[Sca-cooks] Deep fried Russian pies

[Stefan li Rous]

Da asked:
> Samrah wrote: we needed good bread or pyroskis (Russian deep fried meat
> & egg pies, probably spelled wrong)!
>
>   You wouldn't`t mean Pirozhki`s by chance would you?
>    Deep fried Russian meat pies.
>   Now would you happen t know the period of them. My Russian book is
> modern
> and doesn`t include such interesting tidbits of information as dates on
> recipes.
Yes, they are period but we don't have recipes. The following is from 
this file in the FOOD section in the Florilegium:
pierogies-msg     (12K)  8/ 2/01    Stuffed dumplings/pies from Eastern 
Europe.

> Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2001 22:24:25 -0600
> From: Jenn/Yana <slavic at mailbag.com>
> Subject: Pierogies vs pirozhki (was Re: SC - Northkeep's Winterkingdom)
>
> Stefan li Rous wrote:
> >Okay, what is the differance between a pierogie and a piroshki?
>
> In the modern sense, pierogies (Polish origin) are pastry dough stuffed
> with or wrapped around a filling and boiled (sometimes pan-fried
> afterwards). Pirozhkis (Russian origin) are shortcrust (pie) dough or 
> bread
> dough stuffed with or wrapped around a filling and baked, pan-fried, or
> deep-fried (and for the liguistically-minded, the singular is 
> "pirozhok",
> the plural is "pirozhki", and it is spelled with a "zh", not a "sh").
>
> >Did anyone find any definative evidence that these were period? Period
> >recipes would be even better, but I doubt we have that.
>
> I only know about pirozhkis.  Yes, they are period, no, we don't have a
> "recipe."  But, we do know what types of fillings were used in pies, 
> and
> pirozhki means "little pie."  The Domostroi (in the definitely period
> section) lists pie fillings: "For meat days stuff them with whichever 
> meat
> is at hand.  For fast days use kasha, peas, broth [I presume mixed 
> with a
> drier ingredient], turnips, mushrooms, cabbage, or whatever God 
> provides."
> [Pouncy:125].  On page 151 and 161, "turnovers" are mentioned.  In 
> Pouncy's
> footnote of the latter entry, she calls them "pirozhki."
>
> No mention of the cooking technique, but I would guess they were 
> probably
> baked, like the bigger pies, if only because they would be slightly 
> easier
> to bake for an entire household instead of frying them in batches.
> Although if you set up some sort of assembly-line type of service (fry 
> a
> few, rush them to the diners, fry a few, rush them to the next batch of
> diners, etc.) it might work.  Or maybe keeping them warm in the
> oven...okay, I'm reaching here.  I don't know how they were cooked.  
> :-)
>
> - --Yana

There is more. You might also be interested in these two files in the 
FOOD-BY-REGION section:
fd-Russia-msg     (55K)  6/28/02    Russian food. Russian cookbooks.
Russian-Snaks-art (10K)  4/23/02    "A Russian Snack!" by Posadnik.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****