Bierocks are meat-filled pocket pastries

Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...

 originating in Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

, possibly in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 or Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. The dish is common among the Volga German

Volga German

The Volga Germans were ethnic Germans living along the River Volga in the region of southern European Russia around Saratov and to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in the 18th century, they were allowed to maintain German culture, language, traditions and churches: Lutherans, Reformed,...

 community in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. It was brought to the United States in the 1880s by German Russian Mennonite immigrants. Bierock is filled with cooked and seasoned ground beef, shredded cabbage and onions, then oven baked until the dough is golden brown. Some variants include grated carrots.

Other spellings are bieroch, beerock, berrock, bierox, beerrock and kraut bierock in the U.S, and Pirok or Kraut Pirok in Argentina.

Bierocks are similar to the pirogi of Russian cuisine

Russian cuisine

Russian cuisine is diverse, as Russia is the largest country in the world. Russian cuisine derives its varied character from the vast and multi-cultural expanse of Russia. Its foundations were laid by the peasant food of the rural population in an often harsh climate, with a combination of...

. It is likely that etymologically bierock is borrowed from Russian or Ukraninian pirog, or from some other East or West Slavic vernacular.

In Argentina, the "Fiesta del Pirok" (Bierock Festival) takes place every July, in Crespo

Crespo, Entre Ríos

Crespo is a city in the Argentine province of Entre Ríos, some 40 km from the provincial capital Paraná. It has around 18,000 inhabitants , most of whom are descendants of Volga Germans who migrated from Russia to Argentina from 1875 onwards. The town's German heritage is reflected in the annual...

, Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos Province

Entre Ríos is a northeastern province of Argentina, located in the Mesopotamia region. It borders the provinces of Buenos Aires , Corrientes and Santa Fe , and Uruguay in the east....

.