How Many Pirozhki to Order, and Which Fillings

Pirozhki are the easiest thing on our list to order badly. Not because they are complicated, but because people either order far too few, having pictured something larger, or order six of one filling for a table of twelve who would have liked a choice.

This is the practical article rather than the historical one. If you want the history and the fillings explained, that is elsewhere in the journal. This one is about numbers.

How many per person

The honest figures, from what people actually order and then tell us afterwards.

As a snack alongside other food, count one and a half each. A table of eight wants twelve, which is two boxes.

As the savoury part of a spread with pastries and cake, two each. A table of eight wants sixteen, so three boxes, and there will be a couple left.

As lunch, with nothing else substantial, three each. That is a proper meal and people will not want dinner.

For a children's party, one each and expect some to be abandoned half eaten, which is the fate of all food at children's parties.

Our boxes are six pieces, so translate accordingly and round up rather than down. Pirozhki keep and reheat well, which is not true of most things we make, so having too many is a much smaller problem than having too few.

Which fillings, and for whom

Seven are on the site and they are not interchangeable.

Cabbage and egg is the default and the safest. Braised cabbage with chopped hard boiled egg, mild, savoury, and the one that suits the widest range of people. If you are ordering one box and do not know the table, order this.

Potato and onion is the vegetarian workhorse. Seasoned mashed potato, soft, filling, and the one children eat without negotiating.

Onion and egg is caramelised onion with hard boiled egg. Sweeter than it sounds and the one that surprises people who expected it to be sharp.

Mushroom is the one for a table with vegetarians who want something with more character than potato.

Meat and cabbage is the substantial one. This is the filling that turns a pirozhok into lunch.

Liver is the traditional one and the divisive one. Rich, faintly metallic in the good way, and adored by people who grew up with it. Order it if you know your table. Do not order it as your only box for a British office.

Apple is sweet rather than savoury, and it belongs at the end of the table rather than the middle.

Cabbage & Egg Pies (6 pieces)£23Potato & Onion(6 pieces)£22

A sensible mixed order

For twelve people at a savoury table, three boxes: cabbage and egg, potato and onion, meat and cabbage. That covers vegetarian, mild, and substantial, and nothing on it will be left.

For an office of twenty, five boxes: two cabbage and egg, one potato, one mushroom, one meat. Put them out warm and they will be gone in twenty minutes.

For a Russian or Ukrainian family gathering, add liver and be prepared to defend the decision.

Meat & Cabbage Pies (6 pieces)£27Mushroom - 6 Pieces£27

Reheating, which matters

Pirozhki arrive baked. They are good cold and much better warm, and warming them properly takes ten minutes.

Oven, 160 degrees, ten to twelve minutes, on a tray, not covered. They come out with the crust slightly crisped and the filling hot through.

Not a microwave. A microwaved pirozhok steams inside its own dough and goes damp and heavy, and once that has happened nothing brings it back.

If you are feeding a crowd, warm them in batches as people eat rather than all at once and letting them sit. Twenty minutes standing in a warm room after the oven is where they lose their edge.

Keeping them

Three days in the fridge in a box. They reheat from cold exactly as above.

They also freeze properly, which is unusual on our list. Freeze them in a single layer, bag them once solid, and reheat from frozen at 160 degrees for about twenty minutes. A frozen pirozhok in a home freezer is a genuinely useful thing to have, and several of our regular customers order a large mixed batch specifically to do this.

Frozen versus baked to order

Frozen pirozhki are widely available in London and there is nothing wrong with them, but they are a different proposition and it is worth knowing which problem each one solves.

A frozen pirozhok is proved, filled and part baked, then frozen, and you finish it at home. The dough is formulated to survive that, which means it is firmer and less enriched than a dough made to be eaten within two days. The filling is cooked down further and seasoned more strongly, because freezing dulls flavour.

What you get is convenience, a long life, and a reliable result. What you lose is the softness of an enriched dough eaten fresh, which is the single quality that makes somebody say these taste like the ones at home.

A baked to order pirozhok has the opposite trade. It is soft, it is at its best for two days, and you had to decide about it two days in advance.

For a freezer, buy frozen. For a table you are putting food on, order for the date.

Common questions

How many pirozhki are in a box?

Six.

How many should I order per person?

One and a half as a snack, two as part of a spread, three as a meal. Round up.

Which filling should I order if I only order one?

Cabbage and egg. It is the most widely liked and the least likely to divide a table.

Are any of them vegetarian?

Potato and onion, cabbage and egg, onion and egg, mushroom and apple are all vegetarian. They all contain eggs and milk, so none is vegan.

What are the allergens?

Gluten, eggs and milk across the range.

Can I mix fillings within one box?

The boxes are single filling. Order more than one box to mix, which is what most people do.

How far ahead do I need to order?

Forty eight hours, like everything else except bread.

Can I freeze them?

Yes, and they take it well. Freeze in a single layer, then bag, and reheat from frozen at 160 degrees for about twenty minutes.

Ordering in London

Pirozhki are baked to order in Belgravia and delivered across London and Surrey. £12 delivery in central London, £15 elsewhere, £50 minimum order.