Trying Buffalo, one bite at a time

I finally addressed a long-standing hole in my "Buffalo Street Cred" resume this weekend by eating my first ever pirogi. Pirogi are filled dumplings that are a staple of Polish cuisine, which is big in these parts owing to Buffalo's fairly large Polish population. And until yesterday, I'd never tried one.

But I'm not sure if I get credit yet, because while I didn't like the pirogi, I'm not sure I did it right, either.

First, I used frozen pirogies, and I'm pretty sure I probably should have tried fresh. Second, I executed a rookie mistake and pan-fried them at too high a temperature, resulting in an almost blackened dumpling as opposed to a nicely crispy one.

The main thing that keeps me away from pirogies is that the fillings I almost always see available at The Store are potato and sauerkraut, neither of which thrill me much. The ones I tried yesterday were "garlic potato", so I thought that might be yummy, but eating the thing, I kept returning to the fact that I love the garlic but not so much the potato, and the texture of the dumpling was too tough anyway owing to my failure to cook the damn things right.

So I'm thinking I'll have to try some cheese pirogies next time, and I'll have to bake them so I get some idea of the texture before I next attempt pan-frying.