I Like My Pierogi Fried and With No "s" on the End...

Pierogi are so delicious.  Dough wrapped around whatever filling you want: potatoes, potatoes with cheese, farmers cheese, sauerkraut with mushrooms, ground pork with seasonings, strawberries, blueberries, cherries, so many possibilities.

Since I sometimes don't have the time to cook fresh pierogi, we eat frozen pierogi like many other families.  Sometimes, it's homemade pierogi I froze for later, sometimes it's store bought from the local polish store.

If it is a savory filling, I thaw the pierogi in cool water until no longer frozen.  Then, in a frying pan, I melt butter with equal parts oil (the butter for the flavor and the oil to prevent burning).  I fry the pierogi on both sides until crispy.

Sometimes, we use smalec (bacon fat).  I like to mix our fats each week, sometimes using olive oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, butter, trans fat free margarine, smalec, which I think is at least part of the reason why we are a slim family.

Some family members like their pierogi boiled and when they are with us eating dinner, I oblige them.  But it's not my personal favorite way to eat pierogi.  On those occasions, I pour some melted butter and bacon bits along with choppped parsley on the boiled pierogi.

Sweet dessert pierogi should be boiled until they float to the surface.  They are best served with a dollop of sour cream (smietanka) and a generous amount of sugar, one to two tablespoons.  While the combination may sound odd, when you try it you will love it.

A quick little lesson, pierogi are pronounced pee-eh-ROH-gee.  The "pie" or pee-eh sounds like in the name Pietro.  The "i" at the end makes it plural, so there is no need to put an "s" at the end, which is an English pluralization.  If you want to go to a Polish Festival, Polish store, or even Poland, and sound like you know what you are talking about, don't put the "s" on the end.  The singular form of pierogi is pierog, but since nobody eats just one, you don't ever really need to say it.

I am hoping to have time this week to make home made potato pierogi (ruskie pierogi) and get pictures of the process and end resolve.  If so, I will post...

Smacznego!