There used to be a garden in every farm, where vegetables were planted nothing could have been wasted. In our region the rye has been sewn and potatoes have been planted. It is caused by the soil and climate conditions, that we have.

From the rye the bread was baked, but in Żarki the bread from buckwheat flour is still made in these days, the egzample of it can be Mrs. Jadwiga Plesińska's tatarczuch bread, which was awarned in competition KULINARNE DZIEDZICTWO in 2001 and it was given ZŁOTA PERŁA (the GOLDEN PEARL).

Here you can see toolsused in baking and you can hear from Mrs. Violetta Strzelecka how the dough for bread was prepared.

From the wheat flour and eggs the obwarzanki were prepared, which still accompany the church festivals and markets.

The rye was grinded for flour, and from the offal the paste was made, which was used to make żur (sour flour with water). In every home, in stone pot, żur was made, and then barszcz(special sour soup) was prepared, which was eaten with potatoes or bread. For the Easter breakfast barszcz was boiled with water that was left after cooking the ham and it was eaten with rare sausage.
There was often prepared zalewajka (soup) - choped potates were boiled in the pot called żeleźniok, with some spices and mushrooms and żurek.
Many soups were made only from the vegetables from the garden. Such a soup is pietruszajka - to the boiling water we put potatoes and some vegetables mainly parsley, when they are tender we make zasmażka (flour fried on some fat) frying it on some speck or in luxurius version we use some becon, and we can eat it now.There was a poem about this soup that started like this:
O zalewajko, ty zup królowo, kto ciebie nie jadł nie chowa się zdrowo..... Oh zalewajka, you are the queen of all soups, who eat you stays heakthy...

During the time of digging up the potatoes, there were prepared pieczonki (baked cut potatoes), which were prepared on the potato field and roast in the fire. Into a cast- iron pot with twisted lid we put becon, cabbage, choped sausage, sliced potatoes, beetroot and onion, we add some spices. Then we twist the pot carefully and roast it in the fire for an hour. This dish is still prepared today but we add different vegetables to it and eat it we friends and family.

These days there are also prepared kluski prażone (sort of lumps) (prażucha how we found or prażuchy what gives the book "Czas na produkt regionalny") From the boiling potatoes half of the water was poured away, then some wheat flour was put to it and all together was left on fire until the potatoes were cooked. Then they were smashed and put on a plate using a fat-covered spoon. It was served with cracklings, barszcz or sour milk.

We have also found some dishes that have Jewish origins in the book "Czas na potrawy regionalne" the name there is ciulim from Lelów we have found it under the name of kocmouch or kugiel in the Częstochowa city as well as in nearby Mstów and Kłobuck. It is a fritter from grated potatoes mixed with spices, pork (spare-ribs) and becon. There are even some folk songs in Lelów about it; e.g.

Ciulimie, ciulimie dziś cię to nie minie
Wyboru nie mamy, dziś cię pozjadamy.
Są to smakołyki, bo są w nich indyki,
Gęsiami kraszone, pieprzem opieprzone

Niech się wszyscy śmieją, lecz nie rozumieją,
Że przysmak Lelowa, swój zwyczaj zachowa,
bo czy to na chrzciny, czy na imieniny,
żadna to nowina, ciulimem gościna.

Oh ciulim, ciulim we don't have any choice
You can not avoid it now, you're gonna be eaten
These are all goodies, there is turkey in it
With some goose fat in and spiced with pepper
They can even laugh, but they do not understand
That the titbits from Lelów are going to save their customs
Because it doesn't matter if it's a furneal or a fest
You're gonna be eaten fast.

Potatoes were also used to make żelazne kluski (sometimes they are called tulane kluski) - potatoes lumps without any boiled potatoes. Those were served with czernina, that means soup made from meat and goose or duck blood.

this soup is known from literature as a refusal to marriage like in A Mickiewicz's "Pan Tadeusz" . In the village near Częstochowa, Skrajnica, there are sung songs about it:

Na czerninę zapraszamy was oj dana,
zapraszamy was oj dana, zapraszamy was.
To potrawa zapomniana, ale jest wśród nas oj dana,
ale jest wśród nas, oj dana, ale jest wśród nas.
Smakuj tu z nami o ho ho, Skrajnica zaprasza o ho ho.
Potrawa prababek o ho ho, przyznacie, że smaczna o ho ho.

In another village, now in the boundaries of the city, there was served a fruit soup, which was served with potatoes mixed with speck. This soup was called garus, it was a an apples, pears and plums mousse with flour and cream.

Before the winter in every farm some oak barrels with sour cabbage were prepared. On the bottom of the barrel there were put the blackcurrant or cherry leaves. Then the leaves of cabbage, next were sliced cabbage, salt, carrots and onion. After every layer of cabbage it was tampled. When the barrel was full it was covered with a clean cloth and a wooden lid.
From such cabbage there was made bigos, which is known all over Poland, but also dumplings with cabbage and mushrooms. There are even songs about then sung in Skrajnica:

Skrajnica, Skrajnica to daleko słynie,
Bo tam się podaje pierogi na słoninie...

Skrajnica, Skrajnica is futherly known,
That they're serving there dumplings with the becon

For the Christmas Eve supper there was and still is prepared today kapusta z grochem (cabbage with peas). To the boiled cabbage we add some cooked and smashed peas.

But the Christmas Eve supper was started with zupa ze śledzia (soup with herring). It was the best if we could buy herrings called mleczaki, which have to lay in the water for some time. To the onion we pour some boiling water with the allspice, laurel leaf and vinegar. Into the water with spices we put the herrings. This dish was also made for the firt day of the Lent. To such a dish were served the potatoes without any fat but with onion and some spices.
We also know about siemiotka, a dish made form cereals, but it is better known in the Silesia region. During the Christmas Eve there were also served makówki - slices of the wheat-bread with poppy-seeds, milk and sugar.

From the sweets there were also popular waffers with honey.

After the slaughtering of farm animals, the meat was smoked, which gave it a longer presistance and there was some fat left, that was used to make smalec. Fresh speck was choped and fried with a little onion.

The pictures on this site come from the school chronicle, from the Regional Day celebrated last year. The lyrics come from the book "Czas na produkt regionalny"