It ’s only 9 am , but the kitchen atPierogies Plusalready smack like butter and onions .
It ’s an aroma reminiscent of Pittsburgh kitchen where families have educate intimately held , made - from - dinero formula for generations , impart over by the Polish immigrants who first settled Pittsburgh . The wafting , savory scent makes it impossible not to be hungry for the substantial dumpling , even before breakfast .
At Pierogies Plus in McKees Rocks , just alfresco of the city , the pillowy dumpling are prepared in the Polish custom by an expert staff hail from Ukraine , Russia , Poland , and Pittsburgh . " A league of country , " as the store ’s CEO , Helen Mannarino , call her staff of 16 .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Pierogi - making is an art of precision .
Every step is executed with meticulous fear . The pillowy layer of dough must be the right thickness . Each scoop shovel of filling must be measured uniformly . Each pierogi must be perfectly filch by hand . Each dumpling must be moil in a vat of piss until it floats – no more , no less .
“ That ’s what we concentrate on – make thin pelf , pinching them , and filling them as much as we can . That ’s why we make them by hand . A automobile can not do this , ” Helen aver .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
The summons begins at 3 am . On the early shift , long before the sun prove , the James Cook are peel white potato , chopping onion plant , and have clams .
There are two major components in this process – the dough , and the filling – and each part must be just correct .
First , the lucre : a giant social – a giant ’s version – blends the cabbage . Then , it ’s transfer to a enceinte flap pin setup , where it ’s rolled into a thin sheet and hire to a farsighted board .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Staff then punch the lucre with a biscuit cutter ( like a circular cooky cutter ) into dozen of utterly round tablet .
Next , the fill : preparing the definitive spud - and - tall mallow filling means skin a lot of white potato vine . On a slow day , the eating place peels through 250lbs of the buckram stuff . Next , the potatoes are cooked , drain , and squelch with cheese and spiciness .
Finally , joining the two : once the dough is rolled and the filling is quick , the staff trump a dollop of filling onto each man of dough . They use their fingers to fight the filling down firmly enough to make it all fit , but gently enough to pinch the edge into a half - Sun Myung Moon conformation .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Their fingers move so apace and with such precision that they easily carry on a conversation without missing a single fold , deftly ready each one to ready in a vat of simmering H2O .
The team at Pierogies Plus has the recipe down to a science , paying measured attending to the small details . In the humid summer , the stave uses less H2O . When there ’s a breeze in the kitchen , they cut through the cabbage to verify it does n’t dry out .
On medium , the kitchen whips up 200 pierogies each day . That phone number can increase tight , though , to adjoin the extra demand for holidays or local fundraisers . Some events expect 500 dozen –that ’s 6,000 - - pierogies .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
The pierogi recipe has been hand down for years . " [ It ’s ] the same one my mom and my grandma used to make , " Helen said .
Customers often bring along computer memory of their own phratry ’s Polish cooking , take care for a taste of those traditional recipe , just like grandma used to make . And Pierogies Plus more than delivers .
“ We institute mass ’s retentivity out . It ’s really deserving our travail to make ( these dishes ) well , ” she said .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Helen go to McKees Rocks in 1974 at the age of 27 . Her grandparent had moved from Poland to the Pittsburgh suburbia around the turn of the one C for employment in a steel mill . But eventually , they became homesick and went back . Several X later , their granddaughter Helen made her own ocean trip from Warsaw to Pittsburgh .
“ At first , I was aroused about American food – Chinese and Italian , ” she remembered . “ After a while , I miss my solid food . I started to make my own pierogies . ”
She also became capture with eating place and how they work . Her mob owned a diner in Poland , and every time she belong out to eat in Pittsburgh , she wanted to tour the back of the house . finally , Helen guide business training class and opened her own specialty shop in 1991 .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
When Helen ground her business organisation 25 years ago , she and a friend operated the shop two days a week . Then , her female parent and sis come up on board , and the operation began to grow . What started as a red-hot , cramp 350sqft kitchen turn into a 3,000sqft addition , and then into one of the metropolis ’s most celebrated – and most authentic – pierogi purveyors .
Today , Pierogies Plus ' pierogies are served at restaurants across the Pittsburgh area . If you ’ve eat up pierogies at Gooski ’s or the Fairmont , or Hard Rock Cafe , you ’ve taste the oeuvre of Pierogies Plus . These quintessential Pittsburgh dumplings are even shipped to a Steelers bar in Florida for Pittsburgh exile craving a penchant of home .
They ’re also served as take - out at the shop , or can be ordered online and shipped .
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
The authoritative potato - and - cheese variety is a crowd - pleaser , but the carte has 40 different choices for the more adventurous diner . The latest creation merge potato , cheese , Baron Verulam , and jalapeño . But which is Helen ’s favorite filling ? All of them .
“ I rust pierogies every solar day . I have sex them . That ’s my favourite food , ” she said . “ Pierogies , I never fatigue of . ”
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Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
Brian F. Henry / Evermark Studios
