I used to make these often for potluck parties that I hosted myself - in Pittsburgh, where pierogi are so famous the baseball team has pierogi mascots race each other. [1] They’re a real crowd pleaser, the only hard part is that rolling and folding the dough thin enough requires the finger dexterity of an old babcia. (Polish grandma.)
So, unfortunately my pierogi often ended up being 2-3x thicker than the authentic ones from Poland.
Polish from Poland here: no need to roll them out thin. Might be a variation found in your family, but typical pierogi - including those made by my Grandma - have some fluff.
A different thing is how do you make the dough. I've recently been to a potluck organized by a Canadian friend as a token Polish person there and I've seen her look up recipes in which the recipes for dough were very creative - I've seen yoghurt, eggs, cream, butter etc. being added to it. Combine that with a sharp cheddar stuffing and I quickly got heartburn :)
The way we make dough is way simpler: 2:1 white flour and boiling hot water, nothing else. Some people might add eggs, but I never do. Mix roughly while it's hot, then knead really well, roll out, shape and boil in generously salted water till they float + 1 minute.
Now those "every single one is exactly the same" creates machine-made feel about them but some people don't care. Some are also using spoon or a fork to fold them, it's simpler and a middle ground between hand-made and "machine" made.
There's something weirdly universal about pierogi ruskie. I've not met anyone not liking them. Actually everyone I introduced to them loved the taste. (people usually try to look up polish delis / kitchens in the area that sell them afterwards) Given the simplicity of the ingredients, that's really impressive.
Sure, if you post on the internet that everyone seems to like X, there's surely going to be "that one person" somewhere. But over a larger number of people this still mostly holds.
Yep, sauerkraut + mushrooms are the most "traditional" and flavorful.
In the US, cheese and potato is pushed instead because it's cheap as fuck to produce. Basically they end up in supermarket shelves next to all the prepared foods that are 99% cheese and 1% meat at best.
I left Poland in 1983 and came back in 1992. Before we left, I had never had pierogi ruskie. If we had pierogi, they'd either be with fruit (strawberries or wild blueberries), sauerkraut and mushrooms or ground pork. That was pretty much it. We came back and ruskie were everywhere -- and rightly so.
This depends entirely on family traditions. My mother is from near the eastern border of Poland (Włodawa), my father from around Lublin, my wife from central Poland (Kutno).
Each family makes different versions of pierogi, even ruskie are different between the families. I (predictably) prefer the version that my mother makes, which has extra thin dough and slightly higher cheese to potato ratio, but all of them are good.
Other than ruskie I love pierogi z jagodami (with wild blueberries). They are the best summer food.
There's been an increase in some nasty parasite (can't remember which at the moment) among Poland's wild fox population. Foxes poop at wild blueberry bushes in the forests, and the parasites eggs get on the blueberries.
A parasite specialist quoted in the paper said that these eggs are so resilient they can survive boiling water or being baked in an owen. The parasite itself is a nasty one (e.g. will eat out your eye from inside if it lodges there). This convinced me to drop wild blueberry dishes I didn't prepare myself.
The big controversy in my house is that my Polish grandmother made pierogi with rolled edges and we ate them fried (the edges were my favorite part), but when I married a Polish woman who went to cooking school in Poland she insists that she's never heard of doing it that way and she does it the correct way. She'll now make a few with rolled edges for me, but most without.
Well, as someone who is Polish, there is a headache even I've had to deal with. There are people in Poland who have only lived in the cities and are oblivious to the regional and even rural takes on food. Especially because there's areas that straddle between Polish/Germany, Polish/Belarussian, Polish/Ukranian and so on historical influences
And by headaches I mean I would bring some polish dish to a company potluck, two crazed never-saw-cows-in-a-field types would rant how it isn't polish and the one old timer Pole would tell them to shutup as they haven't stepped one foot outside Warsaw before coming to the US.
+1 from me, as article mention one of the small annoyances I have.
My family comes from Red Ruthenia, region where ruskie pierogi comes from. Because of lingual characteristic they are usually linked to Russia (as mentioned in article) and so, with all the turmoil many restaurants decided to rename them: either to pierogi with potatoes and cheese or to galicean - as from Galicia, which is commonly perceived as Krakow (due to it being center of the region).
Krakow doesn't have as good pierogis (but there are other things worth seeing and eating there though) and is half-the-Poland away so it feels to me somewhat like a takeover of a legacy and stings. So if you ever have a chance - go visit Lublin or even smaller cities like Chelm or Zamosc. Food is absolutely terrific there (which I guess is thanks to charnozem soil [1] in the region).
> My family comes from Red Ruthenia, region where ruskie pierogi comes from
Is there any definitive proof behind that? My family too come from former Polish territories in Ukraine.
It feels like in the last decade all of Slavs have been rushing into claiming as their own many traditions. I find it sad and unnecessary.
In fact I suspect the dish to be popular to move of the former Kievan Rus' region and I know for sure potato and cheese vareniki to be very popular in Belarus and western Russia.
There’s no more proof than any other dish. It’s so popular that no one bothered to have a “protected origin” certificate.
Yet they predominantly are served in this region so having them being “ruskie” or “ruthenian” (a huge region) is much more fair than naming it Galician.
Writing from the Ukrainian side of Galicia here, I would point out that Krakow is far from being the center of the region. Przemyśl or Zamosc lie much closer to the center if you include our side of Galicia where pierogis are widely popular as well.
Matter of fact my family and many others here cook and eat them every week on Sunday, which I now hold as a near and dear tradition. There is something special about rolling and folding the dough together, boiling the pierogis, cooking the mushroom/onion sauce.
Since this is a food cherished by both Poles and Ukrainians I find the name "galicean" a great fit as well, since it's a region shared between the two countries.
You're completely correct when it comes to geography. I made a mental shortcut, as Polish Galicia
Was concentrating around Krakow, which I suppose is an effect of a bias in which I’m not alone ;)
In such Zamość region is completely removed from “Galician cuisine” mentioning Jewish, Austria, Krakow and Ukraine. Weird omission (but many regional to Krakow dishes are described as “Galician” which I suppose is a reason.
So the misattribution risk is still there due to bias even though geographically it’s correct. I’d still rather preserve name, as the more to the west the worst the pierogi gets (which is a shame).
Whiting, Indiana has a Pierogi festival in the fall, that is pretty big. The local Ukrainian Church in my home town says:
"PIEROGIES, PYROHY, VARENYKY
(They're the best whatever you call them!)
at St. Josaphat Ukrainian Catholic Church
in Munster, Indiana!
You can purchase pierogies/pyrohy/varenyky every Friday from 12:00pm to 3:00pm in our hall at 8624 White Oak Ave, Munster, Indiana. We encourage to place your order early each week on the phone to ensure your order can be filled - extras may not be available for walk-ins."
They also have a festival just before Orthodox Easter... and we always go and load up on them, and the various breads and sausages that vendors offer.
Tradition here has potato pierogis fried in butter with a little bit of onions.
There is hardly any grain-cultivating population in the world that doesn’t have dumplings of some sort. Interestingly, however, the Romanian term colțunași is from Italian by way of Modern Greek, so it cannot be more than a few centuries old in Romanian. One therefore wonders what the earlier Romanian term for dumplings was, or whether dumplings were commonly eaten at all when the Vlach economy was still centered around transhumance.
I've eaten pierogi in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, and the diversity and breadth of the dish makes them totally different than what you can find in Romania. I would say that colțunași are a subset of pierogi, since they're only filled with fresh cottage cheese filling and served only with sourcream (smântână). Also, I've encountered them only in the northern part of the country and nowhere else. So, I wouldn't say that we eat the same dish in Romania. Please let me know if you have found them in other parts of the country.
We have them in neighboring Slovakia too (not surprising), filling is mostly some potato+cheese paste (but you can end up with sweet ones with ie plums in some households).
The dough is pretty much tasteless, so depends what you fill into it and what you pour on it. Overall nothing comparable to say French fine cuisine but its a bit of our history since historically peasants ate these kind of things and meat was only for special occasions.
Readit News
So, unfortunately my pierogi often ended up being 2-3x thicker than the authentic ones from Poland.
1. https://youtu.be/6w5MDNjg9zU
A different thing is how do you make the dough. I've recently been to a potluck organized by a Canadian friend as a token Polish person there and I've seen her look up recipes in which the recipes for dough were very creative - I've seen yoghurt, eggs, cream, butter etc. being added to it. Combine that with a sharp cheddar stuffing and I quickly got heartburn :)
The way we make dough is way simpler: 2:1 white flour and boiling hot water, nothing else. Some people might add eggs, but I never do. Mix roughly while it's hot, then knead really well, roll out, shape and boil in generously salted water till they float + 1 minute.
But yeah it was more that mine often looked like empanadas, except boiled and fried. Still tasty, but not as thin as the ones I have here in Poland.
For that matter, American pierogi are larger and more potato-based than Polish pierogi.
https://www.amazon.com/Utensils-Stainless-Ravioli-Dumpling-A...
Now those "every single one is exactly the same" creates machine-made feel about them but some people don't care. Some are also using spoon or a fork to fold them, it's simpler and a middle ground between hand-made and "machine" made.
sauerkraut+mushrooms pierogi are the best
In the US, cheese and potato is pushed instead because it's cheap as fuck to produce. Basically they end up in supermarket shelves next to all the prepared foods that are 99% cheese and 1% meat at best.
jk - pierogi are like dogs: there're just no bad pierogis
Each family makes different versions of pierogi, even ruskie are different between the families. I (predictably) prefer the version that my mother makes, which has extra thin dough and slightly higher cheese to potato ratio, but all of them are good.
Other than ruskie I love pierogi z jagodami (with wild blueberries). They are the best summer food.
A parasite specialist quoted in the paper said that these eggs are so resilient they can survive boiling water or being baked in an owen. The parasite itself is a nasty one (e.g. will eat out your eye from inside if it lodges there). This convinced me to drop wild blueberry dishes I didn't prepare myself.
Pierogi Ruskie is my #1 food when going back. That cheese filling with onion + a good dollop of sour cream. They are the best pierogi for me.
And by headaches I mean I would bring some polish dish to a company potluck, two crazed never-saw-cows-in-a-field types would rant how it isn't polish and the one old timer Pole would tell them to shutup as they haven't stepped one foot outside Warsaw before coming to the US.
My family comes from Red Ruthenia, region where ruskie pierogi comes from. Because of lingual characteristic they are usually linked to Russia (as mentioned in article) and so, with all the turmoil many restaurants decided to rename them: either to pierogi with potatoes and cheese or to galicean - as from Galicia, which is commonly perceived as Krakow (due to it being center of the region).
Krakow doesn't have as good pierogis (but there are other things worth seeing and eating there though) and is half-the-Poland away so it feels to me somewhat like a takeover of a legacy and stings. So if you ever have a chance - go visit Lublin or even smaller cities like Chelm or Zamosc. Food is absolutely terrific there (which I guess is thanks to charnozem soil [1] in the region).
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galicia_(Eastern_Europe)
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernozem
Is there any definitive proof behind that? My family too come from former Polish territories in Ukraine.
It feels like in the last decade all of Slavs have been rushing into claiming as their own many traditions. I find it sad and unnecessary.
In fact I suspect the dish to be popular to move of the former Kievan Rus' region and I know for sure potato and cheese vareniki to be very popular in Belarus and western Russia.
Yet they predominantly are served in this region so having them being “ruskie” or “ruthenian” (a huge region) is much more fair than naming it Galician.
In such Zamość region is completely removed from “Galician cuisine” mentioning Jewish, Austria, Krakow and Ukraine. Weird omission (but many regional to Krakow dishes are described as “Galician” which I suppose is a reason.
So the misattribution risk is still there due to bias even though geographically it’s correct. I’d still rather preserve name, as the more to the west the worst the pierogi gets (which is a shame).
Tradition here has potato pierogis fried in butter with a little bit of onions.
The dough is pretty much tasteless, so depends what you fill into it and what you pour on it. Overall nothing comparable to say French fine cuisine but its a bit of our history since historically peasants ate these kind of things and meat was only for special occasions.
but years later that experience was overshadowed when i tried their traditional zurek soup -- now that was divine