Mushroom Pirozhki, and the Russian Love of Mushrooms

In Britain mushroom foraging is a hobby with a slightly specialist air. In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus it is closer to a national pastime. Families drive out to the forest at the end of summer with baskets and knives, children are taught early which mushrooms to pick and which to leave alone, and the results end up on strings, in jars and inside pirozhki for the rest of the year.

The mushroom pirozhok is one of the oldest and most ordinary fillings there is, and it comes directly from that habit.

Quiet hunting

The Russian phrase for mushroom picking is tikhaya okhota, quiet hunting. It is a good description. You walk slowly, you look at the ground, you talk very little, and the satisfaction is the satisfaction of finding something.

The season runs from late summer into the autumn, and the most prized find is the white mushroom, the beliy grib, which in English is the porcini or cep. After it come the orange birch boletes, the chanterelles, the honey fungus that grows in clusters on stumps, and a long list of mushrooms that are salted rather than cooked fresh.

People who grew up with this tend to be serious about it. They know the good spots, they do not share them, and they have strong opinions about which mushrooms are worth the walk.

Drying, salting and pickling

A good day in the forest produces more mushrooms than a family can eat, and the surplus was always preserved.

The best mushrooms, the whites, are threaded on string and dried, hung in the kitchen or over the stove until they are leathery and dark. A handful of dried mushrooms soaked in water gives a broth of extraordinary depth, and in winter that broth went into soups, sauces and fillings.

Other kinds are salted in barrels or jars, with dill, garlic and blackcurrant leaves, and eaten as zakuski with vodka. Still others are pickled in vinegar. A jar of salted milk caps on a winter table is one of the most characteristic sights of a Russian home.

This is the background to the mushroom filling. It was the filling you could make in February, from what was stored, when there was no fresh anything.

Why mushroom suits a pirozhok

A pirozhok is a soft enriched bun with a filling sealed inside, baked or fried. The filling has to be cooked in advance, has to be fairly dry so it does not soak the dough, and has to have enough flavour to stand up to the bread around it.

Mushrooms cooked down with onion meet all three conditions. As they cook they release their water and then reabsorb their own flavour, concentrating into something dark, savoury and rich. The onion adds sweetness. The result is the most savoury of the vegetarian fillings, and many people prefer it to meat.

It is also the classic filling for the fasting periods of the Orthodox calendar, when meat is set aside. That association is part of why mushroom pirozhki are so often found at a funeral lunch, a Lenten table or a Christmas Eve supper.

Mushroom PiesMushroom pirozhki. Boxes of 6, 12 or 18. A savoury mushroom filling in soft dough.from £27Order this

About fasting, honestly

If you are keeping a strict Orthodox fast, our pirozhki will not suit it. The filling is meat free, but the dough is enriched and contains eggs and milk, as the allergen list says. For a vegetarian table they are ideal. For a strict fast they are not, and we would rather say so than have somebody find out at the table.

How to eat them

Warm, ideally. A few minutes in a low oven brings the dough back to softness and wakes the filling up. The microwave is quicker and makes the dough tough, so avoid it if you can.

They are good on their own, with a bowl of soup, or as part of a spread of zakuski. A plate of mushroom pirozhki beside the cabbage and egg ones gives a table a choice without anybody needing to ask what is in what.

Six come to an order. As a rough guide, two each is a light lunch with soup, and one each is plenty alongside other food.

Cabbage & Egg Piesfrom £24Potato & Onion Piesfrom £24

A table of pirozhki in November

November in London is the month this filling makes most sense. The forests at home have finished their season, the jars are full, and a family that has been picking all autumn would be eating mushrooms in some form most days.

If you are putting out pirozhki for guests, a plate of mushroom beside a plate of meat and cabbage covers almost everybody. The vegetarians have something that is not a compromise, and the people who grew up with these will usually reach for the mushroom first anyway. A pot of sour cream on the side is traditional and costs nothing. A clear chicken or mushroom broth, served in cups, turns the same plate into a proper lunch, which is how pirozhki were eaten in canteens and homes across the Soviet Union for decades.

The one thing to avoid is serving them cold from the fridge. The dough tightens and the filling loses its smell, and smell is half of what a mushroom pirozhok is for.

What our filling is and is not

Ours is mushrooms cooked with onion in a soft dough, which is the traditional style. We have not been told to describe the mushrooms as wild or forest picked, so we will not. What we can say is that the filling is cooked down properly, which is the step that separates a mushroom pirozhok that tastes of mushroom from one that tastes faintly of damp bread.

Common questions

Are mushroom pirozhki vegetarian?

Yes, the filling contains no meat. The dough contains eggs and milk, so they are not vegan and not suitable for a strict Orthodox fast.

How many are in an order?

Six pirozhki, £27.

How do I reheat them?

A few minutes in a low oven, until warm through. Avoid the microwave, which toughens the dough.

What do people eat them with?

Soup, especially a clear broth or borscht, or as part of a table of zakuski.

How much notice do you need?

Forty eight hours.

Ordering in London

Mushroom pirozhki are made to order in Belgravia and delivered across London and Surrey. Forty eight hours notice, a £50 minimum order across the site, and delivery from £12 in central London, with other postcodes priced on the delivery page.