This cherry vareniki recipe is about the boiled dumplings. For the fried buns, see Pirozhki.

For Eastern European pies, see Pirog. Pierogi or their varieties are associated with the cuisines of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Slavic origins, antedating the modern nation states and their standardized languages. In most of these languages the word means “pie”.

Among Ukrainians and the Ukrainian diaspora, they are known as varenyky. The same term is used in the Mennonite community, sometimes spelled varenikie or wareniki. Bryndzové pirohy is the Slovak term for dumplings filled with sheep milk cheese. Colțunași is the Romanian term for filled dumplings. While the origin of the pierogi is often under debate, the exact origin of the dish is unknown and unverifiable. Dumplings most likely originated in China and became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages or later periods. The dough, which is made by mixing flour and warm water, sometimes with an egg, is rolled flat and then cut into squares with a knife or circles using a cup or drinking glass.

The dough can be made with some mashed potato, creating a smoother texture. The filling is placed in the middle and the dough folded over to form a half circle or rectangle or triangle if the dough is cut squarely. The seams are pressed together to seal the pierogi so that the filling will remain inside when it is cooked. The pierogi are simmered until they float, drained, and then sometimes fried or baked in butter before serving or fried as leftovers.

Pierogi festival in Kraków, Poland, that occurs on the Day of St. Traditionally considered peasant food, pierogi eventually gained popularity and spread throughout all social classes, including the nobility. Cookbooks from the 17th century describe how during that era, the pierogi were considered a staple of the Polish diet, and each holiday had its own special kind of pierogi created. They are also served during public events, markets or festivals in a variety of forms and tastes, ranging from sweet to salty and spicy. At the 2007 Pierogi Festival in Kraków, 30,000 pierogi were consumed daily.

Polish pierogi are often filled with fresh quark, boiled and minced potatoes, and fried onions. Sweet pierogi are usually served with sour cream mixed with sugar, and savory pierogi with bacon fat and bacon bits. Poles traditionally serve two types of pierogi for Christmas Eve supper. Eastern European filled dumplings and buns, including pierogi, pirozhki and pirogs. Certain types of piroggen, both boiled and baked, were common fare for Germans living in Eastern Europe and the Baltic are still prepared by their descendants living there and in Germany. Tirol and northern Italy’s German-speaking region of South Tyrol, and are occasionally found in Bavaria.

In Hungarian cuisine, the derelye is similar to pierogi, consisting of pasta pockets filled with jam, cottage cheese, or sometimes meat. The word is a cognate with Slavic kalduny, a type of dumplings. In both Bukovina and Transylvania, the name piroști is used in Romanian families of German or Slavic origin and the filling can also be a whole, fresh, seedless plum. They can be topped with fried onions and bacon, or butter, and served with sour cream. In modern Russian, Pirozhki always mean a baked, in oven, or sometimes in a frying pan, usually under the lid, dough with filling. Due to centuries of close-knit community and mass migration from the Netherlands, northern Prussia, the Russian Empire and the Americas, the Russian Mennonites developed a unique ethnicity and cuisine.

Pierogi special at a fast-food stall in St. Pierogi were brought to the United States and Canada by Central and Eastern European immigrants. Numerous towns with Central and Eastern European heritage celebrate the pierogi. They have become a symbol of Polish-American cultural identity.

Many families make them together for Christmas. The city of Whiting, Indiana, celebrates the food at its Pierogi Fest every July. The United States has a substantial pierogi market because of its large Central and Eastern European immigrant populations. Unlike other countries with newer populations of European settlers, the modern pierogi is found in a wide selection of flavors throughout grocery stores in the United States. Pierogi enjoyed a brief popularity as a sports food when Paula Newby-Fraser adopted them as her food of choice for the biking portion of the 1989 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. For more than a decade thereafter, Mrs. T’s, based in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, pierogi consumption in the United States is largely concentrated in a geographical region dubbed the “Pierogi Pocket”, an area including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Chicago, Detroit, parts of the northern Midwest and southern New England which accounts for 68 percent of annual US pierogi consumption.

Rus’, the historical region and naming of Eastern Slavs and the ancient kingdom from which Ukrainians descend. Varenyky are considered by Ukrainians as one of their national dishes and plays a fundamental role in Ukrainian culture. Whilst traditionally savory, varenyky can also be served as a dessert by simply substituting the filling of the dumpling to a sweeter one. Dessert varenyky fillings include sour cherry, blueberries, sweet cottage cheese and other fruits. Varenyky are so beloved in Ukraine that a yearly festival commemorating them is held at the Ukrainian ski resort town of Bukovel in the Carpathian Mountains. In 2013, a snow monument to varenyky was made in Bukovel, and was submitted to the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest snow varenyk in the world. In Ukraine, varenyky are not just a national dish, but also played a symbolic and ritualistic role.

Ukrainian ancestors equated varenyky with a young moon since they have a similar shape, and used the dumplings as part of pagan and sacrificial rituals. For example, cheese varenyky would be sacrificed near water springs, and years ago farmers also believed that varenyky helped bring a rich harvest, so they took homemade dumplings with them to the fields. Packed frozen pierogi can be found wherever Central and Eastern European immigrant communities exist and are generally ubiquitous across Canada, even in big chain stores. Typically frozen flavors include analogs of ruskie pierogi filled with potato and either Cheddar cheese, onion, bacon, cottage cheese or mixed cheeses. The frozen varieties are sometimes served casserole-style with a mixture of chopped ham, onions, peppers and cheddar cheese or with an Italian-style mixture of ground beef, onions and tomato sauce. National chain restaurants in Canada feature the dish or variations. Boston Pizza has a sandwich and a pizza flavored to taste like pierogies, while Smitty’s serves theirs as an appetizer deep-fried with a side of salsa.