pinching perfection
Two Manitoba makers are creating a buzz with their machine-made perogies
By Scott Maier
Comfort to convenience
In our increasingly diverse society , Canadian cuisine is comprised of flavours and recipes from around the world . Some food specialties such as the beloved Ukrainian perogy manage to transcend cultural ties to become a popular comfort food for all .
The luxury of sampling homemade perogies is often taken for granted in Manitoba , where 14.4 % of the population is of Ukrainian descent . For those without a Baba of their own , perogies can be harder to come by . While you can find them along grocery store aisles , they will bear little resemblance to the hand-pinched , lightas-clouds delicacy Winnipeggers have come to love .
Thankfully , two local entrepreneurs have cracked the code , producing machine-made dumplings that taste just like Baba ’ s . With capability for massive output ,
Perfect Pierogies and Perogy Planet make home-style perogies accessible to Canadians of all cultural backgrounds .
Small-scale , large volume
In 2006 , Garson Groceries owner Lawrence Porhownik hit a bump in the road – his local perogy supplier was stepping out of the biz , and he was losing her darling dumplings from his shelves . As the sole proprietor of her business , she had plenty of demand for her handmade perogies but couldn ’ t match the pace now required for a product so labour-intensive .
It left a hole in the market , and Lawrence knew it – people wanted perogies and hand-pinchers couldn ’ t keep up . Excited by this opportunity and his own personal passion for eating his grandmother ’ s gold standard perogies , Lawrence headed to New York City to see a pasta machine he hoped to re-tool for production . With long-time caterers Carol Aitkenhead and her mother Rose , the three put it to the test using Canadian flour brought from home . The machinist clinched a deal by embossing Rose ’ s fingerprint in the die , mimicking a finger pinched edge to give each perogy a handmade feel .
Lawrence returned to Manitoba ready to turn out a machine-cut line of perogies that would look and taste homemade . Perfect Pierogies got in the game with two familiar and favourite flavours : cottage cheese and potato cheddar .
Perogy Planet , on the other hand , entered the market by changing the rules – its first perogy was filled with
Photography : Perfect Pierogies , Perogy Planet
10 ciao ! / aug / sep / two thousand twenty-two