Bonus Content · Book 4
Sam's Pierogi Recipe
From the kitchen at the Saltbox, Saltmere, Oregon
Sam Kowalski is the bartender everyone in Saltmere trusts with their secrets. He has his grandmother Ruth's pierogi recipe tattooed on his forearm in her handwriting—the most important document his family ever produced. He makes pierogi at 2 AM when he can't sleep and on Tuesday mornings when Delia is wearing his flannel and the light is coming through the east-facing windows and he is not going to name what he is feeling because some things cannot be named until they are ready.
The recipe below is Ruth's. Or as close as Sam could reconstruct it, because Ruth never wrote it down. She kept it in her hands—the way you know how to ride a bicycle, the way you know the sound of your own name. Sam learned the gesture, the specific three-finger pinch that looks like something between a braid and a prayer, from watching her on Sunday mornings when he was seven and the kitchen counter was where he belonged.
Ruth Kowalski's Pierogi
As reconstructed by Sam Kowalski
As taught to Delia on a Tuesday morning in autumn
Dough
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling—enough, as his grandmother would say)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup warm water (approximately—you will feel when it is right)
- ½ teaspoon salt
Mix the flour and salt. Make a well. Add eggs, sour cream, and water. Mix with your hands—not a spoon, not a mixer. Your hands. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8–10 minutes. It should push back. Wrap in plastic. Rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Do not rush it. The dough is not going anywhere.
Filling
- 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 1½ cups sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated (never pre-shredded)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Salt and white pepper to taste
Boil potatoes until fork-tender, about 15–18 minutes. Drain. Mash with butter. Fold in cheese while potatoes are still hot. Season with salt and white pepper. Let cool enough to handle. Taste it. Adjust. Trust yourself.
Assembly
Roll dough to ⅛-inch thickness on a well-floured surface. Cut circles with a 3-inch glass or biscuit cutter. Place a tablespoon of filling on each circle. Fold the dough over the filling. Pinch the edges with three fingers: pinch, press, twist. Repeat. The edge should look like something between a braid and a prayer. If it does not look like that the first time, it will the tenth.
Cooking
Boil in well-salted water, in batches, until they float—about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon. Pan-fry in unsalted butter over medium heat until golden and blistered on both sides, about 2–3 minutes per side.
Serving
Eat them immediately. With sour cream. With the person you made them for. With the knowledge that the recipe is the love letter, and the pierogi are the proof.
Makes approximately 36–40 pierogi. Feeds two people who are falling in love, or one bartender at 2 AM who is trying to remember his grandmother's hands.
A note from Rina
I wrote Sam's pierogi scene in one sitting, at midnight, because the scene wouldn't let me stop. I had to look up whether pierogi dough uses sour cream (it does) and whether Ruth's three-finger pinch was a real technique (it is close to how my own grandmother sealed her dumplings, so I'm calling it real enough). The recipe works. I have made it. The kitchen smelled exactly the way Sam describes it—butter browning, dough crisping, the specific alchemy of simple ingredients given time and heat and the attention of hands that care about what they are making.
If you make these, send me a photo. I mean it.
— Rina
Want more of Delia and Sam? Their story begins in The Promise We Kept, Book 4 of The Tidewater Secrets.