Meat filling for E. European Pastries, Dumplings, etc?

A couple times in recent years I have stumbled onto dishes with a tender meat filling. Once was a pastry at a Russian deli, another was in the meat blintzes at Chaihanna (Uzbekistani GNR recipient in Buffalo Grove). In my family, a meat blintz wouldn't happen traditionally, because the crepe has milk in it -- not kosher.

The meat in this is soft, mild, dry, a little pale, maybe a little sweet, and almost like tiny shreds. It definitely isn't just browned ground beef, like most of the beef knish recipes I see online. I'm guessing it's probably pork or veal, maybe a mixture, long-cooked with milk and then mashed or ground.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a recipe for this sort of filling? (I'm guessing Cathy2 might)

As a general matter, most of the Russian pirog fillings will be beef, if they're meat at all. They much more likely to be filled with cabbage or mushrooms or even potatoes. The Polish versions, too, are less often meat and more frequently cabbage or mushroom or cheese. Most of the various Russian, Polish, and Eastern European cookbooks I just looked at used beef (less frequently veal or a beef/pork mixture). I'll be happy to provide recipes--either privately or in this thread--if you can point me a bit more precisely to what you would prefer for your use. I've seen, for example, a recipe that simply called for boiled chuck and more complex recipes that involve minced meat that tends to be fairly highly seasoned. Since there are so many directions to take, it would be easier to know which way you'd prefer to go.

About the best guide I would have would be to try the meat blintzes at Chaihanna. They're amazingly good, and that's what I'd like to reproduce, especially since this weekend I mastered blintz manufacturing technique (I made about 150 for an upcoming party).

I don't think that it was seasoned with more than onion, salt and pepper -- it's the soft, shredded texture that I don't know how to achieve.

I'm not sure if we're thinking of the same thing, but, generally, soft and shredded would indicate long cooking over a relatively low heat (350 max) with a piece of meat (like chuck) that is full of connective tissue.

The delicious kreplach at Kaufman's deli/bakery in Skokie have a filling that combines finely ground beef *and* finely shredded brisket, mixed with with grated onion and garlic for flavor, salt & pepper to season, and eggs to bind. Again, absolutely delicious, with great texture - not a puree, but not coarse, either. I've never tried to make them - I make the stock and the matzoh balls, Kaufman's supplier makes the kreplach - but the filling shouldn't be too horribly hard to replicate.

For the moment, let me offer three recipes from Please to the Table, by Anya von Bremzen and John Welchman.

The first is likely a bit closer to what you're seeking, a recipe for pelmeni (from Siberia, in this case). As a matter of style, they can be eaten either in a broth (usually beef or chicken) or simply fried in butter (less authentic, according to the authors, but I guess their family and mine came from different places). Traditional accompaniments: sour cream sprinkled with dill or white vinegar.

PELMENI (for 100 pelmeni--serving 6 to 8 people)
I'll skip the dough part of the recipe unless you specifically want it. This is the ultimate in basic filling:

3/4 pound ground beef (although they don't say so, leaner is NOT better: too dry will result in too dry a final product)
1/2 pound ground pork
2 finely chopped medium onions
salt and pepper

Always good to test boil one to check your filling flavor. The authors note that the raw filled pelmeni are usually frozen at this point. When ready, boil in plenty of water for eight minutes or so. Toss with (or fry in) butter.

You place a scant teaspoon on the bottom half of a circle of dough, brush with egg white, fold over, and crimp with a fork.

PIROZHKI (makes 45-50)
3 T vegetable oil
3 finely chopped large onions
2 pounds boiled chuck, ground (or shredded if you prefer)
4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/3 C beef broth
3 heaping T sour cream
1½ T flour
2 T chopped fresh dill
2 T chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper

Saute the onions until well-browned (about 15 minutes). Combine everything and stir until well-blended. This recipe, according to the authors, can serve equally well in a variety of "settings" including, among others, pirozhki and even kulebiaka.

[Helpful (I hope) tangent:
pirozhok is the singular for pirozhki
pirog, on the other hand, is a large rectangle/square/round pie that can be either sweet or savory
pirogi is the plural (noticing a resemblance to Polish here? Actually, Polish pierogi are dumplings, not at all the same as the Russian word)
kulebiaka is an oblong or rectangular pie, almost always filled with fish. A ton of work but an absolute stunner of a dish, both presentationally and taste-atorially speaking.]

BELIASHI (Tatar meat pies)
1 pound ground sirloin
1 large onion, grated
1/4 C finely chopped dill (or parsley)
1/3 C ice water
salt and lots of pepper

Combine everything well. Use as a filling for well-flattened biscuit (!) dough and then deep fry them. (Use about one T per pie. (The recipe should make about 20 beliashi)

I've got some variations and other ideas; I'll post later with more/different. Is this the right direction?