Because I've been feeling self-indulgent lately, I've been looking for excuses to have dumplings... and something. It started with sour beef and dumplings, and of course after Thanksgiving I had to have turkey and dumplings. And Chef Jerry Pellegrino, I started getting curious about dumplings and I did a little digging.
You can divide American Dumpling Land into two realms. The flour based biscuit dumpling, and the Germanic potato dumpling. Interestingly in the potato dumpling realm, there is a sub-region devoted to the Italian gnocchi, a diminutive version. Likewise in the biscuit part of Dumpling Land you will find the oddly shaped Southern dumpling. More on that later.
Across the ocean there is another Dumpling Land that is dedicated to the stuffed dumpling. This where you find wontons, dimsum, pierogis and samosas.
So many variations on this simple idea exist that we believe that each culture has its own version.
The flour-based dumplings are simplicity itself. You'll need flour, baking powder, salt and pepper, milk and melted butter. Mix the dry ingredients first, then pour in the milk and butter. (You may also want to add an herb like parsley or thyme to the dough.) Work it all into a ball and you're ready to go.
Get your broth simmering, and then start pulling off small hunks of dough to drop into the broth. This will give you those marvelous randomly shaped dumplings with all sorts of irregularities which will soak up the broth. Let them cook for 10-15 minutes and you're good to go. And please note: you can overcook a dumpling which will cause it to fall apart; so don't overdo it.
The procedure for potato dumplings is a bit more involved. They come to us from Germany which has as many variations as they have grandmothers. You can use cooked or raw potatoes which need to be pushed through a potato ricer or blitzed in a food processor. You work in whole eggs some flour or potato starch and your seasonings. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth.
You then form little balls, no bigger than a tennis ball. You can leave them perfectly smooth or you can roll them in bread crumbs. You them cook them in plain boiling water leaving them in until they float to the top.
For some reason many recipes want you to bury a buttered crouton in the middle of the dumpling. I don't know why. Explanations would be welcome.
Ideally your potato dumpling should emerge from the pot smooth and dense. Although I've had them quite a few times they never seem to be as fluffy as the flour based ones.
Getting back to the Southern approach to dumplings, you start with the same biscuit dough as the drop dumplings. But then you roll out the dough until it is quite thin, about a quarter inch. You then cut long one inch strips of dough, which you cut again into little 2-3 inch long rectangles. When your stew broth is bubbling you drop in the little rectangular dumplings and watch them swell up.
Finally, if time is short, you can always go out and buy a tube of Pillsbury biscuits. Pop the tube, and pull apart the individual pieces. Cut them into quarters and hey presto! you've got your dumplings all ready for the stew.
