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Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

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Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#31

Post by xlii »

keiferski wrote: post #16

I used to make these often for potluck parties that I hosted myself - in Pittsburgh, where pierogi are so famous the baseball team has pierogi mascots race each other. [1] They’re a real crowd pleaser, the only hard part is that rolling and folding the dough thin enough requires the finger dexterity of an old babcia. (Polish grandma.) So, unfortunately my pierogi often ended up being 2-3x thicker than the authentic o…

There's a trick for that!

https://www.amazon.com/Utensils-Stainless-Ravioli-Dumpling-A...

Now those "every single one is exactly the same" creates machine-made feel about them but some people don't care. Some are also using spoon or a fork to fold them, it's simpler and a middle ground between hand-made and "machine" made.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#32

Post by worklaptopacct »

keiferski wrote: post #16

I used to make these often for potluck parties that I hosted myself - in Pittsburgh, where pierogi are so famous the baseball team has pierogi mascots race each other. [1] They’re a real crowd pleaser, the only hard part is that rolling and folding the dough thin enough requires the finger dexterity of an old babcia. (Polish grandma.) So, unfortunately my pierogi often ended up being 2-3x thicker than the authentic o…

Polish from Poland here: no need to roll them out thin. Might be a variation found in your family, but typical pierogi - including those made by my Grandma - have some fluff.

A different thing is how do you make the dough. I've recently been to a potluck organized by a Canadian friend as a token Polish person there and I've seen her look up recipes in which the recipes for dough were very creative - I've seen yoghurt, eggs, cream, butter etc. being added to it. Combine that with a sharp cheddar stuffing and I quickly got heartburn :)

The way we make dough is way simpler: 2:1 white flour and boiling hot water, nothing else. Some people might add eggs, but I never do. Mix roughly while it's hot, then knead really well, roll out, shape and boil in generously salted water till they float + 1 minute.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#34

Post by OfSanguineFire »

keiferski wrote: post #26
k_bx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Don’t think I’d explain it as being that simple. Rusyns today are also descendants of Rus but don’t get much recognition in Ukraine today.

Even the Ukrainian state’s non-recognition of the Rusyn people isn’t so simple: in Slovakia you can meet minority East Slavic speakers who insist that what they speak is “Ukrainian” (when it’s obviously not), and that “Rusyn” is a weird label outsiders keep trying to pin on them.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#35

Post by keiferski »

worklaptopacct wrote: post #32
keiferski wrote: post #16

I used to make these often for potluck parties that I hosted myself - in Pittsburgh, where pierogi are so famous the baseball team has pierogi mascots race each other. [1] They’re a real crowd pleaser, the only hard part is that rolling and folding the dough thin enough requires the finger dexterity of an old babcia. (Polish grandma.) So, unfortunately my pierogi often ended up being 2-3x thicker than the authentic o…

Polish from Poland here: no need to roll them out thin. Might be a variation found in your family, but typical pierogi - including those made by my Grandma - have some fluff. A different thing is how do you make the dough. I've recently been to a potluck organized by a Canadian friend as a token Polish person there and I've seen her look up recipes in which the recipes for dough were very creative - I've seen yoghurt…

My secret is/was to add potatoes into the dough itself.

But yeah it was more that mine often looked like empanadas, except boiled and fried. Still tasty, but not as thin as the ones I have here in Poland.

For that matter, American pierogi are larger and more potato-based than Polish pierogi.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#36

Post by OfSanguineFire »

acadapter wrote: post #33
k_bx wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Stealing? It's their shared East Slavic heritage.

Indeed. “Rus” is an ethnonym, of famously Scandinavian origin, used across the entire East Slavic area and was never something limited to people in now-Ukraine that people in now-Russia could “steal”. The Uralic- and Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga, for example, already called the neighboring Slavic-speaking populations “Rus” in the medieval era.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#37

Post by keiferski »

OfSanguineFire wrote: post #34
keiferski wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t think I’d explain it as being that simple. Rusyns today are also descendants of Rus but don’t get much recognition in Ukraine today.

Even the Ukrainian state’s non-recognition of the Rusyn people isn’t so simple: in Slovakia you can meet minority East Slavic speakers who insist that what they speak is “Ukrainian” (when it’s obviously not), and that “Rusyn” is a weird label outsiders keep trying to pin on them.

There is a long history of states denying and repressing the Rusyn identity. I’m sure many modern people aren’t bothered to learn their history and just adopt whatever label has been given to them. It’s not significantly different from any other minority group that has been subsumed into a larger group.

There are historical cultural differences between the groups as well. Lemkos, for example, are Greek Catholics, which is a minority group in Ukraine and has a different history (tracing themselves to Croats.)

https://case.edu/ech/articles/r/rusyns

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#38

Post by worklaptopacct »

kamov wrote: post #13
Tade0 wrote: post #3

There's an interesting shift in language associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine - a type of pierogi which used to be called ruskie (from the region of Red Rus, where they originate) are now commonly named ukraińskie (Ukrainian) instead. The reason is that the adjective ruskie is typically understood as "Russian" in general parlance.

That only happened in the first few weeks/months following the invasion, and since then people returned to calling them "Ruskie". The general consensus is that the name refers to the historical area of Ruthenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenia

I no longer live there, but when I visit now, I often see the name "Kresowe" having replaced "Ruskie", Kresy being the name of a historical region around the Polish/Ukrainian border.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#39

Post by jedrek »

I left Poland in 1983 and came back in 1992. Before we left, I had never had pierogi ruskie. If we had pierogi, they'd either be with fruit (strawberries or wild blueberries), sauerkraut and mushrooms or ground pork. That was pretty much it. We came back and ruskie were everywhere -- and rightly so.

Re: Poland's Most Famous Dish: Pierogi

#40

Post by kgabis »

walthamstow wrote: post #17

My wife's mother makes excellent pierogi. The potato ones are nice but the sauerkraut and mushroom are my favourite. A nice dollop of Heinz ketchup on the side. Delicious.

Ok, I need to double check, but I'm pretty sure using ketchup anywhere near pierogi is illegal.
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