![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Since you asked
Jan. 5th, 2009 10:45 pm[ETA: I have finally used up the filling. Despite what I thought earlier, it took 3 full recipes of dough and essentially 3 afternoons to use up that amount of filling, but the potatoes do keep if you need to spread it over a couple of days. In the end, that amount of filling and the extra dough made about 100 pierogi, I just added it up. I suspect that it might vary greatly, though, depending on how you roll out the dough. Good luck!]
Well, one of you did, anyhow, this is an approximation of what I used to make the pierogi. This would be a recipe for an afternoon's worth of work, and make about 150 pierogi, maybe? I don't have an exact count. Halve it, and you have a couple of hours. I think it would be less time if you were an experienced cook or made the filling ahead of time. Everybody's pierogi taste different, and so if you have had pierogi before, you can adjust to your taste. This particular recipe was a reasonable facsimile of how I remember they ought to taste.
Filling:
Approx. 6 good-sized potatoes, russets are ok or whatever you like mashed potatoes made of.
Some farmer's cheese. A good big hunk of it, maybe four to six oz. or so. To taste, really. Farmer's cheese is mild and dry, drier than ricotta or cottage cheese, and you may not find it at one of the chain grocery stores.
One large white onion, diced, then carmelized in butter
Salt and pepper to taste. We tended to use lots of pepper.
Peel, cook and mash the potatoes with a fork, they should be somewhat chunky, then mix the other stuff in.
Dough (this is the one piece I got most of my info from an actual recipe):
4 C flour
8 oz. sour cream
salt
milk as needed to soften the dough.
The dough should be slightly sticky, but then when you roll it out, you will want to coat it well with flour. The dough you aren't using and the assembled pierogi should be covered to prevent them drying out. Somebody said the texture of the dough should be velvety. This is primarily a "by feel" sort of thing. If you've made pasta before, I think it's not dissimilar.
Assembly:
This is the fun part, or not so fun if you don't like this sort of thing. Roll the dough out to about 1/4" or so. Cut 3" circles out of it. You can reuse the negative space dough later, just stick it back under the cover for the time being. This can get quite sticky and everything can stick to everything else, if you don't have lots of practice with dough-y sorts of things. I found it better the second day after I'd practiced (the first time, it looked like a bag of flour had been shot with a rocket launcher in our kitchen). Put a dollop, maybe a tsp., of filling in the middle/slightly towards one side, being careful not to drop any along the edge, as it will interfere with the seal. Wet the edge, at least half of it, if not the entire way around, so that the dough is sticky there again, and fold the top edge over the filling, and crimp it shut all the way around with your fingers. In theory, you could use one of those wonton or dumpling makers, but I failed that, so I did it the old fashioned way.
Make a half dozen or dozen of them or so at a time, then drop the batch into boiling water. They will float to the top, then cook them for 2-3 minutes more, scoop them out with a slotted spoon into a colander, and run them under cold water for a minute to keep them from sticking together. This is the moment of truth, because if you haven't sealed them properly, or if the dough is too thin and breaks when you've pulled the top over to seal it, then they will break open in the pot and you have one less pierogi (I think it might be advised to dump the water and start over if this happens, but I didn't do that this time). After this, you should probably lay them out on a cookie sheet that's coated with butter and it's not a bad idea to coat them with butter to keep them from sticking together. Alternatively, you can stick the cookie sheet in the freezer and take them off when they are fully frozen, and stick them in a bag to be saved for later. I haven't tried this part yet, but I am aware that if you aren't careful, they will stick together frozen or unfrozen and that is a huge pain in the ass. You can see how this could easily turn into a 2+ person job.
The last step, at least as far as traditional preparation in my family is concerned, is to pan-fry them in butter with diced onions, or alternatively to broil them for a few minutes, until they are crispy. I found the dough on these to be quite tender, even when crisped, and they should be served with (even more) sour cream on the side. I know, seriously, dairy and carbs. Good hearty peasant food! You could, of course, make them with sauerkraut on the inside, or blueberries, or cooked mushrooms and onions, or even prunes, or just potatoes, or just cheese. These are all traditional. None of the ones I had growing up ever had meat in them though. It just wasn't done, I guess we left that to other international dumpling cuisine.
Whew! It's almost as exhausting to write about as it is to do.
Well, one of you did, anyhow, this is an approximation of what I used to make the pierogi. This would be a recipe for an afternoon's worth of work, and make about 150 pierogi, maybe? I don't have an exact count. Halve it, and you have a couple of hours. I think it would be less time if you were an experienced cook or made the filling ahead of time. Everybody's pierogi taste different, and so if you have had pierogi before, you can adjust to your taste. This particular recipe was a reasonable facsimile of how I remember they ought to taste.
Filling:
Approx. 6 good-sized potatoes, russets are ok or whatever you like mashed potatoes made of.
Some farmer's cheese. A good big hunk of it, maybe four to six oz. or so. To taste, really. Farmer's cheese is mild and dry, drier than ricotta or cottage cheese, and you may not find it at one of the chain grocery stores.
One large white onion, diced, then carmelized in butter
Salt and pepper to taste. We tended to use lots of pepper.
Peel, cook and mash the potatoes with a fork, they should be somewhat chunky, then mix the other stuff in.
Dough (this is the one piece I got most of my info from an actual recipe):
4 C flour
8 oz. sour cream
salt
milk as needed to soften the dough.
The dough should be slightly sticky, but then when you roll it out, you will want to coat it well with flour. The dough you aren't using and the assembled pierogi should be covered to prevent them drying out. Somebody said the texture of the dough should be velvety. This is primarily a "by feel" sort of thing. If you've made pasta before, I think it's not dissimilar.
Assembly:
This is the fun part, or not so fun if you don't like this sort of thing. Roll the dough out to about 1/4" or so. Cut 3" circles out of it. You can reuse the negative space dough later, just stick it back under the cover for the time being. This can get quite sticky and everything can stick to everything else, if you don't have lots of practice with dough-y sorts of things. I found it better the second day after I'd practiced (the first time, it looked like a bag of flour had been shot with a rocket launcher in our kitchen). Put a dollop, maybe a tsp., of filling in the middle/slightly towards one side, being careful not to drop any along the edge, as it will interfere with the seal. Wet the edge, at least half of it, if not the entire way around, so that the dough is sticky there again, and fold the top edge over the filling, and crimp it shut all the way around with your fingers. In theory, you could use one of those wonton or dumpling makers, but I failed that, so I did it the old fashioned way.
Make a half dozen or dozen of them or so at a time, then drop the batch into boiling water. They will float to the top, then cook them for 2-3 minutes more, scoop them out with a slotted spoon into a colander, and run them under cold water for a minute to keep them from sticking together. This is the moment of truth, because if you haven't sealed them properly, or if the dough is too thin and breaks when you've pulled the top over to seal it, then they will break open in the pot and you have one less pierogi (I think it might be advised to dump the water and start over if this happens, but I didn't do that this time). After this, you should probably lay them out on a cookie sheet that's coated with butter and it's not a bad idea to coat them with butter to keep them from sticking together. Alternatively, you can stick the cookie sheet in the freezer and take them off when they are fully frozen, and stick them in a bag to be saved for later. I haven't tried this part yet, but I am aware that if you aren't careful, they will stick together frozen or unfrozen and that is a huge pain in the ass. You can see how this could easily turn into a 2+ person job.
The last step, at least as far as traditional preparation in my family is concerned, is to pan-fry them in butter with diced onions, or alternatively to broil them for a few minutes, until they are crispy. I found the dough on these to be quite tender, even when crisped, and they should be served with (even more) sour cream on the side. I know, seriously, dairy and carbs. Good hearty peasant food! You could, of course, make them with sauerkraut on the inside, or blueberries, or cooked mushrooms and onions, or even prunes, or just potatoes, or just cheese. These are all traditional. None of the ones I had growing up ever had meat in them though. It just wasn't done, I guess we left that to other international dumpling cuisine.
Whew! It's almost as exhausting to write about as it is to do.