In the Antokol cemetery in the family quarters of the Zawadzki family, there is a plaque commemorating Wincenta Zawadzka (also known as Wincentyna Zawadzka), who was the daughter of the Vilnius printer and bookseller, Aleksander Żółkowski, and the wife of the publisher Adam Zawadzki. Above all, however, she became famous as the author of a cookbook published under the pseudonym W.A.L.Z.. Her democratic approach to cooking won her many female and male readers. She undoubtedly owed much to her predecessors Jan Szyttler and Anna Ciundziewicka. The latter was buried in Kishchyna Sloboda and in the family burial chapel, unfortunately not preserved to our times.

Jan Szyttler was not the only Vilnius cook and writer who introduced modern cuisine to Polish tables and recipes written in such a way that they could be used not only by master chefs, but also by ordinary people. Between the works of Szyttler, the first democratiser of cuisine on Polish soil, and Lucyna Ćwierczakiewiczowa, extremely popular at the end of the 19th century and admired by, among others, Bolesław Prus, there were other books published in the outhouses of Vilnius, which gained immense popularity in Poland under the partitions. Two such authors, in a way „pupils” of Szyttler, were Anna Ciundziewicka and Wincenta Zawadzka.

Anna Ciundziewicka (Proszynska) is a Polish landowner who was born in 1803 in Koraliszczewice in present-day Belarus (Ihumenský Novgorod, Minsk Governorate). She was very quickly sent to Vilnius to attend a boarding school, while not much later she married Józef Ciundziewicki and settled in Kiszczyna Sloboda in the Borisov district.

Her „Gospodyni litewska” was published by and printed by Józef Zawadzki. The full title was „Gospodyni litewska, czyli Nauka utrzymywania porządnie domu”. The book was also published in numerous editions, expanded with new recipes, added by Wincenta Zawadzka, Józef Zawadzki's daughter-in-law. It is worth noting here, however, that Ciundziewicka's publication is not simply a cookery book, but rather something like a wide-ranging farm handbook, in which we can find recommendations for keeping every part of the household clean and tidy, from the cowshed to the kitchen, and even the issue of accounting for expenses and income, as well as various farm tips. What is more, one will also find various issues related to livestock, also in a health context. Ciundziewicka presents some advice of a purely veterinary nature. And not only that, because, as this is a mixture of cookery and farm book, we are also dealing here with recipes for a home first-aid kit, which includes not only tinctures to nourish the spirit, but also remedies for laxation or to stimulate perspiration. So whereas „Kucharka oszczędna” and other works by Jan Szyttler were intended for landowners but focused exclusively on the kitchen, in Ciundziewicka's work we will find primarily farm recommendations on how to manage the upkeep of pigs or cattle. In the context of Szyttler and the inspiration of the Vilnius cook, Ciundziewicka writes quite extensively about smoking and preserving meats and cold cuts – it is a peculiar combination of farm tips and culinary recipes. In a way, it is more reminiscent of old Polish recipe lists or handbooks, which primarily served a specific farm. Unlike manuscript sources, however, Ciundziewicka's book, precisely in the spirit of democratic cuisine, is also intended as a general guide for other landowners.

. A slightly different story is connected with Wincenta Zawadzka ( de domo Żółkowska), who is behind the second extremely popular cookbook „Kucharka litewska”. This item was first published in 1854 under the pseudonym W.A.L.Z. Zawadzka herself had already appeared on the occasion of Anna Ciundziewicka – for she was the daughter of a Vilnius printer, Aleksander Żółkowski, who married Adam Zawadzki. The latter, in turn, was the son of Józef Zawadzki, who… published Anna Ciundziewicka's book. Wincenta Zawadzka herself was, by the way, the editor of the first edition of „Gospodynia litewska”, while in subsequent editions of uncontrolled

already by Ciundziewicka, she added her own additional recipes to that housekeeping guide. However, her activity as an editor and publisher was only one thing; the other was the publication of her own cookbook, namely „Kucharka litewska” which was also extremely popular and lived to see numerous editions and re-editions. The full title of the book is „Kucharka Litewska: containing: thorough and clear recipes, tested with my own experience, for the preparation of tasty, exquisite, cheap and simple various kinds of dishes, both meat and Lenten, as well as cakes, legumin, custards, jellies, preserves and other dessert delicacies, as well as numerous pharmacy provisions, preserves and rarer specialities, with a detailed table arrangement at the beginning of the book. Zawadzka mentions in the preface that her publication stems from the need for a book that would combine all the conditions of good, inexpensive and tasty cuisine. It is therefore a postulate similar to Shintler's. Zawadzka herself mentions explicitly that „one truly Szyttler, long-trained in his art, contains more practical recipes than other books of this kind, and was long sought after by our housewives, but his dishes were often too expensive[…]”. The slightly critical tone to which Zawadzka submits is mainly justified here in the context of „The Well-Settled Cook” which was, however, an elitist book. But apparently both „The Thrifty Cook” and other Szyttler publications written before the creation of „The Lithuanian Cook” seemed perhaps too sophisticated to Wincenta Zawadzka. Thus, she is a straightforward continuation of the democratisation, simplification and trimming of the luxury of nineteenth-century landed gentry cuisine. The book is divided into twenty chapters devoted exclusively to culinary recipes – in contrast to Ciundziewicka, Zawadzka focuses here mainly on the cooking side of running a farm. So we have separate sections devoted to soups, sauces, vegetables, individual meats, making cold dishes or leguminous dishes. There are separate sections for dumplings, pasta and łazanki, as well as waffles or andrutes. The final chapters continue with dessert dishes, i.e. all sorts of ice creams, jellies, cakes and pastries (including yeast cakes separately), syrups and homemade drinks, while the whole is topped off with three recipes for bread.

. As an example, here is the menu for December's day, Wednesday, composed by Zawadzka:

The menu is also given as follows.

Sauerkraut under the name Bigos hultajski

. Pour the required amount of sauerkraut over the beef bouillon, pour in the melted pork fat, salt, pepper and carcass. Dice the remaining meat from the bouillon, mix it with the cabbage, brown it with the flour browned in the fat, and roast it until it darkens, stirring to prevent it from falling into the stubble. It is a good idea to cover this vegetable with fried sausage at the release. While the cabbage is carcassing, you can put sliced dry bouillon in it.

. Rumy bouillon with vegetables

. Put a few sliced onions, some carrots and fresh tallow in the broth, top with as many pounds of chopped meat as there are people (if you add a little veal or a piece of skinned ham, that's half a pound of meat); pour in a little water, and cook until the meat is browned. Then pour in the water, add English pepper, salt, a bit of majrano, a variety of bunches of greens and boil for a couple of hours. Strain, collect the fat, clarify with egg whites and strain again through a napkin into a pot in which vegetables should be neatly cut: carrots, cauliflower, savoy cabbage, asparagus, jelly, potatoes, finely chopped parsley. All this should be cooked in a bouillon until soft and then served.
. For a variation, you can use less vegetables in this broth, but cook separately the cabbage or savoy cabbage, cut into four parts, stuffed with meat between the leaves, and put it in a tureen when served.

Evening veal brisket dish with brown sauce

. Break the ribs off at the brisket, flush out, sear and salt. Pour a quart of wine, some vinegar, beef bouillon into the stewpan, put in a couple of clove-stuffed onions, a couple of lemon plates, some bay leaf, put in the brisket cut into pieces, and cook until tender. Brown a spoonful of butter, fry a little chopped onion in it, take out the brisket, dip it in broken eggs, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and fry on both sides in the butter. Blow out the flavour strongly, strain and coat the brisket at the release.

Roasted black grouse

. Pluck and clean the black grouse, salt it, stuff it with pork fat and roast it on a spit topping it with butter.

. If you want it to be tastier, after stuffing it with pork fat, wrap it in paper well greased with butter, and roast it by pouring butter over the paper, taking care that it does not catch fire from excessive heat.
. Since the black grouse is freshly killed and old, it should be marinated in vinegar boiled with roots, turning it over every day for several days.
. For a change, you can roast it on a roasting tray in the oven, topping it with butter or cream.
It is delicious for coating beetroot carcasses.

Stuffed apple legumina baked

. Hollow out the centres of a dozen wine apples. Finely chop a couple of peeled apples, mix with sugar, raisins and a dozen or so chopped sweet almonds, as well as a few bitter ones for flavour; stuff the apples with this stuffing and bake. When the apples are ready, whisk a few egg yolks with sugar and a quarter of a quart of sweet cream, heat and stir until thickened, pour this over the apples on a plate and place in the oven for a short while.
. Proportion for 10 persons.