Today marks the 6th anniversary of National Pierogi Day in America!
In honor of the event, Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, will attempt to set the record for the World’s Largest Pierogi today. The giant dumpling is the creation of their executive chef Richard Marmion and assistant executive chef Adam Tharpe. Together, they will be whipping up a potato and Cheddar pierogi that weighs more than 110 pounds – the minimum weight required to set the record.
Pierogies first debuted in the United States a little over 100 years ago with an influx of central and Eastern European immigrants who loved to cook the comfort food from home. It was first invented as a way to spice up leftovers. The dumplings of unleavened dough – first boiled, then baked or fried, are traditionally stuffed with potato filling, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, or fruit.
Pierogies, also known as Polish Dumplings, were mostly a staple of Polish and European immigrants until the early 1950’s, when Mary Twardzik – also known as Mrs. T, founder of Mrs. T’s Pierogies, and her son, Ted, used to gather around the kitchen table to make pierogies for their church and decided to take their love of the food to the next level. Seeing how popular they were, Ted suspected they would surely be a hit at his local grocery store. So on October 8, 1952, he produced the very first samples of Mrs. T’s Pierogies, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Now, over 60 years later, Mrs. T’s Pierogies is the largest producer of frozen pierogies in the United States.
Interested in cooking them yourself? Jenny Jones has a great pierogi recipe:
My grandmother used to make the best pierogies from scratch. My mother has the recipe, but she hasn’t shared it with me yet. I need to get my hands on it and make pierogies this winter.
I’ve been thinking of cooking up some myself. Thanks for reading & stopping by. 🙂
Hypatia, have you tried freezing the homemade variety and, if so, do you do anything special to prep them for the freezer? My grandmother always made them for special occasions and they didn’t last long, but they do take a bit of work, so I was thinking of making a big batch and freezing them to have them on hand whenever the mood strikes.
No, I’ve never managed to freeze any dough (for ANY confection lol) without it cracking,maybe there’s a trick for it that I’m not aware of
I just buy the pre-packaged pierogies from the freezer section, haha. I need to learn how to make these. I bet they are so much better when they are homemade.
Yes, you get it from the store but it’s never the ‘real pierogi’ if it didn’t come from your kitchen.
Ah, reading this makes me want to drop my vegan vow, again. 🙂
I’ve never had the pleasure of eating a pierogi. They are not really common in my part of the country. I don’t even think any supermarket around here carries the frozen kind. I might try this recipe just to see what all the fuss is about.
I would love to learn how to make these from scratch. I have always bought them frozen and my favorite is sour cream and onion. I have never tried any with meat in them before and I bet they are delicious. I just may have to try and make these myself sometime.