Bierocks or Pirogies - Part 2

I've had a wonderful email response to my inquiry about bierock, pirogies, runza and the like. I have received permission from Ron Friesen to reprint his response here...

I'd heard all these terms but they were not used in my particular community of Plautdietschers, so I consulted my unassailable source; Norma Jost Voth's "Food & Folkways from South Russia."

She says about bierocks; "Bierocks, among Molotschna Mennonites, were bread pockets amply filled with a mixture of ground beef and cabbage." I live in Northern Colorado which has a large population of "Germans from Russia", mostly from the Volga region of Russia. This item is really big among this group - when they do a fund raiser, they serve these, now called "cabbageburgers." for the general population and maybe Biroggis. As for "Runza, "there is a fast food restaurant in Loveland, Colorado called "Runza" which serves these"cabbage burgers" almost exclusively. They are part of a small chain with the other restaurant in western Nebraska - also in the midst of a Germans from Russia settlement. I would then say that Bierocks and Runzas are one and the same food. Now the Schweitzer Mennonites (around Moundridge, Kansas) have an important bread pocket dish called Bohnen biroggi which is a sweet bread or roll dough filled with a sweet pinto bean mixture and served with a sweet cream sauce (calories, calories calories.) As to pirogi (or pierogi) they over lap with varenikje except some say that pirogi are baked and varenikje are boiled but then I think it depends who you ask. Varenikje are more closely tied to Mennonites and pirogi are kind of generic for Polish, Ukranian, Russian form of this dish. Read all about Pirogi at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirogi.

Of course if you go to the MCC Mid-Kansas Relief sale on the 11th & 12th of April, you can eat your fill of both varenikje and bohnen biroggi - both atthe big Feeding the Multitude meals Fri evening and Sat noon and at stands around the grounds. In addition you can get borscht, Hillsboro sausage, tweeback (called zwiebach by some but tweebach is the Plautdietsch form), and pie. I think around 7000 people are served Friday night and Saturday noon.

I went on the Mennonite Heritage Cruise last fall down the Dnieper River in Ukraine and ate almost all meals on board ship. Several times we were served varenikje, with meat filling, with fruit filling and I think cottage cheese filling but they were only half the size of mothers (and my) varenikje. I assumed this was an indigenous form of this dish. It was most certainly requested by the tour organizers but made their way.

To sum up my view: Beirock = Runza = Biroggis and maybe = Bohnen Biroggi; Pirogi = varenika. These terms seem to be kind of generic and usage, spelling depend on the nation of origin and/or adoption. The form the take also varies by community (even within the Plautdietscher Mennos) We Plautdietscher Mennonites having roots in Prussia, Lithuania, Russia (now Ukraine) etc have picked up dishes along the way and made them our own. We won't even get into Perieschkje; which in our house was square piece of pie dough filled with fruit and formed into a pyramid shaped pocket and baked.

Ron Friesen
Loveland, CO

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Edit: additional information added 03/03/08 at 9:14 pm

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Another member of one of my mail lists sent this...

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While I cannot speak to Bierock and Runza, I am somewhat familiar with Piroshki/Biroshki (Pirogi) which was a frequent item on the menu at my parent's table. The item was elongated, often almost a foot long. The ingredients included chopped cabbage and diced ham. Years ago, while in Hawaii, I saw Pirogi on a restaurant menu, I ordered one, think that it would be something similar to Piroshki. What I got was something similar in size to a hotdog bun and little filling (ground meat and cabbage). The flavor was nothing like the Piroshki I was familiar with.

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I will add more as they come in...

Bierocks or Pirogies - Are They the Same?

I started this post by searching the Internet for some good pictures of bierocks. The first link I went to had two pictures, one uncut and one cut. The website is a review of Lauck's Bakery and they have this supporting information;

"What is a bierock? A bierock is really a baked bun filled with beef, cabbage, onion and seasonings. According to "bierock history", it came from German-Russian immigrants and eventually made its way to the Midwest, especially in the states of Kansas and Nebraska. Interestingly enough, it is called a Bierock in Kansas but a Runza in Nebraska."

That being said, we need to add "Runza" to the list of names.

I'll take a look at Runzas first: This from the Runza Restaurant in Nebraska

"It's homemade dough, stuffed full of ground beef and spices, and then baked
fresh every day."

This one does not contain cabbage.

From The Gazette out of Colorado Springs, Colorado: Local deli offers European bread treats

Whatever you call it, a runza/bieroch is interchangeable. Both have
German-Russian roots going back to the 18th century. The term “bieroch” comes
from the Russian word “pirogi” and is the name for any food consisting of a
filling stuffed into dough. “My grandparents were Russian, and they called the
stuffed breads ‘runza.’ However, when Germans lived in Russia, they started
calling runza ‘bieroch.’ And when the Germans were sent back to Germany, the
‘bieroch’ name stuck.”

Now some very interesting history from the Chef2Chef Culinary Portal: Runzas History

Runzas are known by a variety of names and the original recipes were brought to the new world by Russian-Germans emigrants. They are called"Bierocks" by the Molotschna German Mennonites, were bread pockets amply filled with a mixture of ground beef, onion and cabbage. A little like a hamburger sandwich they made a handy meal, were served hot or cold and made ideal traveling companions for trips or picnics.

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The word Bierock is related to the Turkish word "Berok or Boerek". Today,in the Crimean city of Simferopol (where Mennonites went to school or went shopping) they are called cherbureki and sold on the street. Simferopol is proud and passionate about this meat pie.

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People all over the world serve meat filled bread. England has its Cornish Pasties (which are very good). Italians make calzones (pizza in a pocket). The Polish fill pirogi with ham and cabbage. Turks love a combination of lamb, tomato paste and pine nuts in their bread. The Volga Germans from Russia, neighbors of the Mennonites had their Krautbrot or Krautrunzen. Bierocks, Krautbrot, Krautranzen or Runza or what ever the name is still a favorite with the German-Russian families in Canada and the United States.

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Clayton Schmitt Mail = schmittc@chiriqui.com Boquete, Chiriqui Republic of Panama

Posted to MC-Recipe Digest by valerie@nbnet.nb.ca (valerie) on May 2, 1998

The information above falls more inline with what I had first heard. Looking at information on the Internet I find that it depends on where you look as to what information you find. I personally tend to think that the term bierock was used more by the GR from the Molotschna colony. I'm really not clear on where the term runza came from. The Runza Restaurant was founded in 1949, so it's been in use in Nebraska at least that long. The pirogi actually appears to be more like a ravioli, being a boiled pastry rather than baked bread dough.

What do you think?