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Introduction

Italians have their ravioli, Chinese their dumplings, and Poles their pierogi. All around the world and for generations people have enjoyed the experience of little balls of dough stuffed with a variety of fillings. It might be cheese or meat or potatoes, sauced with tomatoes, soy sauce or melted butter, but people love them.

And these are not the only “stuffed” foods that cross borders and culinary traditions. Think about empanadas, Cornish pasties and calzone. So it got me wondering why there is such a seemingly universal love of one food stuffed inside another. And I think there are a few good reasons.

First of all, when a filling is cooked inside some form of shell, the flavorings and spices are intensified and melded together in a unique way. It extracts the juices from meat and vegetables without drying them out. It brings the ooze to cheese and marries it to other filling elements.

And then there is the contrast of textures that juxtaposes flaky with creamy in one bite, or smooth with crunchy, or the rich with the mild.

Finally, the combinations create flavor pairings that transcend each individual element.

I have been fascinated with stuffed foods for years and collect them from every tradition I can find.

For the most part, these are ethnic foods, and it is curious to see the parallels in technique as well as ingredients. But it also means that these are predominantly comfort foods with long and well loved traditions. Many of the preparations are labor intensive since they involve the assembly of individual portions, if not individual bites. But the end results are delicious and deeply satisfying.

For the past twenty-five years I have been the producer and host of a series of cooking programs on public television. Unlike other cooking formats, these shows and the resulting cookbooks invited our viewers to send us their family treasures. We asked some of them to appear on the show and share their kitchen wisdom and family stories. From time to time in this book you will see recipes from some of those home cooks – recipes forged on the appetites of real people and made in home kitchens just like yours. No special ingredients or fancy equipment required. The show was called “QED Cooks” here in Pittsburgh and “America’s Home Cooking” when episodes aired around the country. The rest of the recipes I’ve accumulated over the years from family and friends and made my own. Feel free to add and subtract where you like to make them just as much your own.

Chris