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The filling and the icing

Traditionally, the most popular filling for Piernik is plum or blackcurrants jam, sometimes marmalade. This practice has remained popular these days, even though it seems to have been introduced in the very first recipes for Polish Piernik. These days, cooks sometimes soak the cake with liquor (amaretto) or coffee to preserve the moisture before they spread the filling over the cake. Contemporary recipes also introduced some Swedish cream as possible filling. The icing seems to be more varied. Here are some of the popular ones: - Chocolate icing (often sprinkled over with almond or other nuts) - Glaze icing - Sugar syrup - almond paste (marzipan) I think that the chocolate icing is the most popular these days. When it comes to Medivnyk, it depends on whether you go for traditional or layered ones. The former is usually served with no icing whatsoever, often with just a sprinkle of sugar on to of it, although, some people like to borrow the chocolate icing or jam / cream filling from Polish tradition to make their cakes more interesting and cake-like. The layered gingerbread depends on good cream or custard in order to make the flatbread soft. Every layer is spread with a filling of choice, sometimes with addition of some jam (plum, raspberry or apricot) and then the cream is also used as icing, over which some корж crumbles are spinkled. As a result, such a cake looks very fluffy and is melting in one’s mouth. You can also sprinkle chocolate or nuts on top of it, like mom does.

Honorable mentions: Pierniki Toruńskie vs. Пряники and Медяники

I know I meant to write about cakes in this post, but there’s no way that I write about Piernik and never mention Toruń gingerbread cookies (I mean, COME ON!). Pierniki Toruńskie (also known as Thorner Lebkuchen) is one of the most famous kinds of gingerbreads in Europe. Its recipe is more than 700 years old and is considered legendary. The ingredients are basically the same as for the cake, with the exception of egg, but, of course, it uses different proportions. They have been produced in Confectionary Factory “Kopernik” in Toruń since 1763 and can be divided into the following cookie types: - Katarzynki (Thorner Kathrinchen)– heart-shaped gingerbreads covered in chocolate - Pierniki Nadziewane – literally “gingerbread cookies will filling” (traditionally, plum jam, but nowadays basically anything can be filling) - Toruniaki w glazurze(Thorner Pflastersteine) – literally “glazed Toruń gingerbeads” -  Pierniki Toruńskie nadziewane w glazurze – literally “glazed Toruń gingerbread cookies with filling”    - Pierniki figuralne (Thorner Figurenlebkuchen ) – gingerbread cookies of different shapes Toruń people are so proud of their amazing invention, that they have at least two museums dedicated to Pierniki Toruńskie and an annually Piernik Celebration. This type of cookie is basically the city’s biggest celebrity (sorry, Mr Kopernik). Ukraine is definitely not as into Pierniki as Poland is, but there is a local analogue which can be found in Ukrainian shops – Pryanyk. The difference between Piernki Toruńskie and Pryanyky is that the latter are thicker, usually but not always, round, and rarely do they have spices or filling in them. Unlike their Polish counterparts, Pryanyky have only one type of icing – the sugar glaze. Another interesting type of cookie with similar ingredients is Ukrainian Medyanyky, which once were a traditional treat for kids on the St. Nicholas day. They were baked 2-3 weeks before the holiday. Unlike, Toruńskie Pierniki or Pryanyky, Medyanyky are hard in texture (like gingerbread cookies from all over the world), can be decorated and kept for a very long time without spoiling. Just like Pryanyky or some Medivnyks, they don’t have any spices in them and rely on honey for their taste.

Recipes:

To conclude this post, I would like to include some recipes that I find particularly inspiring and fitting for the Christmas mood I’m in. Share your opinions in the comments if you use any of these. - Piernik Staropolski (Polish Classic Gingerbread cake with fermentation) - https://mojewypieki.com/przepis/piernik-staropolski  - Piernik "szybki" (Quick Polish Gingerbread muffin with jam) - https://aniagotuje.pl/przepis/piernik   - Традиціний медівник (Traditional Ukrainian Gingerbread) - https://besahy.com/recepty/tradytsiinyi-klasychnyi-medivnyk    - Весільний медівник (Traditional Ukrainian Gingerbread that used to be served on weddings) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZIoWAmPLW4 - Медівник з кремом (Layered Ukrainian "white gingerbread" with creamy filling) - https://klopotenko.com/desert-mrij-reczept-medivnyka-vid-yevgena-klopotenka/   Here’s my Piernik this year, I used my great-grandmother’s recipe which includes both Ukrainian and Polish Gingerbread tradition (it’s EXTREMELY tasty, even though I cannot eat much of it):

And this is my mom’s legendary layered Medivnyk this year:

For people who are such losers as I am and cannot eat sugar or wheat, I recommend trying this recipe for gingerbread cookies to quench your hunger for something “Christmasy” - https://foolproofliving.com/paleo-gingerbread-cookies/ I tried this recipe before and I can tell you these are hands down the best gingerbread cookies I’ve ever eaten:

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Polish Versus Ukrainian Cuisine, Part 1

I have to confess, I have a little sin on my consciousness, namely, I visit Instagram sometimes. In most cases I do that just to catch up with my friends and family, but, you know, as most of young people of my age I just end up scrolling a tiny bit (usually, right until the moment I feel the urge to vomit, as I genuinely hate this place).

Recently, I came across a very cozy video where a Korean home cook mixes a Polish Pierogi Ruskie recipe with some Korean toppings. The thing that confused me the most, though, was the most liked comment under this video left by a Ukrainian woman who claimed that Pierogi Ruskie is a Ukrainian dish and is, in fact, called Varenyky. It's easy to assume that this person has never made a single dumpling, varenyk or pieróg in her entire life, as she kept on claiming that Pierogi Ruskie can have a lot of different fillings and that Polish Pierogi don't have such a big choice of fillings as Ukrainian Varenyky do, so, clearly, this person had zero idea what Pierogi Ruskie actually are, but that's not the point.

This comment made me wonder how different are the two cuisines of those Eastern European countries. Having lived long years in both countries, I thought it would be interesting to study this topic a little bit, namely from the perspective of the difference between the staple dishes in two cuisines. After all, we actually are what we eat, especially on the global scale. Everyone knows Italy for their brilliant pizza and pasta, and everyone knows Japan for sushi and tempura, and even though food is not the only aspect of those cultures that made them famous around the world, it definitely adds up to create a full picture of their collective cultural identity.

So, in this post I'd like to share some personal observations that I made throughout my life about Polish and Ukrainian cuisine having lived significant portions of life in both countries, being ethnically related to both and being wholeheartedly fascinated by food.

Disclaimer!!! I'm not a food scientist or chef, nor am I a professional historian. All the notes down here are mostly based on my personal observations and some basic research. I did consult a professional cook and a baker whom I know personally as they happen to be my family members. I do recommend treating everything I share here with a grain of salt (hehe, because we gonna talk 'bout cookin', hehe, so use salt) and bear in mind that different cooks have different approaches to their recipes and your personal experience with Ukrainian and Polish food might differ from mine. That being said, I encourage you to share these experiences whether you are Ukrainian, Polish or anyone else, really. I do not accept such arguments as "Ruskie because Kyiv Rus!", though, as it's not about arguing in the first place, it's about diving into the heritage of those two countries and talking about the food.

Pierogi vs. Вареники

Let's start with them culprits. I think those two dishes are the most confusing ones because of their similarity. Gosh, both of them are dumplings from Eastern Europe shaped like a growing moon, aren't they?

The dough for both dishes varies from region to region, from cook to cook. In my experience, both recipes need three basic ingredients:

- liquid

- salt

- flour

The rest depends, really. You can change the four, you can change the liquid, replacing water with milk or kefir, you can add an egg. I personally go with my mother's recipe which is boiling hot water, egg, AP flour and salt.

Two of the striking differences are their size and shape. It seems like Ukrainian dumplings are usually smaller, flatter and quite translucent in comparison to Polish ones, which are big, sometimes even huge (check Pierogi Po Bieszczadzku, they are bigger than my fists, I kid you not), they have a very full body and the dough itself is thicker (the reason is not so much ingredients in the dough as is the method of forming/cutting the circles out of it). They also have a lot of different really funny regional names which very often also refer to the size, shape, filling or method of preparation, for instance, Dzyndzałki (Warmian small dumplings served in soup), Bulwanki (Eastern Polish holiday pierogi with variety of savoury fillings), Sasznie (A type of dumplings from Eastern Borderlands that use potato in the dough) or Sójki (Masovian baked pierogi made with yeast).

The fillings of both Pierogi and Varenyky basically might create their own multiverse. In both Poland and Ukraine, I found so many different combinations of fillings that it would be a waste of time to write about each one of them. However, Pierogi most often have savoury fillings (from meat through cheese and potatoes though different types of groats and the list goes on and on..), while Varenyky have a bigger variety of sweet fillings, including the classic cherry filling. Also, Ukrainians seem to be not very much into the meat filling. In my childhood, I had never eaten meat dumplings in Ukraine, however, at the time, pelmeni were quite a popular alternative. Ah, classic Soviet influence - replace your own with something russian )yuck.

As for the toppings, depending on what kind of filling you are dealing with, there are many alternatives for both dishes, including chives, fried bacon, sour cream, melted butter, caramel sauce (haven't seen this one in Ukraine, but noticed it being popular in Poland with sweet cottage cheese Pierogi) and many others. Both dishes are absolutely marvelous even without any additions.

Now, if anyone says that Pierogi Ruskie are called that way because they are Ukrainian, they are not entirely wrong. This type of pierogi was invented in Eastern Galicia (a geographical region in Western Ukraine which was also used to refer to the Eastern part of Poland; The name derives from its Polish name of territory - "Ruś Czerwona" ("Ruthenia Rubra" in Latin)), however there's a high chance it happened when it was the part of Austrian Empire, when majority of population in this region, especially in big cities including Lviv, were Polish. Either way, this dish is much more popular in modern Poland and has lots of different regional variations that you can meet across the whole country (see the Bryndzylki designed by Polish Highlanders), while it's basically non-existent in Ukraine and in the country they are often called "польські пироги" (literally "Polish Pierogi". Pierogi Ruskie are prepared with cheese, onion and potato filling, while in Ukraine you are more likely to come across some Varenyky with potato, onion and bacon filling.

Thank you very much for your attention, share your dumpling preferences and experiences in the comments or in the reblogs, share your recipes, go crazy, and let's discuss the food!!

My pierogi variation with cottage cheese and strawberry jam filling (not the most attractively shaped one, but very tasty - my significant other approved them):

Bread - Slow Cooker Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Sauce This festive gingerbread cake with lemon sauce, baked in a slow cooker, is ideal for holiday entertaining.