Pierogi

Pierogis on Wikipedia 

Pierogi (also perogi, perogy, pirohi, piroghi, pirogi, pirogen, piroshke or pyrohy), from the Proto-Slavic "pir" (festivity) is the name most commonly used in English speaking areas to refer to a variety of Slavic semicircular (or, in some cuisines, square) stuffed dumplings of unleavened dough and varying ingredients. Their specific origins are unknown; though they have strong ties to Slavic culture, similar foods occur in many cultures across Europe and Asia.

In some languages, they are known by words derived from the root of the word "to boil", these include the Belarusan vareniki, Latvian vare%u0146iki (borrowed from Russian), Russian vareniki ,Ukrainian varenyky (literally "boiled thing," from the adjective form varenyy). In these languages, words derived from "pir", such as the Russian pirogi refer to a different type of food.

Pierogi are usually small enough to be served several or many at a time, so the singular form is rather rare; people usually talk about several of them. This has affected forms of the word in different languages.

In Polish, pierogi is plural, pieróg being singular (dashed o does not denote stress in Polish, but changes the pronunciation to English oo, like in look). Similarly, in Swedish, one of them would be a pirog while the plural form is created by adding -er at the end. Other Slavic languages follow that scheme (Ukrainian pyrizhky).

Many English-speakers, however, treat the names as singular and form the plural by adding -s, thus to many English speakers "pierogi" would be one dumpling, and "pierogies" would be several.

Pierogi are of an unknown origin. They have strong links to Slavic culture. These Slavic and non-Slavic peoples have Pierogi as a part of their culture: Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, Russians, Lithuanians, Latvians, and Slovaks. There is a definite similarity to Italian ravioli. In East Asia, similar food is served, such as Chinese jiaozi, Japanese gyoza, and Korean mandoo.

Ingredients
Pierogi are half circular dumplings of unleavened dough, stuffed with cheese, farmer's cheese, mashed or other forms of potato, sauerkraut, cabbage, onion, meat, mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, dry cottage cheese (the last two are rather Mennonite-specific), or any combination thereof, or with a fruit filling such as blueberry.

Mashed potatoes with farmer's cheese and onion are the most common filling and they are often called Ruskie pierogi. These pierogi come from Poland. Many people think that the English translation of this name is "Russian pierogi", but they are wrong, because "Russian" in Polish is "rosyjskie" (though 'Ruski' is used informally). "Ruskie pierogi" therefore refers to Ru%u015B rather than Russia.

[edit] Preparation
Typically, dough is rolled flat and then cut into circles using a cup or drinking glass. The filling is then placed and the dough folded over to form a half circle.

They are typically boiled until they float, and then covered with butter or oil; alternatives include the Mennonite tradition of baking and serving with borscht or with farmer's sausage and a creamy gravy called Schmauntfat in Plautdietsch, and the Polish way of boiling, then frying in butter. They are typically served with plenty of sour cream, less commonly with apple sauce, and the savory ones are often topped with fried bacon or cooked onions.

Hungary
In Hungarian cuisine, the pierogi (known in Hungarian as derelye) is used as primarily as a festive food for special occasions such as weddings. It was brought to Hungary by the merchant Andras Perl for his wedding with his wife Katalin in 1764. The Banki family, home to Katalin, was so moved by the pierogi that now, pierogi are common at most Hungarian weddings.

Jews
The Ashkenazi Jewish version of pierogi is known as pirogen or piroshke. Sometimes they are, perhaps mistakenly, called kreplach, but the word kreplach usually refers to a somewhat different style of dumpling.

Latvia
The Latvian are crecent shaped, baked (not boiled) and usually filled with bacon and onion. The Latvians have also developed other filling like kartupeu0101gi (with potatoes), (with mushroom), (with cabbage) and so on as well as desert versions filled with things like apples, rhubarb and cottage cheese.[1]

North America
Pierogi are widespread in Canada and the United States, having been popularized by Slavic immigrants, including the Mennonites. They are thus particularly common in areas with large Slavic-derived populations. Pierogi at first were a family food among immigrants as well as being served in ethnic restaurants. In the post-World War II era, freshly cooked pierogi became a staple of fundraisers by ethnic churches.

By the 1960s, pierogi were a common supermarket item in the frozen food aisles in many parts of the United States and Canada. Pierogis maintain their place in the grocery aisles to this day.

Numerous towns with Polish or Ukrainian heritage celebrate the pierogi. The city of Whiting, Indiana celebrates the food at its annual "Pierogi Fest" every July. Pierogies are commonly associated with Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There is a pierogi race at every home Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game.

Canada
The Canadian Prairies, in particular, have a large Ukrainian population, and their pyrohy (perogies) are very common. Since Canada also has immigrants from many other perogy-making cultures (not least Poles, Jews, and Mennonites), there is a wide diversity of recipes prepared.

Packed frozen perogies can be found everywhere Eastern-European immigrant communities exist, and are generally ubiquitous across Canada, even in big chain store like Canada Safeway or M&M Meat Shops. Such perogies are made by industrial machines, often built by Italian companies such as Arienti & Cattaneo, Ima, Ostoni, Zamboni, etc. Each perogy typically weighs around 20 grams, but resemble an oversized half-moon ravioli, as the Italian machines are also used in the production of Italian pasta. Typically frozen flavours include potato with either cheddar, bacon, or cottage cheese.

Home-made versions are typically filled with one of the following: mashed potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper (and frequently cheddar cheese), sauerkraut, or fruit. These are then boiled, and either served immediately, put in ovens and kept warm, or fried in oil or butter. Popular fruit varieties include strawberry, blueberry, and the distinctly Canadian saskatoon berry. Potato and cheese or sauerkraut versions are usually served with some or all the following: butter or oil, sour cream (typical), fried onions, fried bacon bits or kubasa (sausage), and a creamy mushroom sauce (less common).

National chain restaurants also feature the dish or variations. Boston Pizza has a sandwich and a pizza flavoured to taste like perogies, while Smitty's serves theirs as an appetizer deep-fried with salsa. Some Chinese Cafés in the prairies have taken to billing their potstickers (jiaozi) as "Chinese perogies".

Speakers of the local Canadian Ukrainian dialect call them pyrohy, which can be misheard pedaheh by Anglophones unaccustomed to the fast rolled-r sound, or alveolar trill. They are known as varenyky in standard Ukrainian, and pyrohy there refers to a different dish, which is often a source of confusion.

[edit] World's largest pierogi
In 1993, the village of Glendon, Alberta, Canada, unveiled its roadside tribute to this culinary treat: a 25-foot (7.6 m) fiberglass perogy (preferred local spelling), complete with fork.

[edit] United States
In the United States, the term Pierogi is commonly taken to mean Polish pierogi.

Many of these grocery brand pierogis contain non-native ingredients to appeal to general American tastes. Products include CHEEMO Potato, Bacon, & Romano Cheese Pierogi, CHEEMO Spinach & Feta Cheese Pierogi,[2], Mrs. T's Potato, Cheddar, and Jalapeño pierogi [3] and Trader Joe's Potato Cheddar or Chicken Pierogi.

Pierogi enjoyed a brief popularity as a sports food when Paula Newby-Fraser adopted them as her food of choice for the biking portion of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. For approximately a decade thereafter, Mrs. T's (the largest American pierogi manufacturer) sponsored triathlons, some professional triathletes and "fun runs" around the country. For many triathletes, pierogi represented a tasty alternative to simple pasta as a way to boost their carbohydrate intakes.

Pierogi consumption in the United States is largely concentrated in a geographical region dubbed the "Pierogi Pocket," an area including New York state, Pennsylvania, parts of the northern Midwest and southern New England. This region accounts for 68 percent of annual US pierogi consumption. Mrs. T's, based in Shenandoah, PA, names an annual pierogi capital of this region; the 2007 capital is Binghamton, NY.[4]

Poland
Pierogi (singular pieróg) are served in a variety of forms and tastes (ranging from sweet to salty to spicy) in Polish cuisine. Pierogi were traditionally peasants' food, but eventually spread in popularity throughout all social classes, including nobles. They are served at many festivals, playing an important role as a cultural Polish dish. At the 2007 Pierogi Festival in Krakow, 30,000 pierogi were consumed daily. Polish pierogi are often filled with quark, potatoes and fried onion, in such a form they are called Ruskie Pierogi. Poles traditionally serve two types of pierogi for Christmas Eve supper. One kind is filled with sauerkraut and dried mushrooms, another - small uszka, only with dried wild mushrooms is eaten with barszcz. Leniwe pierogi[5] ("lazy pierogi") are a different type of food, more similar to kopytka.

Russia
See also: Vareniki, Pelmeni, Bierock, and Runza
The Russian cognate pirog means pie. In Russian cuisine, the closest analogue to pierogi are vareniki. Pelmeni, which are meat filled, are also similar.

The diminutive form of pirog, pirozhok or pirozhki (plural, sometimes transliterated as piroshki or the Ukrainian pyrizhky) is a generic word for a baked or fried stuffed pastry. A common variety of them are baked stuffed buns made from yeast dough and often glazed with egg to produce the common golden colour. They may contain a sweet-based fillings such as stewed fruit, jam, or cottage cheese; a vegetable filling (mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions and egg, cabbage); meat or fish. The buns may be plain and stuffed with the filling, or else be made in a free-form style with strips of dough decoratively encasing the filling. The stress in pirozhki is properly placed on the last syllable:

As mentioned above, Polish speakers often call mashed potatoes with farmer's cheese and onion Ruthenian pierogi (Polish: Ruskie pierogi).

Slovakia
Pirohy are especially popular in eastern Slovakia.

Armenia
In Armenia, this stuffed bun is called 'Piroshki', which was brought into the Armenian Food Platter during Pre-soviet times, when Eastern Armenia was part of the Russian empire, and continued along to the times of the Soviet Union, and can still be found being made freshly on the streets of the many cities of Armenia today. In Armenia Piroshki is most commonly made with two different fillings, Meat or Potatoes.

Ukraine
Ukraine has some of the same word differentiation complexity as Russia made even more complex by differences among immigrant populations. Many North Americans of Ukrainian descent use the term pierogi, but the term varenyky or vareniki (from varyt', "to boil") may also be used, and Ukrainians also prepare the somewhat similar pelmeni. Pyrohi in Ukraine refers to a type of baked or fried dumpling generally served as dessert, filled with fruit or poppy seeds and made with a sweeter dough than that of the Varenyky.