Fake-Out Perogies - Rec Idea

[*amy*]

Originally Posted by expatgirl

you'd love being here in K.-----freezer cases are full of both prepared (which are delish!!) and frozen wraps that you can make up yourself. It's a national dish and it's spelled "Pirogi" over here. This thread is making me hungry, btw--:)

No matter how you spell it, it's all good. I've seen pirohi, peroshky, perogy, etc. We have the frozen stuff here, but it's too doughy for me. Let me know if you give it a try.

[David Cottrell]

Originally Posted by *amy*

No matter how you spell it, it's all good. I've seen pirohi, peroshky, perogy, etc. We have the frozen stuff here, but it's too doughy for me. Let me know if you give it a try.

Amy, as best I can tell, pirohi is written with an h because that is the way Ukrainians want the sound to be. Pronounce the i as e and the h as h. To make it Russian - as g is being used in perogy change the h to g. G is seldom used in Ukrainian. Do you know the writer we know as Gogol? Russian sound. Gogol was originally from what is now Ukraine but moved to St. Petersberg. Ukrainians write and pronounce his name as Hohol. Peroshky I think is trying to refer to the yeast dough baked version of pirohi. Oh well - I use anything that comes to mind. Even progy in the South here. They all taste the same except peroshi is different. Wish I knew the language.

[*amy*]

Originally Posted by Caine

Wouldn't it be easier, and more authentic, to use prepared pie crust instead of wonton wrappers?

This is a quick method using won ton skins - already pre-cut. I suppose you could use pie dough, but that IMHO, would be too heavy. Frying pie dough - never tried it. Let us know how your version turns out.

[David Cottrell]

Went to my authority, my Ukrainian cookbook. Pyrohy would be correct transliteration for Western Ukraine. Pyrizhky is the baked version, yeast dough not necessary. Now, Varenyky is more Eastern Ukraine for what we know as Pyrohy.

There is an curious observation here in Ohio - north of Mansfield it's generally Pryohy for people of Ukrainian tradition. South of Mansfield it's generally Varenyky. I guess North Ohio came mostly from Western Ukraine. More South I guess the good people came mostly from Eastern Ukraine. How's that? To me they are Progies. That I can remember!And I like them. :)

[expatgirl]

Isn't it interesting to see all the different spellings for basically the same dish? Here in Kazakhstan many of the restaurants have the menus in Russian and some include English alongside---what comes out is usually "pirogi". We do have a few Ukranian restaurants and I will see how they translate it. Ukrainian soups as well as pyrohies are the best food around.

[*amy*]

Originally Posted by expatgirl

Isn't it interesting to see all the different spellings for basically the same dish? Here in Kazakhstan many of the restaurants have the menus in Russian and some include English alongside---what comes out is usually "pirogi". We do have a few Ukranian restaurants and I will see how they translate it. Ukrainian soups as well as pyrohies are the best food around.

I agree. Enjoyed reading about the various spellings for the same dish. I have a dumpling cookbook I should get down off my shelf & reread. Thought I'd throw this one in, as there are some good filling ideas, i.e. sauteed cabbage etc.

Pierogi Recipe

The second link isn't working ... but if you click on fillings w/i the page, it will take you there.

I'm getting hungry.

[auntdot]

Many years ago I had a room mate who was of Polish descent.

Every so often we would declare a piergo orgy - it sounds racier than it was.

We would round up the usual suspects and make peiorgies - lots of them.

With many different fillings.

Roomie was in charge. Grandma was from Poland and she had THE RECIPE.

Those orgies were always a lot of fun. Between the beer (obligatory when making pierogis) and the banter they were great times.

Everyone involved wound up with food to last at least a week.

And if you want frugal, pierogies are just that.

If I did not have so much gosh darn food in the fridge that has gotta be eaten would be making some now.

[expatgirl]

Thanks for the link, Pierogi Recipe, Amy, I was drooling by the end. The sauerkraut and potato fillings sounded great and I thought how wonderful they would be with both combined together. Maybe 2/3 sauerkraut to 1/3 potatos with some spiciness thrown in.

And Aunt Dot, where was your wonderful Polish roomie when I was in college??? I was lucky if my roomie could put bread in the toaster. She was a lot of fun to be with but cooking was not on her resume. :) I did all the cooking (and the definition of my cooking skills back then is quite loose here). Your pierorgies sounded great.

[David Cottrell]

Originally Posted by expatgirl

Isn't it interesting to see all the different spellings for basically the same dish? Here in Kazakhstan many of the restaurants have the menus in Russian and some include English alongside---what comes out is usually "pirogi". We do have a few Ukranian restaurants and I will see how they translate it. Ukrainian soups as well as pyrohies are the best food around.

I have not verified but I read that Polish is the linguistic influence that defined the word to be Perogy however spelled. So the word came to the US with the Polish folks and the Ukrainian folks. Western Ukraine as you know "belonged" to Poland for a long time. The prominent city in western Ukraine, Lviv, was founded by a Polish king and named for his son. The root is vov, lion and with a vowel change became viv in Ukrainian. Isn't all this amazing. Actually I think it to be very interesting because I enjoy learning about the culture and the history of an area while I learn to cook the food, or maybe minic would be better said.

[David Cottrell]

Did I share this link? I learned to make pierogies by watching a the Ukrainian-American pyrohy team make hundreds and hundreds and hundreds at the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Parma, Ohio. Lovely people - they let me try but I didn't want to mess up too many for them. They raise a lot of money for the church and charity with their devotion to the art. I mostly counted a dozen into little plastic bags for several hours each visit.

Try this for some photos from a Ukrainian-American John Washinsky - you will see his hands at work at least. Go to All Things Ukrainian - Pysanky ,Stained Glass & Embroideries & Ukrainian Gifts and click on the Ukrainian Cooking button on the right of the opening page. Recipes are to be found also. He shows the real deal just like those wonderful little old ladies sitting at the long tables, conversing in Ukrainian while their hands worked. Beautiful sight.