User:Off-shell/sandbox/Peremech

Peremech (pl. peremechi; пәрәмәч / pərəməç / pärämäç; бәрәмес, tr. beremes;, tr. pyuremech; перемяч) or perepechi (only plural; перепечи) is an individual-sized pastry common for cuisines of peoples living in Idel-Ural (Volga region of Russia). Peremechi and perepechi are shaped as a flattened sphere of dough with a circular "window" in the middle in which a filling is placed. In contrast to ring doughnuts, the hole does not go all the way through, but is only made at the top. Particular types of such pastries vary significantly between the different local cuisines. A Tatar version of peremech, a fried dough pastry usually filled with ground meat and chopped onion, is nowadays popular throughout Russia and other post-Soviet countries where it is usually referred to as belyash (беляш, pl. беляши, belyashi).

History and varieties
Some ethnographers and food historians suggest that these pastries were originally adopted from Russian cuisine and later transformed into local varieties characteristic for the respective regional cooking traditions. They trace their name to perepecha, traditional Russian bread, a kind of karavai or kulich. The Russian word has the same lexical root as the verb pech (печь, "to bake") and the noun pech (печь, "oven").

The oldest known version of Tatar peremech was a baked pastry shaped like Russian vatrushka. The filling was made of pre-cooked finely chopped meat. Before baking and also just before serving, broth was poured on the filling. Such peremechi were traditionally served in middle-class families on Fridays after the prayer. Since the second half of the 19th century peremechi with various fillings or toppings became a common accompaniment to tea. These were dough pieces topped with quark or pressed Cannabis seeds, as well as vatrushka-like pastries with quark or potato filling. All these types are classifed as "open-faced peremechi".

is an individual-sized fried dough pasty common for Volga Tatar and Bashkir cuisines. It is made from unleavened or leavened dough and usually filled with ground meat and chopped onion. Originally, finely chopped pre-cooked meat was used as a filling, but later raw ground meat became more common. Alternatively, peremech can be filled with potato or quark.

Peremech is usually shaped into a flattened sphere with a circular "window" in the middle. In contrast to doughnuts, the hole does not go all the way through, but is only made at the top, such that the filling is visible in the middle. The shape is thus somewhat similar to Russian vatrushka. However, dough neatly kneaded around the hole gives the classical peremech its distinctive shape.

Peremech is traditionally served with broth, qatiq (yogurt) or ayran.

Nowadays, the meat-filled version is popular throughout Russia and other post-Soviet countries where it is usually referred to as belyash (беляш, pl. беляши, belyashi). This word appeared in Russian in the second half of the 20th century and possibly derives from another Tatar word, bəleş, which denotes a baked full-size pie with meat and potato filling. Along with pirozhki and chiburekki, belyashi are a common street food in the region.