Pierogi party!

So last night, Kathie and I made 104 Ruskie pierogi. I felt like a very domestic polish grandmother (although I otherwise barely ever feel domestic). After we finished, my back felt like a back of such a woman, too.


This morning, my daughter found the Pierogi sitting on our kitchen counter. She was impressed, tried one and decided they are good, but cooked they would be better.Some interesting facts about this deliciousness:

Where does it come from, you might wonder:
Pierogi, from the Proto-Slavic "pir" (festivity) refer to a variety of Slavic semicircular boiled dumplings of unleavened dough stuffed with varying ingredients. Their specific origins are unknown. Though they have strong ties to Slavic culture, similar foods occur in many cultures across Europe and Asia: tortelini and ravioli in Italy, manti in Turkey and Central Asia, khinkali in the Caucasus, gyoza in Japan, wanton and jiaozi in China, mandu in Korea, and more.

For those of you with a strong interest in grammar:
Pierogi are usually small enough to be served several or many at a time, so the singular form is rather rare; people usually talk about several of them. This has affected forms of the word in different languages.
In Polish, pierogi is plural, pieróg being singular.

Fillings:
May be any of the following: cheese, farmer's cheese, bryndza, mashed or other forms of potato, sauerkraut, cabbage, onion, meat, fish, mushrooms, rice, hard-boiled eggs, dry cottage cheese or with a fruit filling such as blueberry, prune, peach and apple.

Preparation:
Typically, dough is rolled flat and then cut into circles. The filling is then placed and the dough folded over to form a half circle. This takes much time and is the reason for my sore back.

They are typically baked and then brushed with butter. Sometimes boiled until they float, and then covered with butter or oil. Alternative serving include the Mennonite tradition of baking and serving with borscht or with farmer's sausage and a creamy gravy called Schmauntfat in Plautdietsch. What we did today was the Polish way: first boiling, then frying in butter. They are served with plenty of sour cream, less commonly with apple sauce, and the savory ones are often topped with fried bacon or cooked onions.