
“At the very end, I pour herbs,” Szarmach said, sprinkling “like you’re feeding fish,” she said.
In the end, season to your taste, while the stew cooks.
And, Szarmach said, after simmering the first day, the bigos gets even better if you can refrigerate it overnight and simmer for several hours again the next day.
Keeps for a week in the refrigerator.
