M
Melba'S Jammin
Guest
Today was the Fourth Annual Pirohy Marathon at Brother Dan's. You'll note that there are no pictures
from this year's fiesta -- you can look at the ones from last year; any I'd have taken this year
would look about the same. <grin>.
It's a small party: Dan, Niece Patty, me. We were scheduled to get the show on the road at about
9:30 a.m. I pulled into Dan's driveway at
9:30:39. Patty had said she couldn't be there that early because of a commitment but would come as
soon as she could.
Dan and I had done some planning and decided that this year I would bring the dough already made
rather than making it at his house (the dough needs to rest before use). He would make the
sauerkraut and the cottage cheese fillings. Last year we made three other kinds of fillings and
concluded that we'd concentrate on kraut and cottage cheese this year. I brought preprinted labels
for the freezer bags - we freeze them in sixes for future consumption. I blush and confess that
putting away 12 at one sitting in shamefully easy to do.
When I got to Dan's the first thing we did was roll and cut a small batch of egg noodles for me from
the egg noodle dough I'd brought along. I don't use much liquid in my recipe and the dough is very
stiff to work with, so the noodles dry quickly for storage. I figured they'd be ready by the time we
called it a day. They were.
Noodles on a screen suspended between two chairs and positioned over a heat register, Dan and I
commenced to the task at hand. What can I say? We are such a team! His kraut filling was really
good; his cottage cheese filling still doesn't impress me much. I'll take care of that next year.
He and I had made up about 2/3 of the kraut when Patricia finally showed up at noon. It's hard to be
annoyed when she had a good reason for her tardiness, so we weren't. Besides, she brought lunch -- a
batch of darned good chili. OK, all you RFC friends can scoff when I tell you that the chief tomato
flavor in it came from two cans of Campbell's tomato soup, but I'm tellin' ya, it was two-bowls
worth of tasty! Just spicy enough. Flavorful. Saltines crushed over the top of my bowl were the
perfect accompaniment.
After lunch we finished up the kraut filling and proceeded to the cottage cheese mixture. I'm making
it next year, that's all I can say.
I'd made 5 batches of dough (4 cups flour each batch) and the one that we used for the cheese was
soft to the point that there were a couple of colorful words used in comment about it. So,
nobody's perfect.
It was clear that we were going to have a batch of dough left over so we had Dan make another batch
of kraut filling. Poifect! We came out damn near even on the dough and the filling. There was extra
dough to make about 20 bobalki.
We divvied them up and Dan claimed an extra 18 as honorarium for us using his kitchen. He'd make
someone a fine wife. Felix Unger lives.
We were done at about 4:30 p.m. What we can't figure out is why we were down six dozen from last
year; we used the same amount of dough both years. I'm wondering if the other two fillings we made
last year (ground meat and potato and cheese) allowed for rolling the dough thinner, thereby
extending it. A puzzlement.
The tally? Patty did the pencil work and she'll correct me if I'm off by too much, but we made only
24 dozen this year: 8-1/2 dozen cottage cheese gems and 15-1/2 dozen sauerkraut beauties.
All triangularly perfect.
Dobru' chut'!
--
-Barb A good friend will come and bail you out of jail; a true friend will be sitting next to you
saying, "Damn,that was fun!"
from this year's fiesta -- you can look at the ones from last year; any I'd have taken this year
would look about the same. <grin>.
It's a small party: Dan, Niece Patty, me. We were scheduled to get the show on the road at about
9:30 a.m. I pulled into Dan's driveway at
9:30:39. Patty had said she couldn't be there that early because of a commitment but would come as
soon as she could.
Dan and I had done some planning and decided that this year I would bring the dough already made
rather than making it at his house (the dough needs to rest before use). He would make the
sauerkraut and the cottage cheese fillings. Last year we made three other kinds of fillings and
concluded that we'd concentrate on kraut and cottage cheese this year. I brought preprinted labels
for the freezer bags - we freeze them in sixes for future consumption. I blush and confess that
putting away 12 at one sitting in shamefully easy to do.
When I got to Dan's the first thing we did was roll and cut a small batch of egg noodles for me from
the egg noodle dough I'd brought along. I don't use much liquid in my recipe and the dough is very
stiff to work with, so the noodles dry quickly for storage. I figured they'd be ready by the time we
called it a day. They were.
Noodles on a screen suspended between two chairs and positioned over a heat register, Dan and I
commenced to the task at hand. What can I say? We are such a team! His kraut filling was really
good; his cottage cheese filling still doesn't impress me much. I'll take care of that next year.
He and I had made up about 2/3 of the kraut when Patricia finally showed up at noon. It's hard to be
annoyed when she had a good reason for her tardiness, so we weren't. Besides, she brought lunch -- a
batch of darned good chili. OK, all you RFC friends can scoff when I tell you that the chief tomato
flavor in it came from two cans of Campbell's tomato soup, but I'm tellin' ya, it was two-bowls
worth of tasty! Just spicy enough. Flavorful. Saltines crushed over the top of my bowl were the
perfect accompaniment.
After lunch we finished up the kraut filling and proceeded to the cottage cheese mixture. I'm making
it next year, that's all I can say.
I'd made 5 batches of dough (4 cups flour each batch) and the one that we used for the cheese was
soft to the point that there were a couple of colorful words used in comment about it. So,
nobody's perfect.
It was clear that we were going to have a batch of dough left over so we had Dan make another batch
of kraut filling. Poifect! We came out damn near even on the dough and the filling. There was extra
dough to make about 20 bobalki.
We divvied them up and Dan claimed an extra 18 as honorarium for us using his kitchen. He'd make
someone a fine wife. Felix Unger lives.
We were done at about 4:30 p.m. What we can't figure out is why we were down six dozen from last
year; we used the same amount of dough both years. I'm wondering if the other two fillings we made
last year (ground meat and potato and cheese) allowed for rolling the dough thinner, thereby
extending it. A puzzlement.
The tally? Patty did the pencil work and she'll correct me if I'm off by too much, but we made only
24 dozen this year: 8-1/2 dozen cottage cheese gems and 15-1/2 dozen sauerkraut beauties.
All triangularly perfect.
Dobru' chut'!
--
-Barb A good friend will come and bail you out of jail; a true friend will be sitting next to you
saying, "Damn,that was fun!"