Question about making Perogies?

[mtblujeans]

Piroshky are usually baked or even fried aren't they? at least all the ones I have eaten at various Russian places.

Piroshky Piroshky is one of my favourite places to eat in Seattle - the line often goes out the door. They make a large variety of fillings and dessert items. My favourite is cheese and potato, or potato with mushroom and onion.

http://www.piroshkybakery.com/MENU/index.html

I've also seen some fried looking versions over the years, but the baked ones taste better, I think

Ok, OT....the next time we head over to Seattle, I know where to eat!

 

[BethR]

And what about the related Czech 'kolache'? I've eaten many of those, both sweet and savoury. They aren't quite like piroshky but similar

The people that I will be with tomorrow and Wednesday are Czech - or Slovak or a combination of both. I will ask them about this. I always thought that kolache meant any kind of sweet baked good. I did not know that there were savory fillings too. Ummmummmumm.

 

[Illuminations_Rocks]

And what about the related Czech 'kolache'? I've eaten many of those, both sweet and savoury. They aren't quite like piroshky but similar

I did find it interesting that in the US there is actually a chain of kolache restaurants!

http://www.kolachefactory.com/menus/index.asp

mmmmmmmm yummy!

I went to the site and it says they deliver nationwide! hmmmm might have a package or two soon, haha.

If I ever cooked I think I'd be making a lot of these foods!

 

[IluvKingLouis]

I looked up the Kolache Factory and discovered there is one 27 miles away from us in the Denver area. It's a definate must for us!

 

[EMom]

We were in Russia for a month and visited St. Petersburg. Moscow and Ekaterinburg, plus more remote areas. We ate enough "perozhi" to make us explode. I think I can clear this up.
Russians use the word differently. What they call perozhi/perozhki (spelling may differ, but it's all phonetic) is NOT what the rest of Eastern Europe is referring to as a perozhi. Some Russian stores/restaurants in America may have given up and gone over to the custom of using the more common EE term, but I'll use the Russian food terms as they use them in Russia.

When we got home, we craved perozhis. People said, "Oh, you can buy those at ____." I'd dash to the store but what I'd see looked like a big version of pelmini or vareniki, which is a dumpling filled with various things, most commonly ground meat, onions, or potatoes.

Pelmini/Vareniki---We also ate these until we nearly exploded. They look like tortellini, sort of, but the dough is more tender. They can be stuffed with ground meat, onions, potatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, etc. Whether they are called pelmini or vareniki may depend on the filling, but I'm not sure. They're basically the same thing. You boil them. As Russians will do, they love to serve them with sour cream. When we got home and searched for perozhi, THIS (pelmini) is more like what we found. Only the perozhis/pierogies were a lot bigger and half-moon shaped. Still, they were dumplings that you boiled. Then some packages recommended you brown them in butter???? These are what most of the rest of the world calls pierogies.


This is when we confirmed with some Russians that not all perozhis were created equal.

Russian perozhis---These are more like pastries. They are crusty and have a filling. The filling can be sweet or savory. They put just about anything in there. Sometimes we'd have a meat and potato perozhi to start and an apple or (cream) cheese perozhi for dessert. Clearly, a Russian perozhi/perozhki will never be mistaken for the other kind of pierogi.

But since the words sound the same, it gets confusing. If you're a pierogi nut and visit Russia, order pelmini. It rocks!

 

[bavaria]

Believe me, I love my vereniki and my piroshky and would never confuse the two!!! . I actually now like vereniki more than pirogies

 

[EMom]

Believe me, I love my vereniki and my piroshky and would never confuse the two!!! . I actually now like vereniki more than pirogies

What's your defintion of each? And what in what country did you eat them? I hadn't heard of vareniki outside Russia, but then that's where I ate it, period. No other country.

In Russia, it also seemed to be a regional thing. In Siberia, the term "pelmini" seemed to be more common than "vareniki"......But maybe that was because we were eating at The Pelmini House on a near daily basis.

A picture of a Russian pirozhi/pirozhki!!!!!
http:www.crixacakes.com/archives/russian

The Russian vareniki we ate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varenyky

The Russian pelmini we love and still buy at a Russian store!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelmeni

 

[EMom]

Now you've done it. I've got to go to the Russian store tomorrow and buy some Siberian meat pelmini. Hope you're happy.

 

[merekc]

I just had to post and say....Who would of thought a thread about pierogi would be about to start it's fifth page and be so educational?

 

[bavaria]

I've eaten vereniki and piroshky lots of places in Europe and even a few in North America (see my link to Piroshky Piroshky in Seattle on the previous page)

Vereniki are small softer dumplings about the size of small tortellini; piroshky are usually baked (I have seen fried but don't like them) with sweet or savoury fillings

Russian Mennonites in North America often serve vereniki, for example. And I have been to several Russian restaurants in North America which serve excellent piroshky or vereniki.

 

[EMom]

Believe me, I love my vereniki and my piroshky and would never confuse the two!!! . I actually now like vereniki more than pirogies

Yes, it's a Russian perozhi!!!----I looked at your links to pirozhi/pirozhki and THEY are what we ate in Russia and knew as perozhi. Baked or fried, but basically filled pastries. They could be sweet or savory. Unlike American pastries, the dough was not sugary sweet. Just a dough....pie dough like? Flakier? Hard to describe, but not sweet like a turnover. I don't know if anyone else calls them perozhi except Russians.

Most people in other parts of Europe and America seem to call a bigger version of vareniki "pierogis." Same sound, much different creature. Dough-filled concotions with any number of things inside (often meat, potatoes, onions) and boiled. They often are shaped like tortellini or half-moons. In Russia, depending on the region and sometimes the filling or dumpling size, that would have been called vareniki or pelmini. I swear, the whole "is it vareniki or pelmini" argument also seems to have a lot to do with what your Russia babushka taught you. Kind of like, "What is the proper way to make Southern dressing?" All I can say is that if you were blindfolded and did a vareniki vs. pelmini taste test, to a non-Russian they would be virtually indistinguishable. Double yummy.

Without this thread, if most of these people ever visited Russia and ordered perozhis/pierogies, they would be in for a BIG surprise.

 

[bavaria]

I realize that you don't 'know' me as I don't tend to read or post much on the Budget Board, but as my user name indicates I am German. I travel about 300 days a year and spend my time between Europe and North America mostly.

I don't know why I feel the need to explain myself, other than I feel that my information or access to these items is somehow being questioned. Being from Europe, perhaps these foods are easier to find than in America. My small town in Bavaria had a cheap restaurant which sold vereniki; even my local Italian grocer has a pasta counter for cheap lunches and they serve vereniki. I spend time in Mennonite communities in North America and can similarly find these items.

I'm glad that this thread was started to provide information, recipes, and links. I was happy to share my favourite piroshky place in North America. Perhaps I am misreading the tone of some of the previous posts, but I can certainly assure you that I do regularly eat both vereniki and piroshky. (And am frankly confused as to why I have to explain that to strangers!)

 

[IluvKingLouis]

Bavaria,

I've appreciated your posts and links. I don't think anyone was questioning your knowledge, we were all just comparing our experiences and how some of these dishes will differ from various regions or "morph" as recipes get handed down in families.

For one, I was way off when I started this link. I was calling a Peroshky a Perogie, so I'm certainly no expert here!

Thanks for sharing. I may be checking with you for some German recipes. I opften get a hankering for Zigeunershcnitzel.

 

[bavaria]

One quick lesson in history and geography for today before I sign out, which may explain why there are so many names for the same item, or why people know different variations on foods.

Please know that there are hundreds of variations of foods across Europe. Parts of Poland and Russia were once part of Germany, so many foods crossed what are the frontiers on todays maps. Thus names of items may mean one thing to one person, and something else to another.

For instance, the Russian town of Kaliningrad used to be the German town of Königsberg. Königsberger Klopse is a German dish which I am certain has gone under a different Russian name over the past 60 years. So if you asked a Russian and a German they would call it something very different but most likely serve the same item. And after the wall came down and the Soviet empire disintegrated, tourism by older Germans who were returning to their destroyed town of Königsberg was popular in the 1990's. They in turn brought back some German terms and recipes.

There are towns in Europe which were once German, Polish, and Russian. The ethnic mix changed as different rulers came into power, and as a result some foods changed names, or new foods were introduced.

Lesson over for today!

 

[EMom]

What I've been trying to determine is if ANYONE except Russians use the term "perozhis/perozhkis/pierogies" to refer to a filled pastry that is either baked or fried. (The parts of Russia I visited, both European and Asian, were always Russian, never part of another country.)

I've never heard anyone except Russians use that term for the pastry-type food. Everyone else seems to use the term "perozhi/perozhki/pierogi" to mean a filled dumpling that is boiled. And in Russia, they called that a vareniki or pelmini.

So when we got home and started looking for perozhi and pelmini, we had no end of trouble, due to difference in the way the words are used. That is, until we found a Russian store. Then, the words matched the foods and we got what we wanted.

So......Does anybody know if anyone other than Russians call the filled pastries "perozhis/perozhkis/pierogies"? (Not the boiled dumplings)

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

I married into a large Polish Family. Little did I know that Pierogi were not just made by the Broadway Market or Mrs T. I married into an Christmas/Easter Tradition that can lead up to 100lbs of fresh Polish Sausage and approximately 100 dozen pierogi. I am still ridiculed for my pronunciation of the word but hey I am willing to give the recipes and fillings.....

Pierogi Dough (can be doubled/tripled depending on who is in control of the rolling pin)

2 cups flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 to 1/2 cup water

Mix and roll thin enough to fill and not break, but not thick (well unless you like paste flavored dough.) Circles should be cut out from the dough. Traditionally you would use the Sauerkraut Can as it is a perfect size but I am not polish, I bought a Pierogi folder kit

Fillings:

Cheese
Equal parts of farmers cheese to ricotta cheese and 1 egg per pound of cheese. Salt, pepper to taste.

Potato
Mashed potato with very little butter or milk. Old fashioned strength needed to smooth out. You may grate cheddar cheese and add if preferred. OR if your like me you grate Jalepeno Jack...Yummo!!

Sauerkraut

One can sauerkraut drained and thouroughly rinsed. One small onion finely diced. Sautee in butter til reduced. Add sugar til semi-sweet. This should not be a bitter filling. It is a savory sweet filling.

Sweet Dessert Pierogi - Prune (yeck)

Use large prunes. Pour boiling water over prunes and let stand overnight. Drain. Remove stones. Use one prune, sprinkled or rolled in sugar for each dumpling.

Take the filling by teaspoon full and place on one side of the circle dough. Wet edges, fold over and krimp with a fork. (Now you see why I bought the kit). Kit instructions. Through dough circle on top, plop one teaspoon inside, wet edge, fold over. Done!!!

Prepare 4 large containers of boiling water with a small amount of oil in the water. Drop 6-8 pierogis into boiling water until they rise to the top. Remove, drain, cool, and dry. Package for freezer (6 months), or refrigerator for up to a week. Best storage: Lay flat in a freezer/storage bag after cooling. Seal.

Cooking:

Butter and onions sauteed in pan for cheese, sauerkraut, and potato. Add pierogi, fry til crisp. Enjoy!!

Sweet pierogi's delete onions!!

Hey does anyone need to know how to make the fresh polish sausage

Small batches make great treats for the family and actually a few hours work will produce enough to freeze and enjoy as side dishes...

 

[bavaria]

So......Does anybody know if anyone other than Russians call the filled pastries "perozhis/perozhkis/pierogies"? (Not the boiled dumplings)

Yes. In Germany most often the baked item is Piroschki. The boiled item (larger) is Piroggi and is from a variety of countries including eastern German regions. The small boiled dumplings are Vereniki.

Because there were Germans in the Wolga region (Wolgadeutsche), 'Piroschki' are not just considered Russian in Germany.