Pierogi...To fry or not fry...

ChefRoss ... I really really so very much want to tell you what to do, the correct answer ... you know ... my opinion. We are however adults, and professionals, that should need to realize that there are many differences in customs and preferences. Pierogi are a food product that can truly be "Burger Kinged", so-to-speak; people can "have them their way". Pierogi are to me, their own food group. I've eaten as many pierogi as any other food item. The way I like them best; the only I will cook or serve them; the absolute proper way for pierogi to be made is ... lightly boiled then pan-fried brown in butter. Any other way is blasphemous. 

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'. 

Pierogi. When I visit my sister in Fall River Ma. It's alway Piorei time she married into a Polish family and 1/2 the town is Polish the other 1/2 Portugese. I went to the basement of the local church and there were all the town woman making them for the annual fair.  They make potato and onion only.1000s of them . They serve by simply sauteing in oil or butter till lightly browned then drve with sour cream on side. I make them home quite often with a Sauce Smitane. My wife and I love them.. Deep fried they are good as an hor d ourve.

Pan fried in brown butter or poached and tossed with butter and fresh chives...YUM!

Summertime: Boiled and tossed with a bit of butter. Sour cream on the side

Winter:  Tossed into a pan of onions that have been caramelized with a lot of bacon, and sweated a bit.

HEY!! I never said I was an expert....................

That is exactly how I serve them. On rare occasion with kielbasa and sauerkraut and a good mustard & black bread.

Petals.

ChefRoss : fried in chicken shmaltz, now that sounds interesting.

In Russia, fried pierogi are usually considered as a some kind of "low-end" pierogi. And there is an opinion that a true art of making pierogi is about baking, but not frying. :)

Low end ?  I don't know about that. My husband is Polish and pierogi is like a staple....

There are no wrong or right ways of serving up a pierogi, if it made right and cooked to the delight of your own palate , how can it be wrong ?

Which brings me to , kirniki.....although you can't beat potato.

I never baked a pierogi in my life. wouldn't that dry it out ?

Petals.

ps. pierogi's into a sweet dish can be very nice.

Baked Pierogi ? This has to look like an Empinada and be kind of hard crust.  When I was in Soviet Union ,I never saw Pierogi anywhere, just Shiska on skewers.

Quote:

Actualy, I don't want to say that there is something wrong about Polish pierogi. Not at all.

I'm just curious how it happened that a single slavic word "pierogi" is being used to name completely different dishes. :)

There is a dish very similar to what Chefros is talking about in Ukraine. It's called "varenniki" and it's always poached and rarely fried. It's popular in Russia as well, but usually never fried.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

Baked Pierogi ? This has to look like an Empinada and be kind of hard crust.  When I was in Soviet Union ,I never saw Pierogi anywhere, just Shiska on skewers.

Lucky you. :) Definetely, you was in some other Soviet Union. Not the one that I used to live in and that I travelled through from Irkutsk to Kiev and from Samarkand to Leningrad. :)

I make this conclusion because I've never seen no one who put cone of pine tree ("shishka") on skewers. :)

Sorry, but this is what they called it, and our intourist guide aso called it that. Was in Kiev, Leningrad, Odessa,Minx,Moscow etc. Never saw it. When I was in russia, it was under communist rule, could be different now, I don;t know. I also remember in one restaurant getting a few slices of fresh pineapple for dessert was a  great thing?

My personal preference is for them to be fried, but then again I almost always opt for fried, if given the choice, over steamed when it comes to most foods, even if it isn't necessarily authentic.  I have a number of friends who come from Eastern European roots and I would say that they are pretty well divided about how pierogis are traditionally made.

This is how I know them to be called to  : "Pead-a-hay." ....   my mother-in-law  says : "pye" and not "pe" and the "r" is rolled so fast  with  the end sounding  just like "hay".

I like to blanch my pierogi before freezing.

Blanch,  let them cool, put on tray and freeze, remove &  toss in bag and put back in freezer. They keep their shape and it cuts the cooking time for future use.

Petals.

The ones that come frozen today regadless of brand are almost all blanched, or as they call it " Instant" you bring water to a boil, put them in and when they float(a few minutes ) take out and drain. They are not all that bad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chefross 

I have some Canadian friends with Ukrainian ancestry and they make Pierogi but they pronounce them as "Pead-a-hay." 
 

 

Right. I bet your friends are from western part of Ukraine. They have very nice and soft pronunciation, so common "ro" sometimes sounds like "da" or "ta" and "gi" ("ги" in cyrillic) sounds like "hay".

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

Sorry, but this is what they called it, and our intourist guide aso called it that. 

No, they didn't. Trust me, this is absolute linguistic nonsense. And it was always so, because word "shishka" exists for centuries and it always meant "cone of pine tree". 

Actually, as you know, Russian pronunciation is very different from English or American and sometimes it's very difficult for foreigners to catch and repeat exact phrase. So, I think this is the reason. As I already said in another topic, most probably they said "shashlik".

Quote:

Originally Posted by chefedb 

When I was in russia, it was under communist rule, could be different now, I don;t know. I also remember in one restaurant getting a few slices of fresh pineapple for dessert was a  great thing?

 

I think that you should not have said "sorry". Actually, I am very sorry for these folks from Intourist that left you with really strange impression about Russian cuisine. If you'll decide to visit Moscow once again, please drop me a message and I'll try to do my best to improve your impression that is absolutely disasterous in my opinion.

 

Well, but let's return to pierogi. If you want, I can provide written references from any period since 18th century that pierogi were baked. :)