Pierogi, those stuffed pillows of dough that are part of the culinary heritage of Northwest Indiana, are so revered here they have their own festival.

"It's always been a popular festival," says Mary Hassen, executive director of the Whiting Chamber of Commerce who was at her office last Friday night at about 9 p.m. planning for the upcoming Pierogi Fest, held July 25 to the 27.

"But we were just picked by Oprah as one of the top seven events in the country, so who knows how many people we're going to get."

To help provide pierogi for all these fair goers, Jesus Alvarez's parents recently traveled from Michoacán to Whiting to help their son make 160,000 pierogi and 40,000 stuffed cabbages.

"My back is already hurting and I'm just starting," says Alvarez who was crowned the Pierogi King last year at the Pierogi Fest in Whiting and is preparing all these Polish goodies for this year's event.

So how does someone from Mexico become the Pierogi King?

Alvarez, owner of Lynethe's Deli in Whiting, says that the secret to making great pierogi is in the dough.

"I learned how to make dough from three Italian guys and you can't learn how to make better dough than from Italians," he says.

But don't ask him for the recipe because it's a secret.

"Make that a top secret," says Alvarez who does mention that he creates pierogi using old Polish recipes.

Alvarez is one of 42 vendors who will be feeding the crowds this year.

Most of the food, Hassen says, will be Polish or at least Eastern European and includes sauerkraut, potato latkes, Polish sausages and stuffed cabbages though there will be some Mexican food vendors as well. Pooches can get their own peanut butter stuffed pierogi.

Also selling pierogi is Frank Cammarata who owns Nina's in Munster. Like Alvarez, Cammarata is not of Polish extract but became a pierogi aficionado.

"I got involved in making pierogi through friends who were Polish and gave me authentic recipes," says Cammarata, who retired from Bank One after almost 30 years and now makes pierogi full time.

There are more than ten varieties of pierogi at Nina's, including fruit such as apple, apricot, cherry and prune (the most popular of the fruit offerings), cheese, meat, kraut and combinations such as sweet cabbage and mushroom. Cammarata will also sometimes make shrimp and crab pierogi during Lent.

The best selling?

"The potato rules," says Cammarata, who also hypes pierogi as a health food by saying "they're as natural as can be. As natural as grandma would have made them."

It might be said that pierogi rule in Northwest Indiana where the culinary heritage of immigrants from Poland introduced this treat to area.

Indeed, the Pierogi Fest, now in its 11th year, is almost a Johnny come lately in Northwest Indiana's celebration of stuffed dumplings.

Cathy Pampalone, who grew up in Crown Point, remembers going to St. Michael Byzantine Catholic Church in Merrillville to help make pierogi with her mother Mary Tlack, when she was a little girl.

"They made thousands of them," recalls Pampalone. "They worked, worked, worked. Those pierogi helped pay their light bills and other expenses."

But pierogi making isn't something of the past.

Mary Tlack still gets up early on Friday mornings to go help make pierogi at the church.

"At 7 a.m. I am there and ready," says Tlack, 82, who notes that she first learned to make noodle dough as a child.

"Noodle dough is like pierogi dough," she says.

The parishioners at St. Michael's have been making and selling pierogi for 38 years, says Father Michael Evanick.

"At one time they were making 16,000 a week but it's down to 5000," he says.

According to Evanick, volunteers start shopping for ingredients on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, they arrive at the church sometimes as early as 6:30 a.m. to begin preparing the fillings.

On Fridays, working in shifts, the volunteers again arrive at the church early and start rolling out the dough and filling it in preparation to begin cooking the pierogi.

The pierogi are available for sale, either to be eaten at the church or take out, from 2:30 to 7 p.m. on Fridays. There is even a night crew that comes in after the last pierogi has been sold to clean up. The cost seems minimal -- $6.50 for 16 pierogi. The church also sells fried shrimp.

Mary Milosovich has been making pierogi since she was a child.

When she retired from a mortgage company 17 years ago, she decided to stop by the church when they were making pierogi to see how it was done.

"Now I'm working harder than before I retired," says Milosovich, who grew up in Gary but now lives in Merrillville.

Like many people who learned how to make pierogi from their mothers or grandmothers, Milosovich says that she never used a recipe when she helped her mother while growing up.

"When I got married I wanted to make some for my husband and I called my mother to ask her how much flour to use," she says. "She asked me how many pierogi I wanted to make and said if you're going to make a lot of pierogi, you need to use a lot of flour. No one measured. You just did it by feel, if the dough felt right then it was."

Pierogi

2 cups flour

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound butter, browned

½ Mix flour, eggs and salt.

½ Add enough water to medium soft dough.

½ Knead until blisters appear.

½ Dough should be soft.

½ Divide into two portions.

½ Roll out one portion thin.

½ Cut in 2-inch squares.

½ Place on each 1/2 teaspoon desired filling.

½ Fold in half to make triangle.

½ Pinch edges to keep filling from escaping.

½ Follow same method for remaining portion of dough.

½ Drop in boiling water until pierogi come to the top about five minutes.

½ Pierogi, with each different filling, should be boiled separately.

½ After the pierogi are boiled and drained, brown butter in skillet and pour over pierogi.

½ Toss well so the pierogi are well buttered.

Makes about 30 pierogi.

The following can be used as fillings for pierogi.

Cheese Filling

1 pound farmer cheese

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 cup sour cream

3 tbsp. sugar or to taste

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg yolk

½ Mix and fill pierogi dough.

Potato Filling

5 pounds potatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

1/4 pound cream cheese

1/4 pound butter

1 pound farmer's cheese

½ Peel and boil potatoes until soft.

½ While potatoes are still hot, add remaining ingredients for filling while mashing potatoes.

½ Blend well.

½ Allow filling to cool.

Sauerkraut and Mushroom Filling

1/2 qt. sauerkraut

1 small onion (cut fine)

1 small can mushrooms, finely chopped

½ Sauté onions and mushrooms in tablespoon of butter.

½ Add sauerkraut which has been drained until almost dry and cut into small pieces.

½ Keep mixing until all moisture is absorbed.

SOURCE: Mary Tlack