A Polish delicacy comes to Humboldt
The lineage of the pierogi, a deceptively simple boiled dumpling filled mainly with mashed potato, is murky and contentious, with Poland, Russia, Ukraine and others laying claim. There’s Europe’s Middle Ages introduction to Chinese dumplings along the Silk Road, the arrival of potatoes from the Americas and the first appearance of pierogi in a Polish cookbook in the 1600s. There’s also speculation they were brought in from the Medieval state of Kievan Rus by St. Hyacinth, the patron saint of pierogi. (That’s right, they have a patron saint.) But the availability of homemade pierogi in Humboldt — for sale, anyway — began in January with Jewel Chomicki, owner of the Pudgy Pierogi. With a braid trailing over one shoulder, Chomicki smiles and passes plates of butter-fried pierogi stuffed with potato, caramelized onion and cheese, and topped with more onions, through the window of the red Pudgy Pierogi tent at the Arcata Farmers Market. Each one is shiny with butter, crispy and browned on the sides, tender along its edges and hot enough inside to make you huff a bit when you bite into the creamy filling. A satisfying trio of them come with a dollop of sour cream, a side of sauerkraut and, if you spring for the Polish Plate, a snappy-skinned cut of local grass-fed beef kielbasa from Tule Fog Farm. “We have so many wonderful food influences around here. I’m just so honored to share the legend of the pierogi,” says Chomicki, who grew up in Eureka but has never seen them on local menus. The recipe she uses is handed down from her Long Island Polish grandparents on her mother’s side, most often cooked by her grandfather. “It’s quite traditional, and the inclusion of the potato, caramelized onion and cream, those three ingredients Poland lays claim to.” Sour cream in the dough is another Polish touch, she says, not Russian. “There’s some argument over that and vodka.” The other argument is whether to use egg in the wheat flour dough but Chomicki comes from egg people. Kneading thoroughly and resting the dough, she says, is the secret to keeping the skins tender. “You need to give it a good solid 10 to 12 minutes [of kneading]. Some people try to skimp and do five minutes,” she says with a small sigh. “You gotta use a little muscle in it.” A massage therapy instructor at Loving Hands Institute,…