If you regularly make Pieorgi or other dumplings for your family in large quantities

[justLisa]

What do you require they do for you in return :glare: :tongue_smilie:

 

Seriously, I hate making them. It takes SO long, and then they are GONE! Last time I made enough to freeze a months worth. I must have forgot how long that took. Maybe if I had a great reward besides a fat belly LOL.

 

I really wish I could find some that are like homemade but affordable, as in not 10 times what I can make them for.

 

Does anyone have a trick or gadget that makes it faster?

[mommaduck]

We buy pierogi already made and frozen...dump them in a pan with whatever tomatoes or sauce we want and shove it in the oven.

 

Chicken and dumplings are homemade though. I only require an extremely clean kitchen and dining room.

 

I own very few special gadgets. Crockpots are the main "gadget" I own :p

[justLisa]

I wish I could find good frozen ones! They were stocking them at Costco for a while, and they were excellent. I bought so many packages it is ridiculous. We have them every Friday. But now, I am out :crying:

[In The Great White North]

Recipes? And techniques for getting them to stay shut?

 

BTW, I have this:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Actions-Perogie-Maker-Won-Ton-Ravioli-Tart-/180937846943?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a20bc709f

 

but I still can't get the edges to stick.

[Lucy in Australia]

We love them too but I got to the point where you're at and I realised I needed help. Fortunately one of my aunts had to foresight to teach my boys to make them when they were little and willing :tongue_smilie: so I told them if they wanted to eat them, they had to help make them. They did and still do. It takes us half the time. In the beginning we had many misshapen ones :D but now they're as good as me. Now I'm onto the toddler, if I can just make her stop eating the raw dough :001_huh:

 

As for gadgets, I use my pasta machine for the dough but I haven't found any gadgets that actually work :glare:

[mommaduck]

Recipes? And techniques for getting them to stay shut?

 

BTW, I have this:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Actions-Perogie-Maker-Won-Ton-Ravioli-Tart-/180937846943?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a20bc709f

 

but I still can't get the edges to stick.

Could it be your dough?

[Occasionally]

I made them a few times for my dad. He said they were almost just like his own mother used to make--and she spent her formative years in Poland.

 

That said, I haven't made them in years since they're such a pain in the neck (and since my dad died, there's no great demand.) I have something like this gadget. I'm not sure that it made it any easier, though.

 

This place isn't too far from my DH's office. On rare occasions I ask him to go pick some pierogi up for us. When my dad was alive, he said they were pretty good :001_smile: (he was the judge of all things pierogi in our family.)

[justLisa]

None of those pierogi makers work. The only thing Ive found remotely useful is this $1 plastic dumpling folder I got at the Asian foods store.

[In The Great White North]

Could it be your dough?

 

What about the dough? Too floury? Too tough? Too??

[justLisa]

What about the dough? Too floury? Too tough? Too??

 

It should be soft, not dry or sticky, and have eggs in it. I'll PM you a recipe if you want to compare. I never know about those copyright things LOL.

[Desert Rat]

We make pierogis about 3 times a year in mass quantity.

I make potato only, well it has other stuff in the potato mixture, but I don't make meat or saurkraut.

I use my food processor for the dough. I start the first batch. Dh starts rolling and cutting (we use a big gulp cup). While he's cutting, I start the next batch in the processor. He grabs it while I'm filling and pressing the ones he's already cut. I have a huge aluminum roasting pan and separate with wax paper (probably switching to plastic next time though).

We get a rhythm down and keep going until we run out of a) flour b) eggs c) potato mixture (we do 10#).

[justLisa]

We make pierogis about 3 times a year in mass quantity.

I make potato only, well it has other stuff in the potato mixture, but I don't make meat or saurkraut.

I use my food processor for the dough. I start the first batch. Dh starts rolling and cutting (we use a big gulp cup). While he's cutting, I start the next batch in the processor. He grabs it while I'm filling and pressing the ones he's already cut. I have a huge aluminum roasting pan and separate with wax paper (probably switching to plastic next time though).

We get a rhythm down and keep going until we run out of a) flour b) eggs c) potato mixture (we do 10#).

 

Ya, that's what I need to do, make 10#. But it's just me. I don't have the Polish club ladies that make meelions of these things to help me :D

 

I make the potato farmer cheese kind. I could eat a hundred a day, I swear.

[stripe]

I love pierogi and wish I could make them. We have a family friend who makes them but I have never been invited to the preparation so I don't know her secrets!

 

Is there a reason they're harder to make than ravioli or Asian dumplings? I wonder if you could use any tips from makers of those styles of dumplings?

 

Here is a video of Martha Stewart and her mom making them.

http://www.marthastewart.com/339781/potato-pierogi

[Dealea86]

Before kids I made mandu (Korean dumplings) a few times mostly from scratch. I did buy dumpling skins at the Asian store, and that feels like it saves a ton of time. When DD gets a bit older, that would be a fun thing to try with her. It wasn't that much effort to make a bunch of them, but there's no way I'd attempt it again without kid help. :)

 

At MIL's house one... Christmas, I think(?), we made mandu as a family. MIL made the filling, we stuffed. Then when she was done with the filling, she started taking our finished mandu and processing them - freezing some and cooking some for our dinner that night. We made so many... I think we spent like 4 hours stuffing dumplings, and there were 4 of us doing the stuffing (though we did take turns taking breaks, so it was usually just 2-3 of us at a time).

 

I definitely think the assembly line is the way to go with dumplings! Don't make yourself do it all on your own - dumpling making should be a family affair! :)

[8circles]

I don't make them often but don't fond it too taxing. My s?c'est is not caring what they look like. We cut into squares and fold diagonally. We are Slovak, not Polish, so maybe our expectations are different. We only make sauerkraut, cheese, or jam filled.

[justLisa]

LOL. This is the story of my life. Not so much the pierogi part, but the making stuff and it not lasting no matter how hard I try!

 

My husband once said I need to make less tasty food so he can stop eating so much. So maybe the key is to make them taste bad. :lol:

 

Maybe that's the trick! So every so often, all the Polish ladies use the commercial kitchen at the Polish club, and make millions of them. They sell them. I get nothing but dishes :lol: