flipCabbage Pirozhki
Cabbage Pirozhki
Why this dish? Cabbage-filled pirozhki were among the character's known foods; these pastries were slipped into a travel basket between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and accompanied samovar tea during long conversations.
Small yeast-dough buns, golden from the oven, puffed with a melting filling of braised cabbage and hard-boiled egg, warm and soft, perfect for eating by hand.
Take one while they're still warm, go on. I always have a full basket prepared before a train journey, for the road to Petersburg is long and one soon grows hungry. The secret of the filling is to let the cabbage melt slowly in butter until it becomes sweet, then mix in a crumbled hard-boiled egg. You eat them with your hands, no ceremony, and they keep you company with tea far better than long speeches.
- •Wheat flour — enough to knead (yeast dough)
- •Sourdough or yeast — a little (makes the dough rise)
- •Milk and butter — according to the dough (softness)
- •White cabbage — one head (filling)
- •Hard-boiled eggs — a few (binder for the filling)
Cabbage Pirozhki
Small yeast-dough buns, golden from the oven, puffed with a melting filling of braised cabbage and hard-boiled egg, warm and soft, perfect for eating by hand.
Why this dish? Cabbage-filled pirozhki were among the character's known foods; these pastries were slipped into a travel basket between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and accompanied samovar tea during long conversations.
Take one while they're still warm, go on. I always have a full basket prepared before a train journey, for the road to Petersburg is long and one soon grows hungry. The secret of the filling is to let the cabbage melt slowly in butter until it becomes sweet, then mix in a crumbled hard-boiled egg. You eat them with your hands, no ceremony, and they keep you company with tea far better than long speeches.
Ingredients (period version)
- Wheat flour — enough to knead (yeast dough)
- Sourdough or yeast — a little (makes the dough rise)
- Milk and butter — according to the dough (softness)
- White cabbage — one head (filling)
- Hard-boiled eggs — a few (binder for the filling)
Ingredients
- Wheat flour — 500 g (yeast dough)
- Baker's yeast — 1 packet (7 g) (leavens the dough)
- Warm milk — 250 ml (hydration and softness)
- Butter — 60 g (softness for dough and filling)
- Egg — 1 for dough + 1 for glaze (richness and glaze)
- White cabbage — 1/2 (about 500 g) (filling)
- Hard-boiled eggs — 2 (binder for the filling)
- Salt and pepper — to taste (seasoning)
Method
- Prepare a yeast dough with flour, warm milk, yeast, egg, butter and salt; let it double in size for 1 hour in a warm place.
- Shred the cabbage and cook it gently in butter for 25 minutes until tender and lightly golden; season with salt and pepper.
- Off the heat, mix the cabbage with the mashed hard-boiled eggs and let cool.
- Divide the dough into balls, flatten, fill with the cabbage mixture and seal into pasties.
- Brush with beaten egg and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 190°C until golden brown.
How it was made : Pirozhki were baked in the Russian oven, but also fried in butter on busy days. The fillings varied with the seasons and the Orthodox calendar: cabbage, buckwheat, egg and onion, rice, or fish during Lent. Large batches were baked for travel, as they kept well and could be eaten cold.
The contemporary twist : Shape them into mini-bites and serve warm as an appetizer with a dill sour cream dip.
Antonina Miliukova · Charactorium
