My grandmother's pierogies are something that I have always looked forward to when going to Poland. When I usually visit Poland, I go in the winter time during the holidays. Walking up the cold steps of my grandmother's apartment I hear her talking with my grandfather. As I walk into the apartment, a whiff of warm air and butter hits my face. I take my shoes off and head to the kitchen to see my grandparents. They see me and a huge smile appears on their faces. As I get ready to help my grandma cook the pierogies, I’m reminded of all the different kinds of pierogies we can make. I asked her what filling she decided to put in them today and she said it was a surprise. She usually sticks to two flavors: potato onion and pork. For sweet ones, she usually uses blueberry as the filling topped with sourcream and sugar on top. As soon as the butter is ready, we put the pierogies on the pan and watch it sizzle for a couple of minutes before flipping it. On the pan next to it, my grandmother is already starting to cook the onions to put on top of the pierogies; this adds a lot of flavor to the already delicious pierogies. And she doesn’t make these generic small pierogies. She makes big ones, about the size of two fists. Once the pierogies reach the golden brown of perfection and the onions are done we rush to put them onto the plate, put the onion on top of them, and pour the remaining sauce from the onion pan on top just to add that little bit more flavor. I don’t know if this is just a thing my family does or a Polish tradition but we usually eat the pierogies with barszcz soup which is a soup mostly made from beets and other spices. With the sweet pierogies we usually have a cup of hot tea or coffee. Jest zrobione is what my grandmother would say which means it’s done. Everyone’s attention turns towards the kitchen as my grandmother appears with multiple plates full of her amazing pierogies.
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