Pierogis for the Pittsburgh pounding

Since I was in a hurry to get the Pittsburgh primer up before the game started Sunday, here is a brief history of how Pittsburgh's cultural history affects this week's food.

Pittsburgh first started acting like a "blue collar" city during the War of 1812, when the British blockade forced America to produce its own iron, brass, and tin, goods that were previously imported from overseas. Located in the heart of one of the largest coalfields in the country, Pittsburgh was a logical choice to spearhead the increase in production of the manufactured goods previously bought from Britain. First it was iron, but by the early-mid 19th century, Pittsburgh began producing the export that would eventually give the city its nickname: steel. Manufacturing steel required a large, cheap labor force, making it an ideal job for the large number of European immigrants trying to establish any foothold in America that they could. This brought waves of German, Polish, and Scotish immigrants, and their food and cultures, to the area. 

One of the unique food items brought from Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe, was the pierogi. The best way to describe a pierogi, I think, is like a Polish dumpling. They are made with a sour cream and flour based dough and have a filling that is usually potato or ground meat based, but can really include anything. I will be making 3 types:

• Potato and cheese
• Potato, cheese, and jalapeno
• Potato, cheese, jalapeno, and sausage

Alright. Back to the regularly scheduled programming, i.e. recapping another delicious cooking experiment.

I learned a valuable, two sided lesson this week. First, pierogis are quite tasty (ok I already knew that) and second, the process of making them is quite involved. No one ingredient was really complicated to make, but putting them all together was a bit of a hassle. Let's start with the dough. 

Dough ingredients

Once all of the ingredients were in the bowl, I mixed them with my hands to try and get the dough to clump to itself. At first, as it started to transition from ingredients to dough, the dough formed in small pieces. As I kept folding these back into the rest of the mixture, eventually they formed a nice ball/patty of pierogi dough.

I wish I could come up with a witty caption, but really it's just dough....

I got a little overzealous and made two batches of dough, but once they were both done, I wrapped them in plastic and put them in the refrigerator overnight. Now it was time to focus on the filling. The first thing I needed to do was whip up some mashed potatoes. I went with red potatoes and left a little bit of the skin on. These were just my preferences, but you could make your own choices and would get a similar result. I "skinned" them, cut them into smallish pieces, covered them in water and got them boiling. Once the water boiled, I cooked them on medium heat for about 20 minutes.

"Skinned" red potatoes

After about 20 minutes, once they could be easily broken apart with a fork, the potatoes were ready. I drained the water, added a little salt, pepper, butter and milk, and used a hand mixer to mash the potatoes.

Want some potatoes with that cheese?

I then added some cheese and onions (and later jalapenos) and the potatoes were done. While the potatoes were cooking, I cooked up some jalapeno sausages that would later be cut up for the last pierogis.

No prep time. Just cooking some delicious sausages

Then came the fun part. With all of the ingredients prepared, it was time to actually make the pierogis. I took the dough out of the fridge and rolled it out until it was about 1/8" thick. (NOTE: The dough will not cooperate if you do not have a rolling pin. Trust me. Also, plastic wrap makes for a pretty crappy rolling board. So does aluminum foil. Let my experiences push you to using either a board or wax paper. You'll thank me later).

DO NOT try and obtain a dough shape this good without a rolling pin

Next, I cut out a circle of dough using a cup (I didn't have a circular cookie cutter so I had to use a cup). I dipped my fingers in water and then pressed the round a little flatter. The water makes the dough a little sticky, which is supposed to help the pierogi stay closed when it's cooking. Then I put about a spoonful of potato filling in the center of the round, folded it in half, and use the tines of a fork to press it closed and make the little lines you see on the edge. Typically, pierogis are boiled; however, of the six I cooked by boiling, only one made it out of the pot intact, with its potato contents still inside. Rather than continue to lose potato filling, I decided to bake the remaining pierogis in the oven. I cooked them at 350 degrees, for about 10-12 minutes per side. 

Look how the fork seals, yet simultaneously decorates the edge of the pierogi. What a masterful work of fine craftsmanship that screams elegance as loud as it screams functionality

A picture of pierogis that Peyton Manning couldn't look at without turning his computer

Taste wise, the piergois were very good; they tasted exactly like the ones I remember having when I was younger, although those were store bought. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't get the more accurate, boiling process to work, but they still tasted great. Cooking them in the oven seemed to give them a more pastry like taste, as opposed to the traditional dumpling taste that boiling them provided. These require a lot of work to prepare, so I'm not sure if they're something I'd make all the time. However, if made for a special occasion, these could make for a nice appetizer, or if filled with fruit, a nice dessert. That being said, I did enjoy these and have to give the experiment a 3/3.

-MB

Potato and cheese pierogi recipe

• Kitchen items
• Mixing bowl
• Saucepan
• Rolling pin
• Potato masher or hand mixer
• Rolling board or wax paper
• Circle cookie cutter or a cup
• Pierogi dough
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup butter
• Potato and cheese filling
• 2.5 lbs potatoes (I used red)
• 1 medium onion
• 4-8 oz cheddar cheese
• Butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• Milk
• Other filling ideas
• Jalapenos
• Sausage
• Chicken
• Really, anything you would like to put in will work
• Pierogi dough
• Mix salt and flour. Then add beaten egg and softened (or melted) butter. Mix until no longer sticky. The dough will come together in large clumps but they will allow themselves to stick together to form a large ball of dough. Put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight. 
• Potato and cheese filling
• Skin potatoes, leaving as much skin as you want. Cut potatoes into small pieces, cover with water, then boil. While they are boiling, chop up the onion and prepare any other filling that you might want to add to the pierogi. After the water boils, turn the heat down and cook on low-medium heat for about 20 minutes. When potatoes break up easily, they are ready. Drain the potatoes, add how ever much butter, salt, and pepper that you want. Begin mashing, either with potato masher or hand mixer, adding milk as needed to get the potatoes to a whipped consistency. After this, add the cheese and onion (or whatever additional filling is desired), and continue to mix until thoroughly blended.
• Pierogi
• Place the dough on a rolling board or wax paper. Using rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is about 1/8" thick. When cutting out the dough in circles, remember that whatever size you cut out will be folded in half to make the pierogi. Using the cookie cutter or cup, cut out circles of dough in the size you desire. Place about a spoonful of filling in the center of the dough circle, fold the circle in half, and use the tines of a fork to seal the pierogi. Place pierogis in boiling water for about 7-8 minutes, or until they float to the top. You can also cook the pierogis in the oven, at 350 degrees, for 10-12 minutes per side. 
• Tip: If you're having trouble getting the pierogis to stay closed, it could be because there is too much flour in the dough. Sprinkle a bit of water on the dough to make it a little extra sticky.  

Potato and cheese pierogi recipe source (link)

Pittsburgh primer

I have a confession to make.

I think this game against New Orleans was ok to lose...

Man that hurts to say, but if you look at a few other factors, games on the road against one of your four NFC opponents are ok to lose. Sure you want to win on the road against a Super Bowl contender to show yourselves and the world that you can do it, but in the grand scheme of things (always wondered why it was the grand scheme of things...what things??), if you can't go 16-0, I'd rather lose last week and beat Pittsburgh at home, then the other way around. I know that's a crappy way to think, but trying to make some lemonade here.

Let's backtrack here a second. Before the season started, I put on my prognosticating hat and went week by week through the Texan's schedule, tried to think about each game objectively (if my heart made the picks, they'd never lose), and made game by game predictions for the season. When I came to weeks 3 and 4, I predicted 1-1. I never really made a firm commitment to which one they would win or lose, but I went back and forth many times. As I mentioned before, if you have to go 1-1, you'd much rather it be by winning against Pitt at home. It should be a team's goal to never lose at home. Yes winning on the road is important, but if you go 8-0 at home, going 0.500 on the road makes you a 12 win team. It's sort of like sweeping your division; you also want to do well outside the division, but go 6-0 and 0.500 elsewhere and you're 11-5. Outside of the 2008 Patriots, 11-5 gets you in the playoffs every time. That being said, I thought they could go into the Superdome and win that game. The Saints have a defense that you can move the ball on. We saw Green Bay do it. We saw the Texans do it. Hell, we even saw the Bears do it for a little bit before Mike Martz forgot how to say the word "run". And of course, you can't talk about the Saints without talking about Drew Brees-us and their offense. I had a feeling that this game would be a shootout (shameless plug: click here!) and unfortunately, the Texans were not able to come out on top. And just as the players should, I too am not going to dwell too much on last week's loss. But first, a few quick thoughts:

• James Casey: As a Rice alumn it was BAD ASS to see him making so many plays. Seeing him do all of that and more in college, and with the words coming out of Kubiak's mouth about wanting to get JC86 more involved in the offense, I knew it was only a matter of time before we saw plays like last week. I'm not saying I expected 126 yards and a touchdown, I'm just saying the crazy, laying out to beat the defender, fully horizontal touchdown catch is something I've seen before. Here's to hoping that they try and get him that involved in many more games to come. 
• 4th quarter defense: Yes I will admit that some of the goodwill the defense built up during the first couple of weeks was lost after the 4th quarter defense allowed New Orleans to put up the 23 points that ultimately gave them the lead that was the difference in the game. Now New Orleans was playing at home, with one of the best offenses in the league (they almost pulled a similar comeback in Green Bay), but it would have been really nice to see the Texans put on their big boy pants and come up with a big play that would have shifted the game in their favor, but its not like they let a team with a putrid, inconsistent offense drive down the field in under a minute (New York Jets last year...). Going forward, I think they need to continue to gain confidence with their new system, maintain the aggressiveness shown in the first couple of weeks, and by season's end, I wouldn't be surprised to see this defense be able to step up and make plays when it counts.
• Red zone offense: It stunk last week. This week Arian Foster is back (woo hoo!). Look for that to make a huge difference. That is all.

Alright, that's enough about New Orleans. The Texans know what they need to work on and I'm sure (hopefully) that they worked towards fixing those issues this week. Looking forward to Pittsburgh, I expect this to be a tough, physical game. I know that's somewhat of a cliche when Pittsburgh is involved, but it's a cliche for a reason: because it's true. And in a bit of a twist, I expect the Texans to be able to match that physicality MUCH better than they have in years past. Watching the defense last week, there were many plays where Texan's players were making big hits on the the Saint's receivers and running backs. Since this is something I'm not used to as a Texan's fan, it was pretty nice to see that on a much more consistent basis than in the past. If they start flying around and making big hits against Pitt (and really against anyone going forward), then that extra little fear could possibly start creeping into the minds of the receivers before the ball gets there. I think this is going to be a game where unit match ups, rather than one-on-one match ups, will play a big roll in determining the winner. A couple of key unit match ups to watch are:

• Texan's run game v. Steeler's run defense: this will be a huge measuring stick of how the run game will be with Arian Foster back in charge. While down so far this year statistically, Pittsburgh is typically an elite team in stopping the run, especially in limiting zone running schemes. The Texan's offense goes as the run game goes, so they will need to continue to try and establish the run, even if not successful in the early goings. The extra time Matt Schaub gets if those pass rushing outside linebackers for Pittsburgh have to hesitate because they're thinking about the run could be the difference in a deep completion and a sack.
• Texan's front 7 v. Pittsburgh's O-line: I know that piling on the Steeler's offensive line is what the cool kids are doing, but offensive line effectiveness is equal parts talent and cohesiveness. I don't have the football pedigree to dissect their talent, but injuries and ineffectiveness have destroyed their chance to play together as a unit and this has made the offensive line a weakness for Pittsburgh. Granted Big Ben is one of the best scramblers in the game, but if the Texan's can show the consistent pressure they did weeks 1 and 2, I think the defense can severely limit the Pittsburgh offensive output. 
• Steeler's D v. time: Again, this is another thing the cool kids point out, but the main components of Pittsburgh's D are getting up there in age. Not saying they can't be effective, but injury nicks and dings take a little longer to heal and those lingering nags can slow them down just enough for the Texan's offense to frolic in their typical way.

I'm running a little late and want to get my football thoughts posted before the game today. I'll still have the history behind Pittsburgh and the food this week, but that will have to wait for a later post. However, this week I am making pierogis. For those that don't know what they are, they are most similar to a Chinese dumpling, but from Poland. I'm making them from scratch so we'll see how this goes.

I'm going to try something this week and if it's successful, I may continue to do it going forward. I'm going to make a scoring prediction for this game. I'm hoping that I'm close and don't look a silly fool, but I'll leave you with this:

Pittsburgh 17

Houston 24

Happy Football Viewing

-MB