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13 November 2008

Perogies are made with yum.[More:]

Dough:
3c flour
1.5t salt
1 egg
3/4c water
4t oil

Combine flour and salt. Beat together egg, water, and oil, then stir into the flour mixture. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Knead until smooth. Form into two balls, cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and let rest for 20 minutes.

Filling:
1T butter
1/3c onion, finely chopped
1c cold mashed potatoes
3/4c shredded cheese (cheddar, parmesan, whatever)
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper

What, you don't have leftover mashed potatoes? Then you had better be boiling that shit right quick. Just don't make them too creamy, they need to be a little on the dry side like they've been sitting in the refrigerator for a day.

While the dough is resting, melt butter in skillet and cook onion until tender. Transfer to a bowl and add potatoes, cheese, salt, and pepper.

Roll out half of the dough to freakishly thin (1/16inch), or as thin as you can get it while a camera is pointed at your cleavage. Ask your boyfriend if the filling is ready for the dough, and then tell him he has to wait because the dough isn't ready. Using a tupperware container slightly bigger than your perogi press, cut the dough into rounds and stack them OCD-like.

Stretch the dough over your fancy perogi press and put a clump of the filling into the center. Squeeze the fancy press closed, creating an attractive crimped edge. Don't squeeze too hard and break the handles of the fancy press, because your girlfriend will mutter about men not belonging in the kitchen anyway, what the hell.

It would be wise to fill and crimp all of the perogies before charging ahead, but it's okay if hunger wins out over wisdom.

Bring a large pot to boil and boil the perogies until they float, about 90 to 120 seconds. If you are male, yank them from the boiling water and toss them into a pan of sizzling oil, spraying your lovely girlfriend until she cries.

If, however, you know what you are doing in the kitchen, remove the perogies from the water with a slotted spoon and place them on paper towels to drain before gently placing them in a skillet with a tablespoon of oil. Fry them on each side until crispy.

Serve with sour cream, if you want to ruin them. They would be great alongside a thick slice of ham and some zucchini.

Optional filling additions: bacon bits, chives, more cheese. Sauerkraut. Mushrooms.
≡ Click to see image ≡
posted by rhapsodie 13 November | 02:11
(and I spelled pierogies wrong every single time)
posted by rhapsodie 13 November | 02:22
Hmmm....I am scheming how I want to do this without a fancy pierogi press. These look yummy - I had to miss Polish fest this year, so I've been craving them...
posted by Sil 13 November | 02:29
We got ours at a garage sale for about a quarter. It's just plastic, actually pretty cheaply made. Hence the breaking-of0handles.
posted by rhapsodie 13 November | 02:30
Oh, GOD. Gimmee em NOW. NOW. NOW.

don't worry, rhaps - "Perogies" is just "Pierogies" without the first "I", which would be you, but retaining the second "I", which would be me, as in "I want em, gimmee em NOW".
posted by taz 13 November | 02:33
The church near my home spells it pyrohy.
posted by arse_hat 13 November | 02:49
I live in Poland, ground-zero for pierogi madness. It's awesome.
posted by mdonley 13 November | 04:09
The good thing about pierogies is that the extra calories that would, if in other foods, normally add fat, actually add sexy.
posted by Meatbomb 13 November | 04:41
I haven't had coffee, and I haven't read the other comments yet, but I just wanted to say that pierogies are the best food ever. When I'm up in Michigan, I get them from these women who make them by hand. One time I went to their place to buy some (normally sold in the stores, but I was nearby). They were really nice, and I got to eat some straight out of the big pot they were boiling in. They make the pierogies in a trailer next to their house.

I like the cabbage ones.
posted by Stewriffic 13 November | 06:25
Oh man. I'm craving me some pierogies right now.
posted by Specklet 13 November | 06:25
Actually, my dad told me the word pierogi *is* plural. A singular is a pierog.

We make just plain cheese ones with farmers cheese, grated onion, and egg (you can use ricotta if you can't find farmers cheese). Also we fry them in butter rather than oil.

We also make sauerkraut and mushroom ones. Yum!

P.S. They should always be served with sour cream.

Sil, I don't have a fancy pierogi press and my family has made them for years without one. We use a biscuit cutter to cut the circle out of the dough (or the edge of a glass or cup could work as well). You can use a fork to seal the edges, or just press them closed real hard with your fingers for a rustic look. Recently my mom bought this ravioli press thingy that we use to seal the edges nowadays, but it's totally unnecessary.

There's just something about making pierogi that makes people take pictures of the process.

Me making them by myself for the first time a few years ago
A family effort last Christmas

Pierogi are part of our traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner, served with fried fish (Christmas Eve was a meatless day on the Catholic calendar), fish chowder, and other goodies. Now it is no longer a meatless day, so we added kielbasa because allergies to seafood run in the Polish side of the family.
posted by misskaz 13 November | 07:09
I was just dropping in to say that misskaz is the pierogi queen, but she has step in already.

I was very glad my uncle married a Polish woman because she brought pierogi to our Christmases when I was young.
posted by terrapin 13 November | 08:13
Every church here seem to sell them as a fund-raiser. It's sort of the official food of Pittsburgh, we even have pierogi races at the Pirates games.
posted by octothorpe 13 November | 08:38
Well, hell, i'm going to Michigan for pierogi then.
posted by ethylene 13 November | 09:49
I love pierogi, but you know, I think the frozen ones are A-OK (and I'm not a big processed food person). It's not hard to find them with natural ingredients, and they cook up well. I like them sauteed in a tiny bit of butter with partially caramellized onions, then served with sauerkraut. Mmmm, good winter food.
posted by Miko 13 November | 10:00
I think I'm going to a Polish diner for lunch, now.
posted by gaspode 13 November | 10:06
Yeah, the frozen ones are a totally guilt-free guilty pleasure for me. I can't find them around here, but they're easy to come by in the Bay Area. I saw some at Trader Joe's last time I was there, but didn't have access to a freezer.

Along with the the carmelized onions and sour cream, a nice dollop of applesauce is quite a welcome addition.
posted by mudpuppie 13 November | 10:22
I take issue with this part of the wiki article:
There is a definite similarity to Italian ravioli. In East Asia, similar food is served, such as Chinese jiaozi, Japanese gyoza, and Korean mandu.
Because Korean mandu are etymologically and culturally very obviously a variant on Central Asian mantu, which are much better than peirogies.

And come to think of it, the reason they have them from Korea all the way to Tatarstan is likely that they were spread by the Mongols - which leads me to guess that pierogy, vareniki, and their ilk are merely poor peasant imitations of the ideal MANTU.
posted by Meatbomb 13 November | 10:43
I make mine just like Miko does.

I am very impressed you made your own, rhapsodie!
posted by LoriFLA 13 November | 10:56
I think it's spelled different ways in different languages -- I've always known them as "perogies" but I've seen it a million different ways.

Anyway, I've never made them, because it seems like every recipe makes about a billion and takes all day... which is good if you're a freezer/saver, but it would be nice to be able to make a smaller batch.

I've had some weird perogies but loved them... I love the traditional ones but the more offbeat ones -- spinach and feta, spinach and ricotta, curried lentils, squash!! -- have been really delish too.

Oh yum. Now I'm thinking about them.
posted by loiseau 13 November | 10:57
I enjoy the frozen ones too now and then - we just had some sauerkraut ones the other day alongside some homemade borscht. Yum! But to me they taste completely and totally different from my grandma's recipe. Partly it's a filling thing - my family's cheese ones don't have potato in them, and I've yet to find frozen cheese-filled ones like that. But it's mostly a dough thing. Not sure about rhapsodie's recipe, but the dough for my grandma's is a lot heavier and chewier than what I've seen in the frozen ones. Seriously, like 3 or 4 of the things are a meal.

I'm thinking of getting the pasta maker attachment for my kitchen aid, partly because I'm wondering if I can use that to roll out sheets of the dough rather than doing it by hand. loiseau is right that it is an all-day event, making pierogi, and we always make huge batches of them. I only ever make/eat the homemade ones at Christmas time.
posted by misskaz 13 November | 11:21
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

These were my favorite food from my childhood, and I haven't had one since my Polish mother passed away and took the recipe with her. I WILL be giving this a try.
posted by lordrunningclam 13 November | 12:04
Just chiming in to say that I love pierogies--even the Mrs. T's, though they're about as similar to the homemade version as an Oreo is.

It's not just Pittsburgh--the whole Eastern-European-immigrant Rust Belt loves 'em. Parma Pierogies is long since closed, but, at Melt, my favorite restaurant in Cleveland, you can get the Parmageddon--a grilled-cheese sandwich with potato/cheese pierogi, sauerkraut, onions and cheddar on it.
posted by box 13 November | 12:29
The things i'll go out for are the things that are too much time and mess for me to do myself, but i'm all for group effort food, because that's part of it (clambake, anyone?)
i avoid extreme frying because i like to not live in the smell of oil soaked into everything i own.
i had to do massive laundry recently because of the permeated stress smoking smell. And, of course, dust.
posted by ethylene 13 November | 12:47
I'm totally making pierogi(es) this weekend.
posted by Specklet 13 November | 12:47
This is making me so hungry.

I will definitely try them - they may not look as pretty but hey, my empanadas are pretty rustic looking too, and we never have leftovers from them...
posted by Sil 13 November | 12:51
Just kind of tangentially, here are some additional yummy things.
posted by Wolfdog 13 November | 13:39
At the East Village pirogi joints, for me the attraction was all about those carmelized onions, because I couldn't just boil them up.

Until I figured out that they're even easier to make. Slice a goodly quantity of onion and put them at low on a crock pot with some butter and salt. A dash of basalmic vinegar helps, but please, a good one. You only need a few drops of a real one. Ten hours is usable, I prefer twenty four. They shrink down quite a bit so use plenty of onions.

I've come to think of the pirogi as a caramelized onion delivery system.
posted by StickyCarpet 13 November | 13:56
How 'bout some placek next?

≡ Click to see image ≡
posted by Doohickie 14 November | 17:18
Pierogies aren't quite unavailable in California, but they sure aren't common.

When I was working at the private girls' school, we had some kind of Diversity Bingo game at the beginning of term, which involved answering various ethnic-themed questions. One of the students asked me what a pierogi was, and I had to tell her it was an "eastern European potsticker".
posted by tangerine 14 November | 18:12
Roller Derby Nationals in Portland, OR! || Attention Cookery Lovers.

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