This is a fantastic link, thank you! I'll have to see if mom is up for some experimenting. Of course, there will never be pierogis like my late grandma made (the instructions she left weren't very specific), though the Polish bakery pierogis are pretty decent.
We celebrate a very modified Polish Christmas Eve, we only eat the pierogis and fish. We added meat because people wanted it. I did a report on Polish Christmas when I was taking a course on Ethnic Something or other. Very interesting.
Hafta work tomorrow, so I should toodle off soon. Thanks again, and hope you had a great holiday! xoxo
Oh, I'm so glad you liked it and took time to respond. I thought it was very interesting myself. I was just about to get off this darm computer and read your reply and it capped off a very happy day. :-)
Thanks so much, and I do hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays with your friends and family.
I should add that we also have the wafers, and in lieu of saying grace, we all go around the table and make wishes for the coming year. As each person says their wish, everyone breaks off a piece and eats it.
As part of that paper I did in college, I interviewed a friend's (then future) mother-in-law, who emigrated from Poland in the late 60's. She confirmed the use of hay under the table cloth and the stalks of grain in the corners of the room. My other research said that the empty place setting was also to remember those that were no longer with us.
Most interesting to me, was the fact that the traditional Polish Christmas meal does not include meat, as they believe that animals, who witnessed Christ's birth, spoke with human voices that night. So to honor them, people don't eat meat that night.
Thanks again--glad to hear you had a nice Christmas as well.
That's great that you all carry on those traditions, and you not being a meat enthusiast anyway probably makes it even better. I like the loving touches, the empty place-setting and all.
We've talked about the pirogies a couple of times before and I've often been tempted to try my hand at them. We really don't make dumplings too much at all here, although I'm sure there must be some versions in our culinary past.
The closest food I can think of is the beignet which is a sweet dough and sometimes stuffed with fruit or preserves. I wonder if there are savoury versions, if I might call them that
( ... )
There are cheese pierogis (and potato and cheese pierogis), but I admit I don't know what kind of cheese is used. They're darn tasty, anyway.
We don't do the empty chair, though we've certainly lost enough people along the way. We figured out that my mom's parents started the Christmas Eve tradition over 50 years ago. Nice.
Oh, good. That helps. The potato and cheese pierogies, browned in butter and onions, are the kind I'd like to try. I'll look up sample recipes for cheeses used. The cream cheese sounds yummy because it reminds me of those Chinese dumplings they call Crab Rangoon. We do have a meat pie that is Cajun and deep fried and have potatoes, onions, etc. and is usually deep-fried.
I'm going to try some soon and will post the results (if they are successful). :-)
Semi-funny story: I went into a bookstore whilst Christmas shopping, and overheard two men talking. Actually, I didn't really hear what either of them were saying until one of them said, "what's a dumpling?" which I thought was a little funny, because not everyone knows what a pierogi is, but most people know what dumplings are, so that's how I explain them. I was thinking this, again not really hearing the conversation, when the next thing that caught my ear was the second man saying "pierogi"! Which was followed by a general description, and then the first man understood.
I bet the flavored cream cheeses would be interesting as well. I look forward to hearing about your results, successful or not, though I am sure they will be successful!
Yeah, that was cute. I'm often tickled at people who have been here for years, declare themselves "locals", are up on so much of the culture through reading, research, and osmosis, but who often fail to know basic things a five-year-old born here would know. It's not their fault, but you have to "grow up" in any environment to truly understand it, and they shouldn't try to explain our culture to us. They only see the broad strokes, not the nuance. Of course, with cooking, most people in most places don't cook much anymore so traditional, regional, and ethnic cooking is a dying art form for the vast majority of people.
Yeah, I love the green onion/chive cream cheese. :-) I do want to try to make those pierogies as authentic as possible before deciding if my superior cooking expertise can improve over hundreds of years of trial and error. ;-)
I once saw a chef "improve" on Louisiana gumbo by using butter to make a roux. *lol* He didn't get it.
The rest of the story is that the second man is someone I see frequently on the bus, and I had pegged him as a talker, but wasn't able to avoid him, so we did end up talking. He's not from here, or even from this country, though I couldn't determine where he might be from. So I could excuse him not being familiar with a dumpling, if I had to, and certainly for not knowing pierogis.
Isn't there a fish (salmon) flavored cream cheese? I wonder how that would work? I was sent home with some leftovers, otherwise, I might have to pick up some crab rangoon (rangood, as I typed) on the way home! Fortunately or unfortunately, there's nowhere near work to obtain such delights.
You know, I've seen recipes for Crab Rangoon that had real or imitation crab (I think they use turbo fish among others) in it, but my understanding of the dish is that it was called "crab" rangoon because it was folded to roughly resemble a crab.
There are probably a lot of dishes/foods/things in many cultures that have some name based on things they resemble. There are some in cajun culture, most that probably can't be repeated. *lol* I make a pecan cookie that is called a "cocoon" which is similar to sno-caps and "wedding cookies". You would love them. There's a bakery item called "shoe soles" that is scrumptious. Yes, they do resemble shoe soles and cocoons. Made cookies again this year?
Off to check on my mom. I hope your work-day is going quiet and peaceful. :-)
http://acweb.colum.edu/users/agunkel/homepage/polxmasf.html
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This is a fantastic link, thank you! I'll have to see if mom is up for some experimenting. Of course, there will never be pierogis like my late grandma made (the instructions she left weren't very specific), though the Polish bakery pierogis are pretty decent.
We celebrate a very modified Polish Christmas Eve, we only eat the pierogis and fish. We added meat because people wanted it. I did a report on Polish Christmas when I was taking a course on Ethnic Something or other. Very interesting.
Hafta work tomorrow, so I should toodle off soon. Thanks again, and hope you had a great holiday! xoxo
Reply
Thanks so much, and I do hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays with your friends and family.
Reply
As part of that paper I did in college, I interviewed a friend's (then future) mother-in-law, who emigrated from Poland in the late 60's. She confirmed the use of hay under the table cloth and the stalks of grain in the corners of the room. My other research said that the empty place setting was also to remember those that were no longer with us.
Most interesting to me, was the fact that the traditional Polish Christmas meal does not include meat, as they believe that animals, who witnessed Christ's birth, spoke with human voices that night. So to honor them, people don't eat meat that night.
Thanks again--glad to hear you had a nice Christmas as well.
Reply
We've talked about the pirogies a couple of times before and I've often been tempted to try my hand at them. We really don't make dumplings too much at all here, although I'm sure there must be some versions in our culinary past.
The closest food I can think of is the beignet which is a sweet dough and sometimes stuffed with fruit or preserves. I wonder if there are savoury versions, if I might call them that ( ... )
Reply
We don't do the empty chair, though we've certainly lost enough people along the way. We figured out that my mom's parents started the Christmas Eve tradition over 50 years ago. Nice.
Reply
Reply
I'm going to try some soon and will post the results (if they are successful). :-)
Reply
Semi-funny story: I went into a bookstore whilst Christmas shopping, and overheard two men talking. Actually, I didn't really hear what either of them were saying until one of them said, "what's a dumpling?" which I thought was a little funny, because not everyone knows what a pierogi is, but most people know what dumplings are, so that's how I explain them. I was thinking this, again not really hearing the conversation, when the next thing that caught my ear was the second man saying "pierogi"! Which was followed by a general description, and then the first man understood.
I bet the flavored cream cheeses would be interesting as well. I look forward to hearing about your results, successful or not, though I am sure they will be successful!
Reply
Yeah, that was cute. I'm often tickled at people who have been here for years, declare themselves "locals", are up on so much of the culture through reading, research, and osmosis, but who often fail to know basic things a five-year-old born here would know. It's not their fault, but you have to "grow up" in any environment to truly understand it, and they shouldn't try to explain our culture to us. They only see the broad strokes, not the nuance. Of course, with cooking, most people in most places don't cook much anymore so traditional, regional, and ethnic cooking is a dying art form for the vast majority of people.
Yeah, I love the green onion/chive cream cheese. :-) I do want to try to make those pierogies as authentic as possible before deciding if my superior cooking expertise can improve over hundreds of years of trial and error. ;-)
I once saw a chef "improve" on Louisiana gumbo by using butter to make a roux. *lol* He didn't get it.
Reply
Isn't there a fish (salmon) flavored cream cheese? I wonder how that would work? I was sent home with some leftovers, otherwise, I might have to pick up some crab rangoon (rangood, as I typed) on the way home! Fortunately or unfortunately, there's nowhere near work to obtain such delights.
Reply
You know, I've seen recipes for Crab Rangoon that had real or imitation crab (I think they use turbo fish among others) in it, but my understanding of the dish is that it was called "crab" rangoon because it was folded to roughly resemble a crab.
There are probably a lot of dishes/foods/things in many cultures that have some name based on things they resemble. There are some in cajun culture, most that probably can't be repeated. *lol* I make a pecan cookie that is called a "cocoon" which is similar to sno-caps and "wedding cookies". You would love them. There's a bakery item called "shoe soles" that is scrumptious. Yes, they do resemble shoe soles and cocoons. Made cookies again this year?
Off to check on my mom. I hope your work-day is going quiet and peaceful. :-)
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