Pīrags
Encyclopedia
A pīrāgs is an oblong or crescent-shaped baked Latvian bread roll
or pastry
, most often containing a filling of finely chopped bacon and onion. Other common pīrāgs fillings include fatty bacon (speķis), mixtures of ground or finely chopped meats (ground beef, ham and chicken with or without bacon), fish, cabbage
and pressed cottage cheese
.
Pīrāgi come in two main varieties: plain bread pīrāgi and broth
or soup pīrāgi (zupas or buljona pīrāgi). Bread pīrāgi come with a larger variety of fillings and are made using a yeast dough. broth
pīrāgi are made from a flaky pastry
butter dough, often a sour cream dough, and are usually filled with boiled beef or sometimes cooked fish. These are intended to be eaten with a cup or bowl of good broth
.
Pīrāgi start from about 5 centimetres (about 2 inches) in length when they are intended as an accompaniment to coffee or tea, but can be made as big as about 13 centimetres (about 5 inches) if they are intended for the more substantial part of a meal. However, the size is often defined by the skill of the cook, as larger pīrāgi are often considered the result of an inexperienced cook who is unskilled with dough. Therefore, smaller pīrāgi are often prized for their daintiness.
As is common with this sort of national dish, every family has their own special recipe with more salt or less salt, with harder or softer results and with secret ingredients such as lard. Recent attempts have even been made to make healthier whole grain versions. But no matter what the recipe, pīrāgi tend to be very popular with anyone who tries them, especially when they are hot from the oven.
Since there is a lot of work involved to make pīrāgi, they are usually made only for special occasions and in very large numbers.
The day of baking, the cook makes the dough. This is a fairly standard white bread dough, with a varying amount of fat in it, depending on the particular family's recipe. Allowing the dough to proof and rise takes several hours, during which time the meat from the previous day is sauteed over a very low flame for a few minutes to ensure that the flavours in the filling meld a bit.
When the dough has finished rising for bread pīrāgi, or the dough has chilled for bullion pīrāgi, the cook usually uses one of two methods to make the individual pīrāgi:
Prepared pastries are put into rows on pans, left to rise slightly, brushed with egg and then baked for a few minutes.
, sometime potatoes were also used to replace flour in the dough, allowing the pastries to be baked even when flour was unavailable. This means that pīrāgi could be baked any time and are historically associated with Latvian celebrations year round.
The two biggest historic Latvian celebrations are for summer solstice
and winter solstice
: Jāņi
(June 24 - St. John's Day
) and Ziemassvētki
(Christmas
). One of the most popular and familiar Latvian Ziemassvētki
folk songs mentions pīrāgi:
Grīns, Marğers and Māra Grīna. (1983). The Ancient Latvian Time-reckoning System, Festivals, and Celebrations. Lincoln: Latvian Institute, Division of American Latvian Association in the United States.
Ladies Auxiliary of the Latvian Relief Society of Canada, Inc. (1991). Latvian Cooking. Hamilton: Ladies Auxiliary of the Latvian Relief Society of Canada, Inc.
Zeberiņš, Dzidra. (1955). Ğimenes pavards. USA: Grāmatu draugs.
Bread roll
A bread roll is a piece of bread, usually small and round and is commonly considered a side dish. Bread rolls are often used in the same way as sandwiches are—cut transversely, with fillings placed between the two halves.-Various forms:...
or pastry
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
, most often containing a filling of finely chopped bacon and onion. Other common pīrāgs fillings include fatty bacon (speķis), mixtures of ground or finely chopped meats (ground beef, ham and chicken with or without bacon), fish, cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
and pressed cottage cheese
Cottage cheese
Cottage cheese is a cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed, so some whey remains and the individual curds remain loose. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity, giving sweet curd cheese. It is not aged or colored. Different styles of cottage cheese are made from...
.
Pīrāgi come in two main varieties: plain bread pīrāgi and broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
or soup pīrāgi (zupas or buljona pīrāgi). Bread pīrāgi come with a larger variety of fillings and are made using a yeast dough. broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
pīrāgi are made from a flaky pastry
Flaky pastry
In baking, a flaky pastry is a light, flaky, unleavened pastry, similar to a puff pastry. The main difference is that, in a flaky pastry, large lumps of shortening , are mixed into the dough, as opposed to a large rectangle of shortening with a puff pastry...
butter dough, often a sour cream dough, and are usually filled with boiled beef or sometimes cooked fish. These are intended to be eaten with a cup or bowl of good broth
Broth
Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
.
Pīrāgi start from about 5 centimetres (about 2 inches) in length when they are intended as an accompaniment to coffee or tea, but can be made as big as about 13 centimetres (about 5 inches) if they are intended for the more substantial part of a meal. However, the size is often defined by the skill of the cook, as larger pīrāgi are often considered the result of an inexperienced cook who is unskilled with dough. Therefore, smaller pīrāgi are often prized for their daintiness.
As is common with this sort of national dish, every family has their own special recipe with more salt or less salt, with harder or softer results and with secret ingredients such as lard. Recent attempts have even been made to make healthier whole grain versions. But no matter what the recipe, pīrāgi tend to be very popular with anyone who tries them, especially when they are hot from the oven.
Since there is a lot of work involved to make pīrāgi, they are usually made only for special occasions and in very large numbers.
Preparation
The day before baking pīrāgi, the cook usually spends one or two hours preparing any meat and onion that will be used. Bacon and other fatty meats (such as bacon or back bacon) do not chop well in a food processor and tend to get caught on the blade, so the cook must hand chop these into tiny cubes, about 1.5 centimetres (about 1/16 inches). This is sometimes made easier by freezing the meat for a few minutes. Other less fatty meats (such as beef) tend to turn into a paste in the food processor, so if the meat is not already ground, the cook grinds it using a hand or electric grinder.The day of baking, the cook makes the dough. This is a fairly standard white bread dough, with a varying amount of fat in it, depending on the particular family's recipe. Allowing the dough to proof and rise takes several hours, during which time the meat from the previous day is sauteed over a very low flame for a few minutes to ensure that the flavours in the filling meld a bit.
When the dough has finished rising for bread pīrāgi, or the dough has chilled for bullion pīrāgi, the cook usually uses one of two methods to make the individual pīrāgi:
- The cook takes a few cups of dough and rolls out the whole lump using a rolling pin, or just the edge of the lump using a glass. The cook takes a tablespoon of filling and places it on the dough about 3 centimetres (about 1.5 inches) from one of the edges. The cook folds the edge of the dough over the filling, puts a glass over the dough and filling pile and cuts through both layers of dough on one side with the glass so that a half-moon-shaped pastry is created. The pressure from the glass cutting through the dough pinches the two dough layers together on the one open side. The pastry is re-shaped slightly to form an oblong or crescent shape.
- The cook takes a walnut-sized lump of dough and flattens it with a rolling pin or with fingers into a round dough disk. The cook then places a tablespoon of filling into the middle of the dough disk and folds two sides together to make a half-moon shape, pinching the two sides together. The resulting edges are then foled under and re-shaped to make a more oblong or ccrescent shape.
Prepared pastries are put into rows on pans, left to rise slightly, brushed with egg and then baked for a few minutes.
History and folklore
Pīrāgi were not a seasonal dish in Latvian society, because most ingredients needed to make the different varieties were available from the pantry year round. After potatoes had infiltrated Latvian society from the New WorldNew World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, sometime potatoes were also used to replace flour in the dough, allowing the pastries to be baked even when flour was unavailable. This means that pīrāgi could be baked any time and are historically associated with Latvian celebrations year round.
The two biggest historic Latvian celebrations are for summer solstice
Summer solstice
The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet's semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. Earth's maximum axial tilt to our star, the Sun, during a solstice is 23° 26'. Though the summer solstice is an instant in time, the term is also...
and winter solstice
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
: Jāņi
Jani
Jāņi is a Latvian festival held in the night from 23 June to 24 June to celebrate the summer solstice , the shortest night and longest day of the year. The day of Līgo and the day of Jāņi are public holidays, and people usually spend them in the countryside...
(June 24 - St. John's Day
St. John's Day
St. John's Day may refer to:Feasts celebrating the Nativity of St. John the Baptist:* January 7, an Eastern Orthodox feast* June 24, Midsummer Day**an Eastern Orthodox feast celebrating his birth**a Roman Catholic feast celebrating his birth...
) and Ziemassvētki
Ziemassvetki
In ancient Latvia, Ziemassvētki was a festival, celebrated on 21 December, which was one of the two most important holidays, the other being Jāņi. Ziemassvētki celebrated the Winter Solstice...
(Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
). One of the most popular and familiar Latvian Ziemassvētki
Ziemassvetki
In ancient Latvia, Ziemassvētki was a festival, celebrated on 21 December, which was one of the two most important holidays, the other being Jāņi. Ziemassvētki celebrated the Winter Solstice...
folk songs mentions pīrāgi:
Ziemassvētki sabraukuši
Rakstītām kamanām
Pīrāgam nabagam
Abi gali apdeguši
Christmas arrived
In a decorated sleigh
Oh that poor pīrāgs
Both ends were burnt
Grīns, Marğers and Māra Grīna. (1983). The Ancient Latvian Time-reckoning System, Festivals, and Celebrations. Lincoln: Latvian Institute, Division of American Latvian Association in the United States.
Ladies Auxiliary of the Latvian Relief Society of Canada, Inc. (1991). Latvian Cooking. Hamilton: Ladies Auxiliary of the Latvian Relief Society of Canada, Inc.
Zeberiņš, Dzidra. (1955). Ğimenes pavards. USA: Grāmatu draugs.
External links
- Piragi recipe http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/904/Strautins_piragi