You say Pirogue, I say Pirohi!

Growing up, one of my all-time favorite foods was pirogues, or, as I grew up saying with my Czech/Russian side of the family, “pirohi”. You might know these from the ever-popular Mrs. T’s brand, but I was only used to eating ones homemade by my Aunt Julie, who made them once a year for Russian Orthodox Christmas. They are a staple of the traditional meatless Christmas Eve meal, as they are stuffed with potatoes and cheese and are served in mass amounts of liquid butter with chunks of onions. Nowadays, I eat the frozen brands more frequently, and have discovered a fresh version you can buy in the refrigerated section at most grocery stores. Although I love them, as do all of my other relatives, none of us ever knew the recipe or how to make them! I decided it was high time that the recipe be passed on to the younger generations, and convinced Aunt Julie to give us a master class. Here are the results…

Traditional Pirohi

What You’ll Need

Potatoes

• 8 large Idaho potatoes
• 3 slices regular American cheese
• Turmeric

Dough

• 9 + 1 cups sifted white flour
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp heaped with regular sour cream
• Salt
• Extra flour (for dough or dough board, if necessary)

Toppings

• 1-2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 medium white onion, diced

What To Do

Peel all potatoes and cut into rough chunks. Cook in boiling water until tender enough to pierce with a fork. Drain and let stand for 3 minutes to cool off. Transfer the potatoes into a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth. While beating, rip slices of American cheese and add to bowl so that the heat of the potatoes will melt the cheese and it will be incorporated. Once potatoes are smooth, add turmeric until mixture has reached a bright yellow color to your liking (the spice is more for color than flavor, so it’s a personal preference).

Once the potatoes are made, let them sit uncovered so that they reach room temperature.

In the meantime, start making your dough. Sift 9 cups of flour into a large pot. Add the 3 beaten eggs, water and sour cream and mix with a wooden spoon.

If the dough is stick, gradually add flour from the extra sifted cup until it reaches a proper dough consistency. Flour a large, flat surface, preferably a wooden cutting board or a clean table. Put your dough ball on the board and cover.

The dough needs to stand for about half an hour. While it is resting, bring a large pot of water to a slow boil. Put a stick of butter into a small pot on a nearby burner but without heat – the warmth of the boiling water will melt the butter. Add about half of the diced onion into the butter pot, as it will soften slowly over time while being continually heated.

After the dough has rested, it should be a large puffy ball that is ready to be cut and rolled out.

Cut a small hunk off of the main dough ball and place it onto your floured board. Using your floured hands, knead the dough for 1-2 minutes to test its consistency. The dough may be very sticky, so add flour minimally as needed. Once it is no longer sticking to the board or your hands, reflour the board and roll out into a ¼ inch thick circle.

Make sure that you can lift the thin dough circle off of the board – if it is getting stuck, scrape the stuck part off with a knife and add more flour to the board.

Once the dough is evenly rolled out, use a small circular mold or the floured rim of a juice glass to cut the dough into small circles.

Using a teaspoon, put small mounds of potato into the center of each of the dough circles. Try to keep the potato tightly packed and towards the center so it will be easy to seal the dough in the next step.

Fold the edges of the dough and pinch them together until it is totally sealed. You can dampen the edges with a small amount of water if the dough is dry and isn’t sticking together well.

Lay the finished pirohi on a cookie sheet. Once the sheet is full, you can cook a large batch at once. Place all of the pirohi into the pot of slowly boiling water, and add a few pinches of salt. Since the dough is uncooked, they will all sink to the bottom. The nice part about cooking pirohi is that you don’t need to time them – as soon as they pop up and rise to the top, they’re done! This usually takes about 5-10 minutes but it all depends on your dough, and how many you have in your pot.

Place the cooked pirohi into a large Pyrex dish and cover with the melted butter and chopped onions. Go back to your dough ball, cut another hunk, and start the process again!

I dare you to restrain yourself from popping at least 2-3 of these in your mouth as soon as they come out of the pot. It’s impossible.

You don’t have to go as crazy and use as much melted butter as this recipe calls for, but man, it really does make them incredibly delicious. I usually make Mrs. T’s pirogues by boiling them and then sautéing them with a SMALL amount of butter (1-2 tbsp) and a lot of caramelized onions. This makes the dough slightly golden and crispy on the outside, and the potato warm and melty on the inside, so I can only assume that these would be equally yummy prepared in that fashion. You can also reheat these as-is in a microwave, but I prefer an oven so that the dough doesn’t dry out. The recipe makes about 100 pirohi, but these freeze really well, so you can stick them in a Tupperware and reheat on an as-needed basis. It may seem like a lot of work, but this is an inexpensive, delicious homemade dish that is worth every second of the effort, even if you only do it once or twice a year. I’m so glad that I was finally able to learn all of the tricks of the trade from the Master Chef herself, so big thanks to Auntie Julie for teaching us and for allowing her hands to be featured in all the photos!