Potato & Cheese Pierogi - Polish Christmas Dumplings - Food Wishes

I’ve said lots of recipes posted on Food Wishes were “my favorite,” but this time I really mean it. These were my absolute favorite thing to eat as a kid, and I’m finally posting the official family recipe. I don’t know how authentic these are, but my grandmother, Sophie, was 100% Polish, so I’m thinking these are pretty close. Enjoy!

[LENNY]

My maternal grandparents immigrated from Poland to Winnipeg. Somewhere along the line, between 1910 and 1955, the cheese component switched to orange cheddar, nice old tangy orange cheddar. And by the time I was ready to receive the recipe, the dough was "enough flour to use up your filling, made with as many eggs as you can afford. add some oil and milk, or water if that's all you have." The freshly boiled perogies would come out of the pot and be tossed in a bowl with either sauteed bacon and onion or melted butter. The first helping was eaten like that with sour cream. They weren't fried until breakfast the next morning. I don't make them much since my brother died, and I miss them almost as much as I miss him, and it's been 20 years now.

[dwaynewladyka]

My (late) paternal, immigrant grandmother was half Polish and half Ukrainian. She taught me how to make pierogies when I was a child. She used all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, an egg, corn oil and water in her pierogi dough. There were two fillings. Cottage cheese and mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut and onion. They were really good. Butter and onions, as well as sour cream are obligatory on pierogies. I also had them fried in butter until they were golden brown. Those pierogies sure look good. In Alberta, we know all about pierogies, because we have a very large Ukrainian population. The town of Glendon, has the world's largest pierogi. It's a sculpture. Cheers, Chef John!

[deecee]

'My grandmother made it this way...', 'but because her grandson is a chef...' and 'this is how my mum made it...' - a perfect recipe a love! 💕💕

[conniehruday]

My husband's family is Polish and Ukranian. I had the good fortune of knowing his Polish grandmother who made wonderful food. My favorites were the blueberry perogies that she made in the summer.

[erikharrison]

Chef john getting me in my feels, talking about "Grandma New York" watching from heaven

[Ienal]

I'm Polish and I've eaten pierogi thousands of times but I've never made my own. This year I'm hosting a chrismas eve dinner and I just decided to make pierogi following chef John's recipe.

[KSGomez]

Thank you to Grandma Sofie and Momma Pauline for passing this on to our Chef John!

[Maxaldojo]

Brought tears to my eyes, John. Grandma Birdie was a German born in Warsaw and raised in Cleveland. Her and her sister had a small cafe on the near east side before working at Cleveland Twist Drill to support the war effort and raising a family. I came along in the 60's and live nextdoor. Spent days with Grandma in the kitchen learning cooking, German and a little Polish (kielbasa & sour kraut). Pierogi was one of my favorites to make AND eat. Potato and onion are my favorite, but the sour kraut pierogi we're also good. Thanks for the memories, kind sir.

[bryancollins]

I grew up in Detroit and actually lived in Hamtramck as a kid (which at one point was the largest concentration of Polish immigrants in America), so I ate a lot of these. Made this recipe, and they turned out great!❤️❤️❤️

[sheimi]

Best comfort food in the world. I live in Poland with my huge Polish family and twice a year we make an enormous batch together - one is everyday potato and cheese and the other is the Christmas batch - mushroom filling, mushroom and sauerkraut, and pure sauerkraut. Oh, and the traditional "Ushka" (little ears), a special Christmas Eve type of dumpling with mushrooms, it's tiny and cute and it's eaten with clear red beetroot soup. Looks like a work of art, tastes like heaven. I'm so happy to see Polish cuisine represented, we don't have many fancy snacks, but we have plenty of feel-good hearty meal recipes to enjoy with the family. You all should definitely come visit and have a taste!

[kg]

I'm from Poland and your grandmother knew what she was doing.
You can add a little twist by adding some finely chopped and fried bacon and a little bit of grated horseradish. But the ones from your recipe are already amazing ;)

[luckylarry]

Nailed it from every possible angle and that comes from a Polish domestic chef. Loved everything about your recipe, all the way to final presentation. I tip my hat to you good Sir.

[tinabina]

Growing up on the northwest side of Chicago in a predominantly Polish neighborhood, we had an awesome Polish deli that was across the alley from us. My brother and I would go there and get all kinds of goodies with just a few bucks. They had homemade pierogis, smoked sausage and fish, this spongey cheese cake. This video brings back memories.

[MikWsk]

Hi Chef John, i just want to share my comments:
- yes, recipe is 100% correct, we call them "pierogi ruskie", but it doesn't stand for Russia, but for eastern part of legacy Polish territory -Ruthenia
- I'd say having grains of cheese visible in the filling is a plus
- typically served with fried onion and/or smoked bacon, to balance the dryness of the filling
- when served first time - only boiled, pan is used for re-heating
- those are very popular in Poland even nowdays, can be found in most restaurants
- those are eaten across the year, more typical Christmas pierogi are the one with cabbage (sauerkraut) and mushrooms (PL: pierogi z kapustą i grzybami)

[danmorano]

Thanks for all of your videos. They always inspire.
The crimping gave me a new twist.
Being Italian, we have the "Seven Fishes" Christmas but also traditionally have Potato pierogi and Sauerkraut pierogi.
We cut squares with the dough and fold side to side to make rectangles for the potato and fold cross-corner to make triangles for the kraut.
The Polish lady my Mom learned from SWORE by Velveeta Cheese for the potato, so that is what we use.

[danberserk]

You can use large curd cottage cheese squeezed dry as a replacement. My aunt and uncle used it when in a pinch. After moving from Brooklyn farmers cheese wasn’t always available. They also twisted the edges like an empanada and called it the Kowalski twist. My aunt also had a special cup called “the pierogi” cup to make the circular cuts. Thanks for sharing the traditional recipe.

[lagoya]

My grandma made a similar dumpling called vrennika that used farmer's cheese and egg. after frying golden brown, I add maple syrup. It may be sacrilege but it's soooo good!

[kacperbierzynski]

This is how most polish grandmas would make pierogi, they look picture perfect in my opinion. My grandma also puts a bit of boiled potato in the dough which makes it more fluffy kinda like gnocchi and also makes it brown better. I also love the addition of dill into the potato filling. When I comes to the most traditional Christmas iteration I would say it's the cabbage, mushrooms and golden onion filling. Give them a try as well!!

[leohamilton]

My Grandma who is a Polish immigrant used to make these all the time for us! I miss the way she made them so much

[CzitusCraft]

THIS is comfort food. When it comes to cheese, quark is the best choice, however it works with cream cheese, but the texture will be completely different.
And yes, sour cream is obligatory, especially if you add a LOT of ground pepper into the filling which I highly recommend. Thank you Chef for sharing this Polish classic!