Twenty years ago, when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down and the Soviet Union came unglued, Cook & Tell observed the dramatic changes with a special menu. We promoted Hungarian Goulash, Czech Noodles and Cabbage, a Polish Leek Salad, and Moravian Sugar Cake. Herewith, an edited version of the accompanying ramble from the March 1990 issue. You may need to scout up some old maps and any Modern European History textbooks swiped from high school or college to help you wade through the puns.  Here goes:

If you don’t feel like Russian around the kitchen, soviet. But if you’re Hungary, make the goulash. There’s a lot of tomatoes in that dish (some are dried, Samarkand; we use fresh). The Noodles and Cabbage yields several Serbians.  Now then, shall we Gdansk? You’ll really Lech this Polish salad, and the dessert is wonderful: Its yeasty flavor will Estonia. Moravia, it makes thirty to forty pieces, which is a Latvia trouble.

Well, enough of that. Celebrate the fall – of the leaves and the Wall – with
Czech Noodles and Cabbage:

8 ounces medium-width noodles
½ head of cabbage
½ teaspoon salt
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 Tablespoons butter or more

Cook the noodles and keep them hot in a sieve over hot water or in the top of a double boiler. Use a chef’s knife to chop the cabbage fairly fine; you want to see little flakes when you sauté it and not have it turn to mush.

Now then, put the chopped cabbage into a bowl with the salt for 15-30 minutes, and then squeeze out the liquid (a surprising amount). Melt the butter in a skillet and sauté the onion till golden. Add the cabbage and a few grinds of black pepper. Sauté till the cabbage is golden, adding more bits of butter if necessary. Toss with the noodles.

Serves 4.

Write if you need help with Samarkand or Lech. Or go Googling. Long live freedom!

Karyl Bannister writes and illustrates the newsletter Cook & Tell, published ten times a year.