Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Ingredients for braising beef:
- 4-5 lbs beef steak for roasting. (Sirloin, Round or Chuck). FYI, Grandma Helena toward her later years told me she used only sirloin but a mix is fine. These are cuts that are about 2" thick. It will likely take multiple pieces to reach this weight.
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- beef broth just enough to cover meat
- salt
- freshly ground pepper
Day 2: Make the mix:
- Braised beef from day before.
- Reserved braising liquid from day before, skimmed of fat.
- 1 large jar sour kraut (depending on how much filling you need or the ratio of meat to kraut you like, it might take another jar so have one handy.)
- dried polish mushrooms (1/2 cup dried)
- Salt
- Ground Pepper
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Directions: |
Directions:Since we make pierogi once a year and freeze, this recipe will make about 100 pierogi with meat filling. Obviously modify the ingredients based on how many pierogi you want to make. This is a multi-day project so plan on that.
Day 1: Braise the beef
Salt and pepper the beef and brown briefly in a heavy skillet with some olive oil. Roughly chop some celery, onion and carrots. These are throw away veggies just to add flavor. Move beef to a roasting pan. Since we are braising, you don't want to stack the beef. So pan large enough to add in a single layer. Surround with carrots, onion, celery and also fresh parsley sprigs. Add enough beef broth just to go near the top but not over the top of the meat. You can add water in addition to the beef broth.
Braise in 325 degree oven for about 2 hours. Remove from oven, strain the liquids to remove any cooked veggies. Place the meat and liquid in separate containers in the fridge overnight.
Day 2: Make the mix:
- Braised beef from day before.
- Reserved braising liquid from day before, skimmed of fat.
- 1 large jar sour kraut (depending on how much filling you need or the ratio of meat to kraut you like, it might take another jar so have one handy.)
- dried polish mushrooms (1/2 cup dried)
- Salt
- Ground Pepper
First and longest step, chop the braised beef into very fine pieces. This will need to be put into a small piece of dough so no large pieces that might poke out.
Drain the kraut (but don't rinse). Chop the kraut into very fine pieces as well.
Place the 1/2 cup dried mushrooms into about 2 cups of very hot water so they can reconstitute. Once fully reconstituted, remove the mushrooms (reserve the liquid) and chop into very fine pieces.
Place the beef, kraut and mushrooms into a large pan. Add the reserved braising liquid and mushroom liquid. Bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remember that this will be placed into dough and boiled. So you will want to slightly over season to compensate. The final mixture should be moist but not dripping wet. Add additional beef broth if it starts to dry out. Simmer for about 1 hour. Let cool and place mixture in refrigerator overnight.
Day 3: Make the pierogi
See the recipe for pierogi dough in this cookbook. Basically roll out the dough and cut circles (a standard biscuit cutter is the right size). Add about a tablespoon of filling to the dough, fold up into a half crescent and seal the edges. Boil for about 7-10 minutes in boiling salted water.
Typically at this point, we freeze them.
- lay the cooked pierogi out in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- place them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes
- take the semi-frozen pierogi and place them in a single layer in a freezer bag, label and freeze. We use a food sealer bag which vacuum seals. They can be taken from freezer and placed in boiling water or in a fry pan with butter and onions throughout the year.
FYI, this will make a lot of pierogi because we always make big batches and freeze. However, if you are big pierogi fans, expect about at least a dozen to be eaten up in the making process (just for tasting purposes, of course). |
This recipe for Grandma Helena Pierogi Filling is from