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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Poland
Dumplings made from unleavened dough, boiled in water and sometimes browned in butter, with savory or sweet fillings. The ruskie, filled with potato and fresh cheese, are the most common, and the cabbage with mushrooms variety is served on Christmas Eve.
Traditional dish from Poland
Also known as: pieróg, pierogi ruskie
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Pierogi — Poland
Pierogi are crescent-shaped dumplings made from a flour-and-water dough without leavening, hand-sealed and boiled in salted water. After boiling, they can be served as is or browned in butter; there are also baked and fried versions. They are topped with fried onion, cracklings, melted butter, or sour cream.
Fillings vary by region and season. Pierogi ruskie, made with potato and twaróg (Polish fresh cheese), are among the most common across the country; the name does not refer to Russia but to the historic region of Ruthenia, which before the war was Polish and is now in Ukraine. There are meat pierogi, ones with fermented cabbage and dried mushrooms, buckwheat, lentil, sheep’s-milk cheese from the mountains, and, in summer, fruit fillings such as blueberry, cherry, and apricot, eaten as a main course.
The history of pierogi in Poland is told in several ways. One version places their arrival in the 13th century, probably from the east, and tradition links their arrival to Saint Hyacinth, a monk who became associated with the dish; this is a legend. The first cookbook printed in Polish, Compendium ferculorum by Stanisław Czerniecki, from 1682, already includes several recipes: veal kidney with herbs and nutmeg and, especially, sweet fillings of jam, fruits, and rose.
Pierogi are part of the Christmas Eve supper, filled with cabbage and mushrooms and, among the sweet varieties, with poppy seed. Throughout the rest of the year they appear in restaurants, in mleczne bars (simple canteens), and in pierogarnie, establishments dedicated to them that offer dozens of fillings.
Poland
Pierogi are made throughout the country, with fillings that change from region to region.
Dough made from wheat flour, water, and salt (sometimes egg). Fillings: potato and fresh cheese (ruskie), meat, fermented cabbage and mushrooms, buckwheat, lentil, or fruits. Topped with fried onion, cracklings, butter, or sour cream.
Served hot, boiled or browned in butter, with fried onion, cracklings, or sour cream. Fruit pierogi are served with sugar and butter or cream.
All year round. Cabbage with mushrooms and poppy-seed pierogi are for the Christmas Eve supper.
Your questions
Dumplings made from unleavened dough, filled and boiled in water, sometimes browned in butter afterward. They are one of Poland’s best-known dishes, with both savory and sweet fillings.
Pierogi filled with potato and twaróg, the Polish fresh cheese, served with fried onion. The name comes from historic Ruthenia, a region that was Polish before the war, not from Russia.
Yes. In summer, blueberry, cherry, and other fruit pierogi are common, served with sugar and cream or butter. On Christmas Eve there are poppy-seed pierogi.
One historical version places their arrival in the 13th century. The first printed recipes appear in Compendium ferculorum, the first cookbook published in Polish, from 1682.
Flavors of Poland
Stew of sauerkraut and cabbage with various meats, smoked sausage and dried mushrooms, slowly cooked and reheated over days until the flavors meld. It is one of the dishes most connected to Polish identity and appears in the national poem Pan Tadeusz.
Round yeast dough pastry, fried, without a hole, filled with jam—traditionally rose petal or plum—and dusted with sugar or covered in icing. It’s the sweet of Tłusty Czwartek, the fatty Thursday before Lent, celebrated across the country.
Vodka made entirely in Poland from rye, wheat, barley, oats, triticale or potatoes grown in the country. The name is a national geographical indication that applies to both neutral vodka and flavored vodkas that follow the rules.
A sour soup made with zakwas, a fermented rye-flour starter, served with white sausage, a boiled egg and horseradish. It is one of the most important dishes of the Polish Easter and is sometimes served inside a loaf of bread.
Smoked pork cooked with dried plums, pears and other fruits, served with a sweet-and-sour fruit sauce and dumplings. The name means Silesian heaven, and the dish is on the Lower Silesia Traditional Products List.
Braided bread ring first boiled in very hot water and then baked, topped with salt, poppy seeds, or sesame. It’s sold from street carts in Kraków and has a European Union protected geographical indication.
A round wheat dough disk topped with raw chopped onion and poppy seed, baked until the edge is golden. It originated in the Jewish bakeries of Lublin’s old town and has a European Union protected geographical indication.
Yeast-based cake covered with a buttery streusel, made plain or filled with white cheese, poppy seed or apple. It is the wedding cake of Opole Silesia and has a European Union protected geographical indication.
Grated raw potato cake with fried bacon, onion, eggs and a little flour, baked in a pan until the crust is golden. It’s one of the most popular dishes of Podlaskie, the northeastern region of Poland, and is on the List of Traditional Products.
Flavored vodka with bison grass that grows in the clearings of the Białowieża and Knyszyn forests in Podlaskie. It has a light green-golden color and the smell of dry hay, and the official name is a protected geographical indication of the European Union.
Croissant in a crescent shape, made from yeast-leavened puff pastry, filled with white poppy seed paste with fruit and nuts, and topped with icing and chopped nuts. It is Poznań’s Saint Martin’s pastry, eaten on November 11, and has protected geographical indication.
Beef roulade stuffed with bacon, pickled cucumber and onion, cooked in sauce and served with kluski śląskie — potato dumplings with a little indentation in the middle — and red cabbage. It’s the Sunday lunch of Upper Silesia.
Long pastry made from leavened dough, fried and usually filled with seasoned ground meat with pepper. It originated in Szczecin in the early 1970s, made on a Soviet machine from 1969, and is on Poland’s List of Traditional Products.
Honey cake with pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and other spices, molded in wooden molds or cut into shapes. It has been made in Toruń without interruption since the Middle Ages and is on Poland’s national list of intangible cultural heritage.
Two-layer chocolate sponge cake with whipped cream in the middle, covered in chocolate and often topped with a cherry. It originated in Warsaw in the late 1940s, and the name is linked to the W-Z avenue, opened during the city’s reconstruction.
A very sour sauerkraut soup with smoked pork ribs or other smoked pork, served with boiled potato on the side or with bread. It’s the dish of the highlanders of Podhale, the Zakopane region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains.
