Pierogi

Handout prepared for a hands-on class taught by HL Rycheza z Polska

     Pierogi, meaning little pies, are the Polish contribution to a class of dishes that include ravioli, tortellini and wontons. They are made much the same way; a noodle style dough is wrapped around a filling, sealed and boiled. They can be served in several ways: as is, fried like potstickers or used as soup dumplings. Are they period?

     I cannot pull out a medieval Polish cookbook and give you a translation of their pierogi recipe. For many reasons, there simply aren't Polish cookbooks available from our period. (Although I have heard rumors of a 16^th century one.)

     I have found a medieval recipe very similar to pierogi: From Laud MS. 553 as reprinted in Take a Thousand Eggs or More, vol. 1, by Cindy Renfrow.  (A redaction is included in Ms. Renfrow's book)

 "6 [Rissoles closed?] Take flour and eggs, &knead together/ take figs, raisons, & dates, & put out the stones, &blanched almonds, & good powder, & bray together/ Make coffin of the length of a span. Put thy stuffing therein, in every cake his portion/ fold them & boil them in water/ & afterward roast them on a griddle & give forth."

 Upon reading this recipe I immediately thought of pierogis.  The dough (if one can assume the unwritten addition of water and salt, common omissions in written period recipes) is identical to my recipe (included below) as well as the technique of boiling and reheating on a griddle. Renfrow's redaction also alludes to the same problems my recipe is prone to. The ingredients used here for the filling were not unknown in Medieval Poland but would have been mostly import and expensive items. The fillings I use for my own, plums, sauerkraut and cheese, were commonly available in Poland both then and now.

 Recipe 

This is an exact transcription of my mother-in-law's recipe that she had from her grandmother who immigrated to the States as an adult around the turn of the 20^th century, making it at least 100 years old.

 Make fillings first, once the dough is made you need to work quickly. (filling notes below)

• Dough

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup of water

      1)      Mound flour onto a clean surface and make a well in the center

2)      Drop eggs and salt into well, add water.  Working from the center to the outside of the mound, mix flour into liquid with one hand and keep flour mounded with other hand.  Knead until dough is firm and well mixed.

3)      Cover dough with a warm bowl and let it rest 10 minutes.

4)      Divide dough in half.  On floured board roll half dough as thin as possible.  (Keep other half covered with bowl, dough loses moisture quickly and won't roll real good for you)

5)      When you have rolled the larger circle of dough, make 3" rounds (I use a floured glass edge) along the whole circle and put a small spoonful of filling, a little off center, into each circle.  Moisten circle edge with water, fold over and seal edges with a fork. (I puncture the tops of the pierogi with different designs to identify the different fillings)

6)      Drop pierogi into boiling salted water (I do not use salt in the water.)  Cook gently 3-5 minutes, or until pierogi float. Never put too many pierogi into the water, the uncooked will stick together and the cooked will get lumpy and tough.

7)      Lift out of water with a slotted spoon, drain on paper towels approx. 2 minutes. Place on greased cookie sheet and keep warm in oven (low) or may be reheated in buttered skillet (slow and low)

Makes approx. 1 1/2 - 2 dozen

Fillings: The fillings below are my interpretation of hers since she merely mentioned them by name rather than precise proportions when she gave me- after much coaxing- this recipe. 

Plum: Use canned plums, drain and pit them and tear in half or smaller pieces if you make the pierogi smaller - (in period there was a cherry-plum which is now extinct but sounds delightful)

 Cheese: add beaten egg to softened cream cheese. Consistency should be slightly stiffer than room temperature butter- (cream cheese is not  regarded as period, farmer cheese or fresh curds of some sort could have been used.)

 Sauerkraut: Sauté some finely minced onion and mushrooms together, add sauerkraut in ratio of 3 parts kraut to one part onion and mushroom mixture and cook together for a few minutes. (Yes, sauerkraut is period) 

Variations:  Some recipes include other fruits or even meat mixtures as fillings. I have also seen other ingredients for the dough including baking powder and cream cheese.

 For further reading: Modern recipes:

 The Eastern European Cook Book by Kay Shaw Nelson, Dover Publications, Inc. NY, 1977 - This is a very nice book that will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in cookery.  Modern recipes but with some small bits of historical information.

 Polish Cookery, The Universal Cook Book, Marja Ochorowicz-Monatowa Translated and adapted by Jean Karsavina, Crown Publishers, Inc. NY, 1958  - Translation of Poland's "Joy of Cooking" Unfortunately the translator didn't feel the grand banquette menus and recipes were of any interest to an American audience. GRRRR!!

Old Warsaw Cook Book, Rysia, Roy Publishers, NY, 1958, The author emigrated to the States during the war and the recipes are culled from an assortment of Polish cookbooks. Many are the same as in Polish Cookery listed above.

 Polish-American Ways, Jacek, Nowakowski, ed. Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. NY, 1989 Covers a lot of territory including info on holidays and Polish-American Celebrities.

 Medieval Poland:

 I am not familiar with any surviving Medieval Polish cookbooks although I have heard rumors of a 16^th century one. Several Medieval cooking techniques, such as thickening sauces with egg yolks and breadcrumbs, survive in modern Polish cookery giving us some hope that other techniques survive as well. 

 Food and Drink in Medieval Poland, Maria Dembinska, trans. by Magdalena Thomas, with recipes by William Woys Weaver.  Lots of great info on the structure of the court kitchens, diet and other food related topics extracted from primary source material. Unfortunately suffers from that very peculiar idea that an American audience isn't interested in footnotes and source references. (They do exist for this work, just not included in the translation.)

 Piast Poland  by Pawel Jasienica ; translated by Alexander Jordan. Miami : New York : American Institute of Polish Culture; Hippocrene, 1985.  This is a delightful book that concentrates on personalities and culture rather than dates and governmental chess moves. It touches on prehistory and concentrates on the years of the Piast dynasty roughly 900 - 1400. Years usually relegated to three paragraphs in other histories of Poland.

 Norman Davies is the pre-eminent writer in English on Polish history. There are several tomes out under his name.

 Poland, James A. Michener, Fawcett Crest, NY, 1983 -Yes, this is fiction, however, Michener always did his homework and in many of his other works lists his sources.  Unfortunately, this was published during a period of major crackdowns on Solidarity and Michener felt it might endanger his researchers to reveal their names. There is a lovely passage devoted to making pierogi as well as many other vignettes.

 Medieval food.

 Take a Thousand Eggs or More, Vol I, Cindy Renfrow, Trans, Adapt., 1990

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Copyright Feb. 2002 by L.J. Henson aka Rycheza z Polska Posted dragonslaire.org  June 28, 2002 Posted Receipt book of Rycheza z Polska, March 17th, 2011

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