Pierogies, aka Perogies, aka Pyrogys, etc

You can tell I’m Canadian because I’m doing a blog post on pieorgies. That may surprise you because pierogies are a staple dish of eastern Europe, but believe me when I say that Canadians are absolutely obsessed with pieorgies.

In countries like Poland and Ukraine, pieorgies were a side dish equivalent to the British and Irish use of potatoes and the Italian use of pasta. It went with everything. It’s filling, full of carbs and cheap. Time consuming to make, but cheap. Really cheap. I remember a friend’s Ukrainian-Canadian grandmother disparagingly looking at us discussing the pieorgies we had had at the Butler’s Pantry Café in Roncesvalles (once known as Toronto’s Polish ghetto, now a super-gentrified neighbourhood out of most people’s price range) and telling us that pierogies are “nothing but peasant food”. Yep, it is. And they’re bloody tasty!!

There are two reasons why Canadians are obsessed with pieorgies. One is that there have been huge waves of Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian and especially Ukrainian immigration to Canada over the decades (hence, the variety of spellings in the title). Huge parts of the Canadian prairies were settled by Ukrainians at the during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

World's Largest Pyrogy in Glendon, Alberta. Seriously, the town symbol is a pyrogy.

And there was a lot of immigration from all over Eastern Europe to Toronto just after WWII as a huge number of "DP's" or “displaced persons” were granted asylum in Canada and many settled in and around the old factory workers housing in the western part of the city. So effectively, if you didn’t have a Polish or Ukranian grandmother raising you on pierogies, you had a friend who had a grandmother who would happily serve them to you. The other reason Canadians love pieorgies isn’t so sentimental. It’s because they’re cheap. When I was at uni, you could buy a huge bag of frozen ones at the supermarket for $5. If you were careful with them, they’d last weeks. Cheaper than the other Canadian student obsession of Kraft Dinner. And they tasted better and actually contained cheese.

What’s funny about living in the UK is how despite huge amounts of Polish immigration over the past 10 years, pieorgies have just not caught on. I lived in a town with a huge Polish population, and lived in a block of flats that was almost entirely Slovak, and it took my local Sainsbury’s five years to catch on that having a Polish food section might be a profitable idea. Meanwhile, the little Polish shop up in town was making a killing. They stock pierogies, but they were a Russian brand which I found unbearably salty. So after having an online discussion with my trusty group of Canadian ex-pats (our conversations always end up being about food), I learned to make my own thanks to someone’s Ukranian grandmother’s recipe.

What does this have to do with Crohn’s you ask? Onions aside, pierogies are low-fibre and low-residue. And full of carbs, which is what you need when you are trying to regain the weight you lost during a flare-up.

There are many ways to make pierogies, but my personal favourite is the good ol’ potato and cheese kind. Pierogies are one of the reasons why I am so glad that the whole not-being-able-to-get-dairy-down thing has ended. Plain potato ones are just, well, plain.

Pierogie making is kind of a whole day affair, so it’s the kind of think you do when the weather out is awful and you have all day. They freeze well, so you can make a huge batch and put them in the freezer for later.

To make the dough, use -
3 ½ cups of plain flour
½ tsp of salt
1 egg - beaten
2 tbsp of vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil)
3/4 cup of warm water.

Combine the flour and salt first. Combine the egg, oil and water in another bowl.

 

Make a well in the flour and pour in the liquid.

Mix well. You’ll eventually just have to use your hands. Once it’s more or less mixed, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead well, about 5 minutes or so, until the dough is elastic. It should be neither too wet or dry. If it’s too wet, add an extra tablespoon or so of flour. If it’s too dry, wet your hands with some water while kneading (it usually doesn’t require much water to get it right, so I find this works better than pouring some in). Roll into a ball, and cover with cling film and leave to rest in a warm spot.

Meanwhile, peel and chop a big, fluffy potato (the kind used for jackets is best) and boil until cooked. Strain the water, then mash the potato, but don’t use butter or milk like you normally would for mashed potatoes. Add sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and mix. If you’re doing low-residue, add about 1tbsp of onion powder. If not, finely chop and fry some onion separately, then add it to the mixture.

This one done with onion powder

Once mashed, add a bunch of shredded cheese. A huge double handful should do it (less if you want it less cheesy). 

I like a combination of Mature Cheddar and Double Gloucester, but you can use what ever kind of cheese you like (cottage cheese is popular, but I don’t recommend it with potato, it’s too wet).  Leave to cool.

Boil a big pot of salted water. Keep it boiling on the stove while you make the pierogies.

After the dough has rested, roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s 1/4" thick. Then cut the dough into circles. Some people use fancy Pierogies cutters, I’m fond of using a Bailey’s glass.

The Bailey's glass has seen more pierogie dough than Bailey's in its time

Use a teaspoon to scoop the cheese and potato mixture into the dough, then using slightly damp fingers, crimp the edges of the dough closed. It’s really important that there is a good seal on the dough, or else the contents will explode when you boil them.

Then add them to a pot of boiling water, typically for about five minutes. The nice thing about pierogies is that your know they are cooked when they float to the top! If they stick together or stick to the bottom of the pan, add a bit of oil to the pot. Lift the pierogies out with a slotted spoon to drain.

If you are going to freeze them, parboil the pierogies for about 1 minute, then remove and drain. Once cooled, freeze initially in a single layer on a cookie sheet on some freezer paper so they don’t stick together, then transfer them to a re-sealable bag. When you want to cook them, boil a pot and throw the frozen pierogies in the pot one at a time and cook until they float.

Some people like to eat them right away, but I’m partial to the artery-hardening traditional practice of frying them before eating them. My personal preference is to fry them in butter, but margarine or olive oil work just as well. Heat the frying pan until hot, then add about a tbsp of fat. Once it’s melted, add the pierogies and fry until browned. About five minutes on each side.

And to add to the artery-hardening traditional practice? Serve with bacon!!! If you don’t do pork (for low-residue reasons or otherwise), turkey bacon is a reasonable substitute, but I’ll admit, not as nice as the piggy kind.

Truly wonderful, stick to your ribs comfort food!