October 8th is National Pierogi Day.

Pierogi* are dumplings of Central and Eastern European origin, traditionally stuffed with cheese, fruit, ground meat, mashed potato or sauerkraut. They can be served boiled baked or fried/sautéed, usually in butter with sautéed onions.

Pierogi is the Polish word. In Russian the term is pelmeni (don’t confuse pierogi with pirog, the Russian word for pie); in Ukrainian it is varenyky.

The Polish word pierogi is plural. The singular form, pieróg, is rarely used since a typical serving consists of multiple pierogi.

The dumplings are usually semicircular, but in some areas are rectangular or triangular.

Here’s how to celebrate: 50 ways to eat pierogi, culled from a list of 100 ways at PolskaFoods.com.

Serve them as appetizers, in salads, on skewers, as mains, as pasta course, and as dessert.

> The history of pierogi.

> There are three additional Polish food holidays celebrated in the U.S. See them in the *footnote below.
 
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*Also spelled perogi, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, pirogi, pyrogie, or pyrogy.
 
 
PIEROGI & DIPS

 
 
PIEROGI TOPPERS

Boil, fry or sauté the pierogi and serve:

 
 
MORE ELABORATE PREPARATIONS

 
This should keep you busy through the next National Pierogi Day!
 
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*Polish holidays in addition to National Pierogi Day (October 8th) include Pączki Day, which is celebrated on Fat Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday), the day before Lent. Celebrants in Poland as well as Polish-American communities enjoy pączki, yeast doughnuts filled with jam or custard and dusted with powdered sugar.

Bagels have 4 holidays, the first of which is National Bagel Day on January 15th (here are the others). The bagel originated in 17th-century Poland within Jewish communities, evolving from the Polish ring-shaped bread obwarzanek.

National Vodka Day is October 4th. Both Poland and Russia have legitimate historical claims to vodka, and the origin remains debated. Poland has the earliest written record of the word wódka in a document from 1405, where it referred to medicinal and cosmetic preparations (early spirits were used as medicines). There is some evidence that the first grain-based vodka in Russia could have been distilled at the Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin by a monk called Isidore, around 1430.

[1] Pierogi topped with melted Cheddar (photos #1, #2, #4, #5, #6, and #7 ©

[2] A classic garnish of butter and onions.

[3] Pierogi freshly made and ready to boil (photo © Karolina Grabowska | Pexels).

[4] One of our favorite ways to enjoy pierogi: topped with caramelized onions.

[5] For dessert: cheese or fruit pierogi à la mode with fruit sauce.

[6] For dessert or a side, especially with poultry: pierogi with sautéed apples.

[7] Mini pierogi on skewers. Serve them as a fun snack or appetizer with a dip.

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One of our favorite Korean dishes is bibimbap (pronounced BEE-bim-bop), a comfort food recipe that’s easily customizable to your tastes. It combines rice, protein, fresh vegetables and spicy Korean barbeque sauce.

The dish is traditionally made, mixed and served in a Korean stone bowl (also called hotstone or dolsot). You can use a regular skillet and a dinner plate.

With a stone bowl, the rice on the bottom becomes extra crisp and crusty and is considered a bonus, like the socarrat on the bottom of paella pans.

Already low in calories and healthful, if you substitute a [nontraditional] whole grain for the white rice, it becomes a very nutritious dish. Consider black, brown or red rice, or barley (bap is the Korean word for cooked rice). Quinoa fans: Go for it!

Below are five easy steps to making bibimbap at home from Bibigo, maker of Korean pantry products.
 
 
RECIPE: EASY HOMEMADE BIBIMBAP

Ingredients

 
 
Condiments

 
Optional Garnishes

 
Preparation

1. COOK the rice and vegetables. Slice the raw vegetables.

2. MAKE the marinade: Combine soy sauce, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and pepper in a mixing bowl.

3. COMBINE the marinade and protein in a skillet over medium-high heat, and stir frequently until just cooked through. If you are using cooked vegetables (bean sprouts, mushrooms, onions, spinach, e.g.) you can cook them in this skillet.

4. PLACE the rice in bowls or on plates, and top the rice with the cooked protein and cooked vegetables, reserving the cooking juices. Arrange raw and cooked vegetables atop the rice. Mix the pan juices with the gochujang sauce.

5. FRY the eggs sunny-side up and place one on top of each bowl. Right before eating, toss in the gochuchang sauce. Garnish to taste and serve with gochujang sauce.
 
 
CHUSEOK, “KOREAN THANKSGIVING”

[1] Bibimbap served in a traditional stone bowl, with a ramekin of gochujang sauce (photos #1 and #2 © Bibigo).

[2] Bibimbap served on an American dinner plate instead of a bowl (photo © Bibigo).

[3] Gochujang sauce, a Korean hot paste or sauce (photo © Chung Jug One O’Food).

[3] Kimchi, spicy fermented cabbage with optional other vegetables. You can make your own or buy it at Whole Foods, Asian markets, and other stores (photo © TriFood).

Most people travel back home for the holiday to the head of the family (usually the grandparents’ home). There is always a large gathering of family, delicious foods to eat, and often a gift for the hosting family.

The gathered family may also hold a ritual during Chuseok to pay respects to their ancestors. This is usually done with a memorial table holding an offering of food and drinks.

You can certainly make bibimbap for the occason. Traditional popular foods include:

 
 
ABOUT GOCHUJANG PASTE

Gochujang (pronounced ko-chu-JONG, also translated as kochujang) is a Korean hot chile pepper paste, spicy, but not too hot. It is made from glutinous (sticky) rice, red chiles, fermented soy beans and salt.

Gochujang is one of the three indispensable condiments in Korean households, along with doenjang, bean paste, and ganjang, Korean soy sauce.

The popular condiment is used in bibimbap as well as in bulgogi (barbecued meat wrapped in lettuce leaves), tteokbokki (a snack food made from soft rice cake and fish cake), and in salads, stews, soups and marinated meat dishes.

You can also spread it on burgers and sandwiches for some fusion flare, use it as a breakfast condiment with eggs or hash browns, or mix it with soy sauce, rice wine and a bit of brown sugar to make a delicious dipping sauce.
 
 
MORE!

> Here’s a different recipe for bibimbap (photo #4).

> The history of bibimbap.

> Bibimbap with SPAM instead of beef.
 
 
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*Bulgogi is thinly sliced, marinated and grilled beef. The word literally means “fire meat” in Korean.
 
 
 

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If everything tastes better with bacon—as many Americans would have it—than everything tastes better in a bacon bowl.

That’s what the manufacturers of Perfect Bacon Bowl say. While we might not want to toss fruit salad or ice cream into one, we do agree that a bowl made of 100% crisp bacon is great for:

 
The dishwasher-safe, bowl-shaped gadget cooks bacon to a perfect bowl shape, in the oven, toaster oven or microwave. Just wrap bacon slices around the form, cook. and you’ve got edible bowls made completely from bacon.

You can also use the device to make bread bowls for soups and stews, cornbread bowls for chili, and wherever your imagination takes you.

See the video.

Order on Amazon. A box of two bowls is just $5.87, with free shipping on orders over $35.

That’s easy to reach when you choose Perfect Bacon Bowl as a stocking stuffer for your bacon-loving friends and family!
  

It’s been Hell Week at THE NIBBLE.

Starting last Monday, the server at TheNibble.com was hacked. No website was “served” for three days; just the message, “server not found.”

Then, it was our blog’s turn to go crazy. It’s hosted on a separate WordPress server.

The blog “disappeared” on Friday, with www.thenibble.com/blog yielding only the message “server not found” or a totally blank page.

As of ten minutes ago, it’s back.

We’re sorry for the inconvenience; thanks to all for your patience. After a tall cup of coffee—and a well-deserved cheese danish—we’ll get back to writing and publishing everything we’ve been unable to do since last Friday.

We normally don’t promote Kickstarter campaigns because we have limited bandwidth, and prefer to focus our efforts writing about food.

But here’s an organization we feel strongly about, and your chance to pay it forward for very little.

The Hot Bread Kitchen is a Harlem based artisanal bakery that trains disadvantaged women to become professional bakers. They are raising Kickstarter funds for two scholarships.

The education will create long-term income opportunities for immigrant women, who can then obtain better-paying jobs to support themselves and their families. The graduates typically experience a 77% wage boost, moving on to jobs with benefits and room for career growth.

You can donate as little as $1 to the Women Bake Bread Scholarship.

Thanks for your help!