Making Pierogi With My Grandma

As a foodie, I enjoy trying new recipes and I’ve taken both amateur and professional cooking classes.  Although, my first culinary instructors were: my mom and two grandmas.

My mom was a good cook and baker. My Grandma Carlson made the best pork roast and mashed potatoes. But my Grandma Kuby was the one that made all of the traditional Polish recipes, one of her best was pierogi!

If you’re not familiar with pierogi, it’s the Polish version of an Italian Ravioli or Chinese potsticker. All of which are so good!

What recipes have you made with your grandma?

Make Memories While Making Good Food

I’ll never forget learning how to make pierogi in my grandma’s kitchen. That’s where all of the magic happened! It always smelled so good. When I think back, I realize how precious those times were that we spent cooking together.

She taught us all of the steps to make pierogi:

• shopping for quality ingredients
• making the fillings and dough
• rolling the dough
• making the pierogi
• boiling them
• packing them in dozens
• preparing them to eat, and
• eating them, Yum!

She also taught us a lot of skills and life lessons, which I’ll mention. These days we’re passing on the recipe, pierogi making, and life lessons to my nieces and nephews. We also share stories about my grandma while enjoying each other’s company. It’s a lot of fun!

The Skill Of Eyeballing A Three-Pound Cabbage

My grandma taught us how to select the right ingredients to make the pierogies. I learned at an early age how to eyeball a three-pound cabbage in the supermarket. This is a skill I’m sure only a few girls have, who are either Polish or of Eastern European descent.

You want the cabbage to be tight with light green leaves. It should be about the size of a bowling ball and weigh about three pounds.

There are many tips and tricks that we learned along the way.  Making good pierogi is a time-intensive process as is when making so many good, traditional, ethnic foods. Keep that in mind when you’re enjoying the fruits of the labor!

There’s More Than One Way To Do A Lot

Another trick we learned from my grandma was measuring a teaspoon of salt in the palm of our hand. My grandma never used a measuring spoon and it was accurate. My sister, Chris, and I measured it one time with my grandma while we were capturing her recipe.

We also learned how to squeeze the water out of the sauerkraut and cabbage when making the filling. It takes a lot of strength but it makes the filling that much better. These days we use a potato ricer to help to squeeze out the liquid.

When we made the pierogi with my grandma, she would have us put the finished pierogi filling on her enclosed back porch to cool to room temperature. It is still noted in the typed recipe today. I couldn’t take it out as it brought back great memories and made us laugh. So was the tip of putting a new, clean sock on the rolling pin to prevent the dough from sticking when rolling out the dough.

Quality Wins Over Quantity Any Day

I recall so much love going into making each pierogi with my grandma. Because she made each one by hand, she would make them more often and in smaller quantities. This provided us with many opportunities to learn how to make them from her.

When she showed us how to make the dough and roll it out, she would have us feel how thin it should be to make them taste so good! Each pierogi was cut out of the dough individually with a floured drinking glass.  Then, rolled out again before being filled and carefully crimped closed with your finger and then a fork.

The pierogi were quality-checked so they wouldn’t open up in the boiling process. The pierogies are boiled about 10 at a time on the stove in large pots of boiling water until they float to the surface. Then, scooped out onto a drying rack over a cookie sheet to dry on both sides before being wrapped in a dozen. Finally, they’re either cooked to eat or frozen to be gifted or eaten on the holidays.

Try Making Traditional and Nontraditional Pierogi

We usually cook the pierogi on the stovetop smothered in butter and onions. They’re served with Polish sausage or ham and fresh buttered rye bread. I’m hungry just thinking about it!

I remember my grandma sharing with us that you could serve the pierogi filling with Kluski noodles, which she called “lazy man’s pierogies”. I honestly never saw her make it that way but maybe my dad did. We’re going to try it at the next pierogi party!

Covet The Culinary Lessons

It was special to be able to watch my grandma make the pierogi with such care and attention. It was her craft and she took pride in making and sharing her pierogi. She also baked delicious coffee cakes, kolaches, and apple slices. They were delicious as well.

She also made the best “Polish peanuts”. Before she cooked pork chops, she would cut off the fat and fry it up in oil and sprinkle them with Lawry’s season salt. So fattening but oh so good!

These are the most precious lessons we learn from our grandmas. If you don’t have a grandma to do this with, I suggest you take advantage of learning from your friend’s grandma. You will learn so much more than making the recipe! I truly covet those culinary lessons learned.

Celebrate The Fruits Of Your Labor

Pierogi for me has always been associated with family holidays:

• Thanksgiving,
• Christmas Eve,
• New Year’s Day and
• Easter

Lately, these days my extended family and I always end our pierogi-making with a celebratory dinner. It’s a good practice to “quality test” the end product to make sure it’s good enough for family and friends! Right?

Pass On Family Traditions

Since my grandma passed away, we have continued to pass on the pierogi-making tradition to the younger generations on an annual basis. We usually have our pierogi parties sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving with family and friends. Lately, my sister, Chris, has hosted this family tradition. Wherever we have the party I feel my grandma is right there with us in spirit!

We’ve made other traditional fillings like cheese or potato with bacon and cheese. We haven’t made any plum pierogi yet. Those are sweet. We’ll try making some this year and dust them with fine sugar after frying for a dessert pierogi.

We have tried some non-traditional fillings like Boursin cheese and crabmeat. (I’m sure my grandma was rolling over in her grave with that filling). Sometimes there’s even a few chocolate pierogi made by my nephews and nieces when they were getting silly and creative with their leftover Halloween candy.

Every year we used to try to outnumber the amount of pierogi we made the year before. One year we made over 740 pierogies! Crazy, I know! But since then, we try not to take it all too seriously.  Instead, we just enjoy the time together and whatever number of pierogi we end up making.

Try The Recipe

Here is the original recipe that was handwritten when my grandma was still alive. I typed it up so that it could be more easily shared. Review the entire recipe beforehand.

Level: Intermediate

Timeframe for filling: 2 hours

Timeframe for dough and pierogi making: 2 hours

Equipment:

• Rolling pins
• Pierogi makers: drinking glass, or single, 6 or 18 wheel pierogi makers
• Food processor
• 16-quart pots
• Deep sauce or frying pan
• Potato Ricer
• Forks
• Plastic wrap
• Large plastic storage zip-close bags
• Cookie sheets
• Drying racks
• Chef’s knife
• Cutting board

Ingredients:

Ingredients for the sauerkraut filling: (Makes filling for 6 dozen pierogi)

• 27 oz jar of sauerkraut (or 28 oz can)
• 3 pound head of cabbage, weigh it
• 4 oz jar of Lawry’s season salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 2 large yellow onions
• 2 1/2 sticks of butter
• 15 oz container of plain bread crumbs
• 3 large eggs

Ingredients to make dough for about 4 dozen pierogi (will need to make more):

• 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 egg yolks
• a small cup of water, you may not use it all

Ingredients for cooking the pierogi:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 chopped yellow onion

Directions for the sauerkraut pierogi filling:

1. Chop up the head of cabbage in very thin strips with a knife (or use a food processor).
2. Put cabbage in a large 6-quart pot covered with water and boil for 30-45 minutes.
3. Pour the jar or can liquid off of the sauerkraut and boil in a pot covered in water for 30-45 minutes.
4. Chop 2 onions very fine and set aside.
5. Drain the water off both the cabbage and sauerkraut.
6. Take small handfuls of cabbage and sauerkraut and squeeze out the water. You can use a potato ricer for this.
7. Chop the handfuls again very fine turning them as you chop.
8. Mix the sauerkraut with the cabbage in a large bowl.
9. Melt 2 1/2 sticks of butter in a deep skillet.
10. Saute the chopped onions in the deep skillet with the butter.
11. Saute the sauerkraut and cabbage in the skillet with butter and onions.
12. Season the mixture with a generous layer of Lawry’s season salt and add the pepper. You’ll probably want to add more Lawry’s season salt as you saute it and taste it. The filling needs a lot of seasoning to stand up to the dough.
13. Generously sprinkle plain bread crumbs over the ingredients in the skillet and mix them together.
14. Taste the filling and add more Lawry’s season salt for taste.
15. Add more bread crumbs to soak up the butter, if needed.
16. Turn off the flame under the skillet and put it on the side to cool for a little bit.
17. Beat 3 eggs in a small bowl.
18. Add the eggs to filling in skillet quickly stirring the mixture so the eggs don’t scramble from the heat.
19. Taste to see if additional seasoning is needed. If so, add more Lawry’s season salt for good measure and great flavor! It should look yellowish-orange in color.
20. Cool (on an enclosed porch or in the refrigerator) to bring the filling to room temperature.

Directions for the pierogi dough: (Makes dough for 4 dozen pierogi)

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a small pan on the stove (or in a bowl in the microwave).
2. In a 1 cup measuring cup, mix 2 egg yolks and the melted butter. Add water to make a total of 1 cup of liquid.
3. Pour the cup of liquid into a bowl and add 2 1/2 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of salt.
4. Mix all together with a fork.
5. Add more flour or water, if needed, until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.
6. Note: You can do steps 3-5 in a food processor using the plastic blade for mixing.
7. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it with your knuckles.
8. Fold the kneaded dough. Be sure not to handle it too much! It should be smooth, not sticky.
9. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
10. You will need to make another batch of dough to use up the filling for six dozen.

Directions for making the pierogi:

1. Break off a small portion of dough and roll it out with a rolling pin on a floured surface to prevent the dough from sticking.
2. When the dough is thin, cut out circles of dough with a floured drinking glass and roll the circles thinner. Note: You want the dough to be very thin. The pierogi are better when the dough is very thin.
3. Place a tablespoon of filling in each circle and fold over the circle into a half-moon shape cupping your hand over the top and lightly pressing down so the filling evens out. Leave room on the edges to press the pierogi closed with your finger and then pinch closed tightly with a fork. The pierogi needs to be crimped tightly so the filling won’t escape in the boiling process.
4. Note: You can also use a 1, 6, or 18 wheeler pierogi-maker that they sell online but if you want really good pierogi with very thin dough, I highly recommend making them individually. You will crank out more pierogi quicker with the 6 and 18 wheeler pierogi-makers but the dough won’t be as thin.

Boiling the Pierogi:

1. Boil two 16 quart pots of water and add some salt to the water.
2. Get out rimmed cookie sheets and wire racks to use for cooling and drying the pierogi.
3. Place 10 pierogi in each pot of boiling water. Boil them until they float to the top of the water, which should take about 3-5 minutes. (If any pierogi open up in the boiling process, put them on a plate on the side to fry up if you like).
4. Remove pierogi from the pots with a slotted spoon one at a time and place them on the wire rack to cool for a few minutes.
5. Then, flip them over to cool and dry the other side for a few minutes. Dry off the wire racks and cookie sheets in between batches.

Direction to Wrap the pierogi to store in the freezer:

1. When the pierogi have cooled and dried somewhat, pull off a long piece of plastic wrap.
2. Wrap the pierogies in packages of a dozen with three rows of four pierogies. Layer the wrap in between each layer of pierogi so that you can get them apart when you’re ready to cook and eat them.
3. Place 3 dozen in a large Ziploc freezer bag to freeze.

Directions for Cooking the pierogi:

1. When you’re ready to eat the pierogi, defrost the pierogi and fry them in melted butter with sauteed chopped yellow onion (or bake them in the oven in a baking dish layered with melted butter and sauteed onions at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes).
2. Eat and enjoy!

Share The Love

Take the time to make them and share the love. We’ve found making two double batches of filling ahead of time and then making the dough and pierogi with about a dozen family and friends make for an entertaining afternoon.

We each take a station to work and change up our positions to get the experience of doing each step: making dough, rolling dough, making pierogi, boiling them, and wrapping them. It’s fun to keep a running count of how many dozen are in the freezer as you go along.

If you have leftover pierogi dough, you can roll it out and cut it into thin strips to dry on paper to make kluski noodles for chicken soup or to make a lazy man’s pierogi with the filling.

Our family enjoys the fruits of our labor over dinner and a relaxing evening with family and friends. Everyone who participates usually goes home with a few dozen pierogi to enjoy, to give to friends, or to serve on a holiday they are hosting.

What culinary traditions have you learned from your grandma and shared? Please provide any feedback you may have on this blog post.

Thanks for stopping by,