ToC

Dough

We stole some recipe ideas from around teh intarwebz. Some from Jenny Jones, some from Susan’s Cooking School, some from this official-sounding institute place. The dough seems just about as bland as possible:

  • 2 1/2 cups (345 g) flour
  • 1 t salt
  • 1 cup (236 ml) water
  • 1 egg

Start with two cups of flour; add more along the way if your dough feels too sticky or more water if it feels too dry. You mix. You knead for a few minutes, trying to get the dough into a smooth and not very sticky texture. You let it rest for 20 minutes, covered.

You roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch (3ish mm). You cut it into circles 2 or 3 inches (5 to 7 cm) in diameter. You stuff the circles with the filling. You boil those until they float, a maybe a minute beyond that, tops, gently stirring to keep them from sticking. Then you either

  1. eat them, or
  2. fry them in a little oil to crispen them up before eating them.

Hint: it’s #2.

Ruskie Filling

Cheese, potato, and onion. Great for Lent, if you’re into that. Perhaps a few minced herbs and a dollop of sour cream, Schmand, smântână, or Greek-style yogurt to finish them off.

  1. Peel, boil, and coarsely mash about 2 pounds (1 kg) of potatoes. Salt the water for boiling.

  2. Sauté one small finely minced onion and a clove of garlic in a little butter.

  3. Add 200 g cottage cheese, farmer’s cheese, or ricotta cheese and the sautéed onion to the coarsely mashed potatoes and finish the job.

  4. Fill your circles of dough with the potato mash. They’ll support more than you think. Stretch the dough around blob of mash into a lumpy semi-circle shape and seal up the edges tightly by pressing the opposite edges of the dough circle together. You should wet those edges with a little water if they’re too dry or dry your fingers out with a little flour if they’re too sticky.

Pierogi Russki

Some people serve them with bacon in them or on the side, but that’s not strictly necessary (even if delicious).

Mushroom Filling

Really, there’s more to it than than just that. But not a lot more. Here are some inspiring recipes we plan to try sometime.

  • Epicurious’ version with two kinds of mushrooms
  • Chowhound’s version with just one kind of mushroom, but some dry sherry for some zing
  • Food52’s hybrid mushroom / potato version

Sauerkraut Filling

On our list still to try. Intriguing: sour cream is in the filling as a binder, (as opposed to outside the pierogi as a topping). Here is a contender: Sauerkraut Pierogi at thespruce.com

Meaty

Most frequently we’ve seen pork, or a beef-and-pork mixture. Would be pleased see results based on poultry – chicken, turkey, sheesh even duck?

How about this:

  1. Roast the duck, reserving the fat
  2. Cube the duck meat
  3. Fill up those pierogi with chopped roast duck and potato mash
  4. Boil as per usual
  5. Steam-fry ‘em in the duck fat
  6. Die happy