Oscypek is the smoked sheep-milk cheese the Tatra highlanders bring down from the mountains. In Kraków it appears grilled, sliced into thin discs, served with cranberry jam, the canonical winter bar snack and Christmas-market dish.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Oscypek has been produced in the Polish Tatra Mountains since at least the 14th century by Górale (highlander) shepherds. The cheese is brined, then smoked over pine wood for two weeks, taking on a hard amber crust and a chewy, salty interior. The EU registered oscypek as a Protected Designation of Origin in 2008; only sheep-milk cheese smoked in the Tatra by traditional methods may carry the name. Kraków's Old Town cellar restaurants (Pod Aniołami, Morskie Oko) grill it sliced and serve with cranberry jam; the Rynek Główny Christmas market stalls have run grilled oscypek from open-flame grills since the 1990s.
Common allergens: Dairy (sheep milk)
Tip from the editors. Do not grill past 2 minutes per side; the cheese collapses into puddles. Hot, just-set discs holding the grill marks are the target.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Pod Aniołami in Kraków sits in a 13th-century cellar on Grodzka with a beech-wood grill at the centre of the room. Traditional Polish grilling, table service nightly.
Signature: Beech-smoked highlander lamb, Grilled trout
Order: The beech-smoked lamb shank, and oscypek with cranberry jam to start.
Tip: Ask for the vaulted-cellar room over the courtyard. Open daily from 13:00.
Morskie Oko in Kraków cooks Tatra-highlander Polish in a wooden-room dining hall with live folk music. Oscypek, kwaśnica cabbage soup, slow lamb.
Signature: Oscypek with cranberry, Highlander lamb stew
Order: Grilled oscypek with cranberry and the kwaśnica sour-cabbage soup with smoked pork ribs.
Tip: Live highlander folk music in the dining room most evenings; check ahead for the schedule.
The Christmas market on Kraków's Rynek Główny runs from late November to 26 December: 80 stalls of mulled wine, grilled oscypek, pierogi and Polish craft.
Tip: Late November to 26 December only. Mulled wine in a souvenir mug is the order; grilled oscypek the dish.
More cities are in research. Want oscypek covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.