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pierogi, one or more dumplings of Polish origin, made of unleavened dough filled with meat, vegetables, or fruit and boiled or fried or both. In Polish pierogi is the plural form of pieróg (“dumpling”), but in English the word pierogi is usually treated as either singular or plural.
In Polish tradition, the dumpling was introduced to the nation by the Dominican missionary St. Hyacinth, who died in Kraków in 1257. The Polish-born saint is said to have brought the dish with him from a missionary posting to Kyiv, which has afforded Ukrainians and Russians grounds to claim pierogi as their own. Ultimately, however, pierogi may haveoriginated in Central Asia or the Middle East, perhaps traveling to Kyiv by way of the Silk Road in a time of constant overland contact between Europe and East Asia. This Asian origin is supported by the Turkish word for the dish, börek, although some linguists instead connect the word pierogi to an Old Church Slavonic term meaning “feast.” The word pierogi, along with recipes for it, first appeared in print in the late 17th century, but by then the food item had been known for centuries.
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In their traditional form, pierogi are similar to both Chinese jiaozi and smaller, Italian stuffed dumplings such as tortellini. First a dough is made of flour, water, oil, and salt—sometimes with the addition of whole eggs or egg yolks and sometimes replacing some of the water with sour cream or buttermilk. A filling is then placed inside a circle of dough, which is folded in two and pinched along its edges to form a seam. Fillings can be quite various: traditional ingredients include potatoes, mushrooms, cheese, minced cooked beef or pork, ham, cabbage, sauerkraut, bacon, onions, and plums. Pierogi are commonly topped with yogurt, sour cream, dill, or chives. A popular dish of dessert pierogi includes a blueberry filling and a farmer cheese or fruit compote topping. Savoury pierogi usually make a complete meal, though sometimes they are served alongside stew or borscht (Polish barszcz). Other than in their dessert form, pierogi are often boiled and then fried, just as jiaozi dumplings are.
Pierogi, or something very similar to them, are popular in other Slavic countries, but in no other cuisine is the dish as central to national identity as in the Polish. Pierogi are a symbol of ethnic pride in Polish diaspora communities and are the central feature of numerous festivals in the United States and Canada, including one held annually in Whiting, Indiana, near Chicago and its large Polish American population, and another held in Pittsburgh.
