PIEROGIES Pierogi dough (for about 6 dozen pierogies that can be easily frozen) 5 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1/3 cup oil 2 cups lukewarm waterMix water with salt and oil, then slowly add flour. I mix it first with a fork (to avoid any lumps). Mix well. I roll dough on the board, not too thick and I personally cut with knife into small squares. This prevents me from having some extra dough that shall be rolled again and get harder.When filling pierogies, make sure that they are closed at the edges tight. Place one heaping teaspoon of the filling on each square, close it tight and place pierogi on a floured board. Place in salted boiling water with a little bit of either oil or margarine. Turn down to low heat and cook slowly for about 2 minutes and stir slowly once in a while. And now use a large draining spoon to pick out the pierogies and place on sifter to drain the rest of the water. From sifter put them into a deep dish with some butter in it. This prevents the pierogies from sticking together. My pierogies are closed tight; they won’t open in cooking.
If I want to freeze them I would cover the deep pot with lid and turn the pot upside down to mix pierogies with the butter. I use unsalted butter. Now I would place them on some glass or styrofoam trays or into pyrex dish (for a big meal with guests) and cover tight (when cold) and put into the freezer.
For filling with potato and cottage cheese I use 7-8 large potatoes, cooked and mashed well. I use 1 cup cottage cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. I would grind dry cottage cheese before adding into potatoes. Farmer’s cheese doesn’t have to be ground. Add one well chopped and fried onion.
For filling with meat, start with 1 lb cooked ground pork, veal, beef or lamb or about 4 cups of meat. Sautee a medium onion in a little butter or margarine, then stir in the meat and 2 beaten eggs. Sautee over medium heat about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and allow it cool before filling the pierogies.
For filling with sauerkraut boil two quarts sauerkraut until tender. If sour, rinse and squeeze out water. Drain thoroughly and chop. Fry 1 pound bacon (chopped) and 2 large onions (chopped.) Fry until golden, then add sauerkraut, salt and pepper. Mix well.
GRACE’S SECRETS:
Use very little butter or margarine for frying the onion. Too much grease in it will open the edges of the pierogies. You also could fry onion separately and pour onto pierogies after cooking them, and so in this case you could use more butter to pour over your dish.
Also, DO NOT USE EGG for pierogi dough. It will make them harder. Proper pierogi dough has oil to make them soft!
