National Pierogi Day!

I always say pierogies because honestly who can only eat just one! My experience with the pierog began when I started dating my future husband. My MIL learned how to make pierogies from her MIL and I was quickly put on the assembly line when it came time for family reunions. The dough was strictly my MIL's domain to mix and roll out to the proper thinness: 1/8" according to her recipe. Then the rest of the process of cutting it, filling it, and pinching it together and boiling these little dumplings was all hands on deck! The preferred filling for most of the people in the family was mashed potatoes, cheese, minced onions seasoned with salt and pepper. Occasionally my MIL would make other variations to please a particular family member. Although I've helped to make periogies, I never did so all by myself. My preference was to eat the boiled periogies with sour cream. My husband liked to have them gently fried in a cast iron skillet till just golden brown and then covered with sauteed onions. My husband's Grandmother came to the U.S. as a young woman from an Eastern European region (possibly what is now Ukraine) in the late 1890's or early years of 1900's. She called them pirohgie and her pronunciation was different also. Pierogies are mostly associated with Poland but other areas made them too. I usually have some Mrs. T's brand stashed in my freezer to indulge in this familiar comfort food. Yum!

In all my years of growing up in a Polish speaking household, and in twelve years of living in Poland, I never once heard the word "pieróg" in the singular. Or saw it in print.

Where does your family live in Poland? Mine are from Mazovia, near Ciechanów. I lived six years in Skierniewice, and eight years in Wrocław.

In Skierniewice, like all of Mazovia, pierogi are boiled, and then usually fried in butter. Delicious. When we moved to Wrocław, I was disappointed that no place served them fried. It was always just boiled. I never saw that in my life. On top of that, the bread was worse, the kiełbasa was worse, the kaszanka was worse, and even the potatoes were worse than in Mazovia. I used to ask my friends to bring me a twenty kilo bag of Mazovian potatoes when they came to visit.

When I was a kid, I used to tease my little brothers by giving my pierogi names, one of which would be my mother's. I'd ask them which one should I eat next, perhaps the one with her name on it? No, no, they would say, eat that other one. When the only one left on the plate was the one with my mother's name, my brothers would get really nervous. But I would give that one to my mom for her to eat, and they were really relieved. I did that hundreds of times, but they would always get nervous that I would eat that last pieróg.

I was real close in what I was guessing based on your posts. I was thinking Tarnów, Mielec or Kolbuszowa. Małopolska for sure, but not in the mountains.