Pierogi Ruskie (Polish Potato and Twaróg Pierogi)
Soft hot-water dough folded around mashed potatoes and crumbled twaróg cheese with black pepper and glassy onion, boiled until they float and served with onion softened in butter and a spoon of sour cream.
Pieróg is the Polish word for one filled dumpling, and Wikipedia traces it to the Proto-Slavic word for "feast". Pierogi are in Poland's first cookbook, Compendium ferculorum (1682). One story says Saint Hyacinth brought them from the Far East through Kievan Rus' in the 13th century; he is still their patron saint, and "Święty Jacek z pierogami!" ("Saint Hyacinth and his pierogi!") is an old Polish exclamation of surprise. That is legend, not record.
Pierogi ruskie are the most famous kind: potato, fresh white twaróg cheese and onion. The name does not mean Russian. Wikipedia says it means "Ruthenian," and that foreigners often get it wrong. This version is from Kwestia Smaku, one of Poland's biggest cooking sites, whose pierogi ruskie page has more than 500 reader ratings. Kwestia Smaku's rule is the giveaway of a Polish cook: crush the twaróg with a fork or a press, never grind it, or the filling goes runny.
🇵🇱 The original
Soft hot-water dough folded around mashed potatoes and crumbled twaróg cheese with black pepper and glassy onion, boiled until they float and served with onion softened in butter and a spoon of sour cream.
🇺🇸 The American version
Pittsburgh swapped the farmer's cheese for sharp cheddar and pan-fried them in butter with onions. The city even races costumed pierogi at Pirates games. See the Pittsburgh Potato-Cheddar Pierogi with Butter and Onions recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Butter in boiling water
Hot water partly cooks the flour's starch and the butter tenderizes it, so the dough rolls thin, seals easily and stays soft instead of rubbery.
Fork-crushed cheese
Crushing the twaróg by hand keeps its crumbly texture; Kwestia Smaku warns that grinding it makes the filling too loose.
Step by step
- Step 1
Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with cold salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer with the lid ajar about 30 minutes, until soft. Drain, return them to the pot and mash them hot until completely smooth. Let them cool and steam dry.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, make the dough: sift the flour into a bowl with the salt. Melt the butter in the boiling water and pour it into the flour gradually, stirring with a spoon. Turn it onto a floured board and knead 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth and pliable. Cover with a towel and rest about 30 minutes.
- Step 3
Cook the small onion in 1 tbsp butter over medium-low heat 6 to 8 minutes, until glassy, not brown. Crumble the twaróg and crush it with a fork, mix it with the cooled potatoes and the onion, and season with the salt and pepper.
- Step 4
Divide the dough into 4 pieces and, one at a time, roll each thin on a floured board. Cut rounds with a 3-inch glass or cutter.
- Step 5
Put a full teaspoon to tablespoon of filling in the center of each round, fold it in half and pinch the edges tightly, keeping filling out of the seam. Set them on a floured board.
- Step 6
Bring a large pot of salted water to a hard boil over high heat. Add about 15 pierogi, bring back to a boil, then lower the heat to medium. When they float, cook about 1 1/2 minutes more, until the dough is soft. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and repeat.
- Step 7
While they boil, cook the diced onion in 2 tbsp butter over medium-low heat 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and glassy. Spoon it over the pierogi and serve with sour cream.
Pierogi Ruskie (Polish Potato and Twaróg Pierogi)
Serves 4 · about 38 pierogi · 1 hr 45 min total
Dough
- 300 g (about 2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
- A pinch of salt
- 3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp (200 ml) boiling water
- 2 tbsp (30 g) butter, or vegetable oil
Filling
- 9 oz (250 g) potatoes, peeled
- 9 oz (250 g) twaróg (Polish farmer cheese), or dry farmer cheese
- About 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 small onion, diced (optional, but we use it)
- 1 tbsp butter
To serve
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup sour cream
Method
- Put the potatoes in a pot, cover with cold salted water and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer with the lid ajar about 30 minutes, until soft. Drain, return them to the pot and mash them hot until completely smooth. Let them cool and steam dry.
- Meanwhile, make the dough: sift the flour into a bowl with the salt. Melt the butter in the boiling water and pour it into the flour gradually, stirring with a spoon. Turn it onto a floured board and knead 5 to 10 minutes, until smooth and pliable. Cover with a towel and rest about 30 minutes.
- Cook the small onion in 1 tbsp butter over medium-low heat 6 to 8 minutes, until glassy, not brown. Crumble the twaróg and crush it with a fork, mix it with the cooled potatoes and the onion, and season with the salt and pepper.
- Divide the dough into 4 pieces and, one at a time, roll each thin on a floured board. Cut rounds with a 3-inch glass or cutter.
- Put a full teaspoon to tablespoon of filling in the center of each round, fold it in half and pinch the edges tightly, keeping filling out of the seam. Set them on a floured board.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a hard boil over high heat. Add about 15 pierogi, bring back to a boil, then lower the heat to medium. When they float, cook about 1 1/2 minutes more, until the dough is soft. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and repeat.
- While they boil, cook the diced onion in 2 tbsp butter over medium-low heat 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and glassy. Spoon it over the pierogi and serve with sour cream.
Adapted from Kwestia Smaku, "Pierogi ruskie" (75 pierogi), in Polish. We make half the recipe (300 g flour, 200 ml boiling water and 30 g butter; 250 g each twaróg and potatoes) and follow its method: butter melted into boiling water, kneaded 5 to 10 minutes, rested about 30 minutes; potatoes simmered about half an hour and mashed hot; twaróg crushed with a fork; about 15 pierogi per batch, boiled until they float and then about 1 1/2 minutes more. Kwestia Smaku serves them with thick sour cream and onion softened in oil or lard; our topping uses butter, and its amounts, the 4 servings and the 3-inch cutter size are ours. kwestiasmaku.com. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Boiled pierogi can be cooled, refrigerated and fried in butter the next day.
- Kwestia Smaku also serves them with melted lard and crisp cracklings (smalec ze skwarkami).
- Twaróg is sold at Polish delis; dry farmer cheese is the closest US substitute. Drain anything wet.
- Uncooked pierogi freeze well in a single layer.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Ruskie means Russian. Documented as a mistake: Wikipedia says the name means Ruthenian, and that foreigners often call them Russian.
- Saint Hyacinth brought pierogi to Poland. Disputed: one theory on Wikipedia (citing Culture.pl); another links the word to Turkic bureg; the first sure record is the 1682 cookbook.
- The onion goes in the filling. Disputed: Kwestia Smaku calls it optional; Wikipedia's description of ruskie includes fried onion.
- Never grind the cheese. Documented: Kwestia Smaku.
- Brown the onion for the topping. Folklore: Kwestia Smaku softens it until glassy; American cooks often caramelize it (see Pittsburgh Potato-Cheddar Pierogi).
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