13 Traditional Dyngus Day Foods And Drinks In Buffalo, NY

You might not give the day after Easter a second thought, or maybe you refer to it as Easter Monday. But in Buffalo, New York, Dyngus Day is marked by a massive Polish-American celebration, with events held all around the city and a parade that runs through a historic Polish neighborhood. Dyngus Day traditions include people dousing each other with water (a reference to baptism) and carrying of pussy willows in observance of spring.

The roots of Dyngus Day can be traced to the 10th century, when Poland adopted Christianity as the state religion and Prince Mieszko I baptized his court in celebration. Polish immigrants started coming to Buffalo en masse during the late 19th century, bringing the observance of Dyngus Day and other traditions with them, but public celebrations weren't held until the 1960s. The city-wide celebration of Dyngus Day didn't take off until 2007, when the first Dyngus Day Buffalo Parade was held.

Since then, the size of the parade and polka-soundtracked parties have only grown bigger. Dyngus Day is also the biggest day of the year in Buffalo for Polish food and drink. Even though it's held on a Monday, it's common for people to eat and drink from dawn until dusk, and beyond. Let's take a look at what they're usually eating and drinking.

While there are many different varieties of this popular Polish sausage, the two you'll most often see in Buffalo are referred to as "smoked" and "fresh" kielbasa. The smoked variety is reddish brown, and it has both a peppery taste and a mild smokiness. It's often sautéed and served alongside similarly pan-fried perogies. The fresh variety of kielbasa is white in appearance and strongly flavored with marjoram, giving it a robust, herbal flavor profile. While this kind of kielbasa can also be sautéed, it's also commonly used in soups like white borscht. When you are buying kielbasa, it's best to get it from a butcher shop or deli that makes it in-house. If you can't get your hands on house-made kielbasa, look for packaged kielbasa with minimal additives.

Of course, there's a trendier method for cooking kielbasa, and it's been championed by celebrity chef Ina Garten. Inspired by a specific way to roast a potato, Hasselback kielbasa involves making width-wise slices a little more than halfway through the sausage, all along its length. Garten takes the technique a bit further by glazing the sausage with a honey mustard dressing before roasting. This adds more flavor to the kielbasa and gives it a caramelized glaze.

Many countries in Eastern Europe have their version of a noodle casserole dish that includes cabbage or sauerkraut in a buttery sauce. Slovaks call their version hałuski, but the Polish-American community around Buffalo commonly refers to their version as lazy pierogi. The colloquial name for this dish likely came about because it's typically made with mostly packaged ingredients: canned sauerkraut, canned mushrooms, canned cream of mushroom soup, and packaged spiral pasta noodles. Clearly, it's a product of mid-century America, when convenience trumped freshness. This brings up all kinds of debates about what's truly authentic, and what isn't.

Putting those debates aside, you can use our savory hałuski recipe as a guide and make a much fresher version of lazy pierogi. It includes fresh mushrooms instead of canned and forgoes the canned mushroom soup in favor of butter. Because using fresh cabbage would take this in more of a Slovakian direction, we recommend using pickled cabbage or sauerkraut — ideally homemade instead of the canned stuff from your local supermarket.

Made with duck's blood, czarnina (also spelled "czernina") might seem like something peasants ate back in the day, but the soup has a storied place in Polish culture. In "Sir Thaddeus" — the national epic poem of Poland — czarnina plays a key role in the plot. The soup is named after the Polish word for black: "czarny." In "Sir Thaddeus," an arrogant suitor of a noble daughter is served "the black soup" at dinner as a symbol of rejection. A recipe for czarnina also appears in a 1682 cookbook from Stanisław Czerniecki, chef for the Lubomirskis, a Polish noble family.

Whether you're looking to reject a suitor or gird your loins for Dyngus Day, czarnina is a great example of the sweet-sour flavor profile that's so popular in Polish cuisine. In Buffalo, the soup has mostly been enjoyed by older generations, but it's actually getting a second look these days in the form of mock czarnina— which is made without the duck's blood but still packs the essential flavor. It's an elegant solution for the people without access to fresh blood, and for those of us without vampiric tendencies.

Strongly associated with a hearty Polish soup called żurek, white borscht is a creamy, peppery, and sour soup studded with slices of kielbasa and hard-boiled egg. Traditional recipes call for a sourdough-like starter to be used as both a flavoring and thickening agent. However, in Polish-American communities like Buffalo, it's more common for home cooks to add a few splashes of vinegar for tanginess, and sour cream for thickening.

The preparation of this soup doesn't start in the kitchen. Traditionally, the ingredients for white borscht are purchased, placed in a basket, and brought to church to be blessed by a priest on the day before Easter. The soup is then made on Easter Sunday. Rather than being based on a more typical stock, white borscht is based on a stock made by boiling kielbasa in water. After the kielbasa has cooked through, the sausage is removed, the other ingredients are added, and adjustments are made according to taste.

Spiced and syrupy sweet, krupnik is a liqueur from Poland that you would hardly call a refined spirit. In Buffalo, it was largely relegated to bottom-shelf status at Polish-heritage social halls and restaurants. That is until around 2007, when annual Dyngus Day revelers craving all things Polish put krupnik on a pedestal. Today, it has a massive cult following in the city. Although people will do shots of krupnik year-round, it has become one of the unofficial drinks of Dyngus Day.

Most of the krupnik in Buffalo comes from one producer, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits. Jim Cianfrocca, a district manager for the brand, told Buffalo Spree that Buffalo and Chicago — with their large Polish-heritage populations — are the biggest U.S. markets for krupnik. Cleveland comes in a distant third. In 2016, a business dispute led to a krupnik shortage just ahead of Dyngus Day, causing a mini-panic. Since then, one local distillery has stepped in to ensure a krupnik shortage never happens again on Dyngus Day. In 2018, Buffalo Distilling Company released its first run of krupnik under the distillery's One Foot Cock brand. Since then, the distillery has also gone on to release a barrel-aged version. 

If you're looking for chicken wings on this list, you can stop looking now. Yes, Buffalonians love their chicken wings, but ordering wings at a Dyngus Day celebration would be like ordering wine on St. Patrick's Day: You're gonna get a few sideways looks. You're much more likely to find another signature food, Buffalo's beloved beef on weck sandwich.

Roast beef sandwiches aren't unique to Buffalo. What distinguishes the beef on weck is the use of a Kummelweck roll. As the "weck" part of beef on weck, a Kummelweck roll is simply a kaiser roll with a top crust of pretzel salt and caraway seeds. The roast beef is also usually topped with a spread of horseradish or horseradish mayonnaise, especially by people who love bold flavors. The crunchy salt, bold, herbaceous nature of the caraway seeds, and the pungent sting of the horseradish combine to cut through the rich meat and doughy roll to create a well-rounded yet simple sandwich. Although beef on weck has its roots in Germany, that's close enough for some Dyngus Day revelers, especially after a few Polish beers.