Brown Butter Bacon Pierogi
Restaurant-style pierogi: a tender sour cream dough, dry fluffy potato filling, bacon, slow-caramelised onions and a nutty brown butter finish.
Method
Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, add the sour cream, melted butter and warm water, bring it together and knead for . When it no longer sticks and feels as soft as an earlobe, cover with cling film and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The sour cream stops the dough shrinking back when you roll it and makes it very tender once boiled.
Add in this stepPlain flour 240 gSalt (for the dough) ½ tspSour cream (for the dough) 80 gMelted butter (for the dough) 20 gWarm water 80 ml
Peel the potatoes, cut into 4 cm chunks and put them in a 18 cm pot with cold salted water. Boil over medium heat for . When a skewer slides in with no resistance, drain, return the potatoes to the pot and shake them over low heat for to drive off the moisture. When the surface looks dry and floury, mash finely while hot.
Add in this stepPotatoes (floury) 350 g
medium heat→low heatPut the bacon, cut into 1 cm strips, in a 24 cm frying pan and cook over medium heat for until the fat has rendered and it is crisp, then lift it out. Add the butter and thinly sliced onions to the bacon fat and cook over medium-low heat for , stirring now and then, until deep amber. If the bottom starts to catch, add 1 tbsp water and scrape.
Add in this stepBacon 80 gButter (for the onions) 25 gOnions 1½
medium heat→medium-low heatFinely chop one third of the caramelised onions and mix with the mashed potato, crumbled cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Season until it tastes slightly salty, because the dough mutes it. Spread on a tray and cool for . Warm filling makes the dough soggy and the pierogi burst.
Add in this stepTwaróg cheese (or drained ricotta or cottage cheese) 175 gSalt (for the filling) ½ tspBlack pepper to tasteGround nutmeg 1 pinch
Roll the dough 1.5 to 2 mm thick and cut out 7.5 cm rounds. Put a heaped teaspoon of filling, rolled into a ball, on each. Fold into a half-moon, pressing out the air, then crimp the edge by folding it over itself little by little with your thumb and forefinger. You will make 20, which takes about . Keep them in one layer on a floured tray under a dry tea towel.
Bring a large pot of water with 1 tsp salt per litre to a rolling boil over high heat. Add 10 pierogi, stir once so they do not stick, and cook for 2 minutes after they float, then lift out with a slotted spoon. Cook in 2 batch(es), in total. Place them on a lightly buttered tray so they do not stick together.
high heatMelt the browning butter in a 26 cm frying pan over medium heat and let it foam until the foam subsides, it smells nutty and brown specks form on the bottom. Add the pierogi in a single layer and fry until golden on both sides, then add the remaining onions and bacon to warm through. Work in batches if the pan is full, in total. Top with sour cream and snipped chives.
Add in this stepButter (for browning) 35 gSour cream (to serve) 4 tbspChives 2 tbsp
medium heat
Cook's tip
Brown butter goes from perfect to burnt in seconds, so add the pierogi as soon as you see brown specks. Drying the potatoes properly is what keeps the filling from going pasty. For a vegetarian version, leave out the bacon and cook the onions a little longer in butter.
Cooking it at camp
Finish shaping at home and freeze the pierogi uncooked. At camp, boil them in a large pot on the burner, then fry the bacon and onions in one cast-iron pan and brown the butter in the same pan to save washing up. Wind makes butter burn faster, so turn the flame down a notch.