BUTLER TWP — While fans observe National Pierogi Day on Tuesday, Oct. 8, the faithful at Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Lyndora have been celebrating the potato and cheese filled staple since 1957.

That year marked the first pierogi sale fundraiser at the church, when women in babushkas and apron-covered house dresses mixed and rolled out dough with rolling pins, and peeled and mashed potatoes by hand.

Today, pierogi are sold at the church hall on Arbor Street every other Friday from September through May.

While some steps of the pierogi-making process have been automated, the end results are the same homemade version made by the current crew’s predecessors.

Barb King, who has attended the church her entire life, said she was “corralled” into overseeing the sale 10 years ago when she retired.

“My mother and aunts did it,” King said of the multistep and messy process of making pierogi. “I said I’d never do it, but here I am.”

She said about 200 pounds of potatoes are used to make about 215 dozen pierogi for each sale, depending on the quality of the potatoes.

On holidays like Good Friday and the Christmas season, up to 350 pounds of potatoes could be used to accommodate customers. Sometimes orders must be cut off because they can’t make enough pierogi.

Potatoes are delivered each Thursday, and they are peeled using a hand-crank machine. Members of her crew — which is comprised of both church members and faithful volunteers from the community — then remove the eyes from the spuds, King said.

On Wednesday, 50 to 75 pounds of onions are put through a french fry cutter, then chopped a little finer.

“Some churches buy them already chopped,” said Steve Sheptak, who is a church member and pierogi sale volunteer. “We like to do them ourselves.”

Olha Bobko, wife of the church’s pastor, Yurii Bobko, is on the team that fries the onions in six to eight industrial-sized skillets in the church hall kitchen.

“When you get home, you have to change all your clothes,” Sheptak said of the lingering aroma of several pounds of sautéing onions.

Then the peeled potatoes are diced and placed in 12, 10-quart pots of boiling water on the church hall’s industrial stove. The potatoes cook in 10 to 12 minutes because they are diced.

“You boil them to al dente,” King said. “No mush.”

Once the perfect state of doneness has been achieved, the contents of the steaming pots are dumped into huge strainers.

Three pots of potatoes are enough for one batch of pierogi. One batch is equivalent to about 50 dozen.

The potatoes are mashed in a Hobart mixer like those used in industrial kitchens, in 30-pound increments. Secret ingredients are added to make the perfect mashed potato for pierogi production.

A yellow cheese, either cheddar, longhorn or colby, is added to the hot potatoes when they are mashed.

On Friday, the day of the sale, Sheptak arrives at the church hall at 4:45 a.m. to remix the mashed potatoes, which get firm in the refrigerator overnight.

A large cookie-dough scoop is used to portion the potato-cheese mixture, and each scoop is hand rolled into balls by the crew’s “ballers.”

The balls are sent to another station in the hall’s basement, where they are weighed to ensure just the right amount of filling finds its way into each pierogi.

“We have four to six ballers,” Sheptak said.

Regarding the dough surrounding the potato mixture, the same basic recipe is used that was made by the pierogi makers in 1957.

“It’s been tweaked here and there,” Sheptak said.

The Hobart mixer mixes the flour and other ingredients, and the resulting dough is rolled in 15-pound quantities in a large automated dough-rolling machine.

Large cookie cutters are used to create “platskis,” or circles of dough that will become the pierogi shells.

The platskis are placed onto large metal trays, and crew members pluck potato balls from bowls sitting along the long tables in the church hall basement and place them onto the circles of dough.

The dough is then folded over each potato ball and pinched closed.

The pierogi are cooked in pots of boiling water 18 to 22 at a time.

Gene Lesney, another lifelong Sts. Peter and Paul member, said a poorly pinched pierogi occasionally comes apart in boiling water.

“We have good days and we have bad days,” he said with a sigh.

The finished pierogies are portioned into dozens and the sautéed onions are added before buyers bring them home to eat plain or with a dollop of sour cream.

An entirely different crew arrives Friday evening to clean the Hobart machine, dough-rolling machine, stove splashed with starchy water, sinks, tables and floors.

The entire process requires the services of 15 to 20 people.

“Everyone thinks you come in and it’s a 3-hour project,” Lesney said of the multiday pierogi-making process.

King said those who called to place orders occasionally don’t show up and can’t be reached, so their pierogi are sold to others who come to pick up their orders.

The Rev. Bobko praised the dedication of the pierogi crew, as well as those who make paska, nutroll and other breads and baked goods to sell to the community at Easter and Christmastime.

He seemed shocked when asked if pierogi are a staple among his young family.

“Are they a staple?” he asked. “There are two things that are really vital in the life of an orthodox Christian. They try to live a life in Christ, and pierogies are a very traditional food. We eat them like hot dogs.”

Sheptak said many church members since 1957 have dedicated themselves to the pierogi sale, including the late Alex Shott, who still performed his pierogi duties at age 102.

“He was here for over 50 years. He was my mentor,” Sheptak said. “He taught me how to use the mixing machine and other things.”

He said Dorothy Cygan, now 93, was King’s mentor who ran the pierogi sale for many years. She is now homebound and unable to participate in the sale.

Ron Markiw, who is a fixture among the church’s pierogi team, said his mother, Jean, 96, still helps out when she is feeling up to it.

Sheptak said his wife, Karen, makes traditional Ukrainian pierogi of many kinds at their home. That includes pierogi filled with either sauerkraut, cottage cheese or a prune version known as “levkar.”

“They take more time than the regular ones,” he said of the prune pierogi.

King said most customers order one to four dozen pierogi. Six dozen is a big order, she said.

“People ask about our halupki sale or bake sales,” she said of customers picking up their orders. “They always say ‘It smells so good in here.’”

Markiw caused his fellow pierogi crew members to hold their breath for a second when he said he would divulge one secret ingredient.

“Every pierogi that’s pinched is made with a lot of love,” he said.