SC - RE: Okay Olaf, what is SCA_Personals OT

[Isha ArrowHawk]

<< I am considering an eastern european feast. I would like to include
pierogys with a riccotta like cheese filling with currents, honey and a
few spices. ... >>

Adam Olearius, who travelled to Russia and Persia around 1635 mentions
them in his travelogue:

"Vnter andern haben sie auch eine art Gebackens/ als Pasteten/ oder
vielmehr Pfankuchen/ so Pyrogen genandt werden/ seynd in grösse einer
Butterwecke/ jedoch etwas länglichter/ welche sie mit klein gehacktem
Fische oder Fleisch vnd Zipollen füllen/ in Butter oder zu Fasten Zeit
in Oel braten/ haben einen nicht vnangenehmen Geschmack/ mit solcher
Speise wil ein jeglicher seinen Gast/ wenn er jhm gütlich zu thun
vermeinet/ bewirthen" (Olearius, Muscowitische vnd Persische Reyse,
second ed., 1656, p. 204).

Here, he describes the preparation of the dish ("pyrogen"): they are
filled with fish, meat and onions; they taste good; everybody wants to
serve them to a guest, if he guest is welcome.

The description looks as if this dish was something very common around
1635, so I guess one could find earlier descriptions in other
travelogues.

For those interested in Russian food and drink, the whole chapter "Von
der Russen Haußstand/ gemeinem Leben/ Speisen vnd Vnterhalt" would
deserve a closer inspection [On housekeeping, ordinary life, food and
nutrition of the Russians]: Quaß, mead, "Ikari", raspberry brandy, a
dish for recovery after being drunken, ...

Th.