Easy Kreplach Recipe with Beef Filling (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between pierogi and kreplach? ›

Kreplach are usually served in chicken broth or fried and served with applesauce or sour cream. They often are made with ground beef, brisket, or chicken, but can also be made vegetarian. Pierogis are usually vegetarian and are often stuffed with potatoes, cheese, sauerkraut, or vegetables.

Pelmeni: From China by way of Siberia, these Russian wheat-based dumplings are packed with a peppery, onion-spiked filling of minced meat—beef, pork, and mutton are all common choices. Kreplach: Another winter warmer, these Jewish dumplings are filled with meat or potatoes.

Some Jewish scholars say the dumplings have special meaning for Yom Kippur: The filling and its wrapper together serve as a sort of meditation on our inner and outer selves as we approach a sacred holiday. More simply, it's tradition.

The word 'varenyky' comes from the Ukrainian word 'varyty´ or 'to boil' because this product is cooked in boiling water. This comfort food is spelled many different ways: pyrohy, pyrogy, pyrogie, pierogi, perogi and others.

Pierogi are an important part of Polish culture and cuisine today. They are served in a variety of forms and tastes (ranging from sweet to salty to spicy) and are considered to be the national dish. They are served at many festivals, playing an important role as a cultural dish.

Kreplach is a pocket made from thin pasta-like dough and commonly filled with chicken, beef, or potato. They are especially great for using up leftovers as filling. Think of them as Jewish wontons or dumplings.

Meaning of kreplach in English

in Jewish cooking, a boiled or fried ball of dough (= flour mixed with water and fat) that is filled with meat or cheese and often put in soup: The chicken was served in a broth that also had noodles, kreplach, peas and carrots in it.

These kneidlach were called “matzah balls with souls,” and though presumably delicious, it's very rare to find a kneidlach with any kind of filling today. Kreplach, on the other hand, are dumplings that are always stuffed, though the stuffing varies.

Prohibition on mixing dairy products with meat

Others associate it with the general prohibition on certain mixtures set out in the Torah, such as that of coupling animals from different species. Yet others see it as symbolic: the refusal to mix life (milk) and death (meat).

Why do Jews not eat dairy? ›

This rule comes from the instruction in Exodus 23:19 which states, Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk . The belief is that this quote means that it is forbidden to eat meat and dairy products together. This means that dishes such as meat lasagne or cheeseburgers cannot be eaten.

Braised meats such as brisket feature heavily, as do root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and parsnips which are used in such dishes as latkes, matzo ball soup, and tzimmes. Cooked, stuffed and baked vegetables such as stuffed cabbage are central to the cuisine.

We call them kreplach (with meat or cheese filling) or verenekes (filled with potatoes or fruits like blueberries or Saskatoon berries), but to others they may be known as Perogie, pirogi, pirohy, pyrohy, varenyky, vareniki, peroge — any probably a bunch of other similar names not listed.

Yom Kippur is “The Day of Atonement, a day of rest and fasting (Gaster, 135). The night before Yom Kippur, meat kreplach are served because mystics compare the wrapping of the dough to the divine envelopment of mercy, kindness, and protection, all things demonstrated on Yom Kippur.

While this is not nearly a dumpling, it shows that Italy and Germany had contact with each other, providing good reason to believe the kreplach originated in Germany. Later in the 14th century, stuffed pasta came to the Jews of Germany through Venice.

The primary distinction is their size and filling: pelmeni are typically smaller, containing a raw mixture of meat and spices, whereas pierogi can be larger with a diverse range of fillings. Pelmeni can be seen as a specific subtype of pierogi: smaller and traditionally filled with spiced meat or mushrooms.

Also called perogi or perogy, Polish pierogi (pronounced pih-ROH-ghee) or homemade pierogies are small half-moon dumplings. They're also chock-full of fabulous fillings. Interestingly, the word pierogi is actually plural. But the singular form pieróg is hardly ever used.

Jiaozi refers to dumplings in Chinese, which can be boiled, steamed, or pan-fried. Traditionally in a crescent moon shape and mostly savory and filled with minced meat and vegetables. Potstickers, cleverly referring to the dumpling getting stuck in the wok, are a popular variation of fried dumplings on takeout menus.