Let's Discuss Dumplings

[TheIncredibles!]

For the "strip" dough I use Bisquick, add salt and plenty of pepper and mix in milk till it's the consistency I like. Then I roll and cut out with a pizza cutter.

 

[lovin'fl]

I have made sour beef and dumplings which are a potato dumpling with boiled potatoes, milk and flour with bread cube in center. They are messy and time consuming to make as you have to get just the right amount of flour so they will drop in boiling water and not fall apart or stick to pan.

 

[chamonix]

I don't think the two types of dumplings are similar at all . One is light and fluffy and one is dense and sometimes gummy. Not near the same. I don't think the ingredients are the same either?

That's exactly what I was saying--the two types of dumplings are very different textures--soft, drop dumplings are lighter and fluffier, while rolled dumplings (the strip type) are denser and firmer. I was just pointing out that what someone called rolled dumplings were the same as the strip dumplings, which are completely different than biscuity drop dumplings.

In the end, while the biscuit drop type usually have some extra ingredients, the main ingredients of both is flour and water. There's a million different recipes for both though. Frankly, you could take the same ingredients and make them into either type, really...though I don't think I've ever known anyone who puts the baking powder in the rolled strip type, I do know I have used the same recipe for strips and dropped it! Confusing, eh? LOL

 

[tasha99]

Flour, salt and water? I would expect them to turn out like glue-lumps. I hope to get to "the south" someday where I can try these, but I really don't see myself making them at home here. Thanks for the information everybody!

Flour, salt, and water are the same ingredients used in homemade udon noodles. And I agree with kellydelly--not even close to similar. Southern dumplings are like thick noodles, and northern ones have leavening that make them more like drop biscuits.

 

[Shmily1]

They are totally different. My grandmother made drop dumplings, but no one else I know does. Everyone else makes rolled dumplings. They both have the same ingredients, but the amounts of each vary a little with the style. The rolled dumplings are much more dense than the drop ones. I actually like both but we have the rolled ones most since my family prefers them.

 

[Geoff_M]

There also can be a difference in the thickness of the dish. My family's "rolled" dumplings are cooked until enough broth has been soaked up by the flat dumplings (which aren't "gummy" if cooked thoroughly) that the liquid has the consistency of gravy. The preferred final product is plated on top of a mound of mashed potatoes and eaten with a fork! From what I've seen a lot of other recipes resemble a soup or "stew".

 

[Geoff_M]

Southern dumplings are like thick noodles, and northern ones have leavening that make them more like drop biscuits.

I guess our recipe is a "hybrid" then, because they're rolled, but do also contain leavening!

 

[chamonix]

I guess or recipe is a "hybrid" then, because they're rolled, but do also contain leavening!

LOL, I stand corrected--now I can say I have heard of someone putting leavening in their rolled strip dumplings!

 

[Geoff_M]

LOL, I stand corrected--now I can say I have heard of someone putting leavening in their rolled strip dumplings!

Maybe that's why everyone that's tried them, friends included, love them! It's a "Best of Both Worlds" dish!!!

 

[luvsJack]

My Mother uses leavening in her rolled dumplings too. She basically makes her biscuit dough, with the addition of some hearbs. and rolls it out and then slices in strips. They are not gummy at all. And the thick gravy with the chicken. . . so very, very good.

But we also make drop dumplings too. And actually it is the same dough just dropped by spoonfuls instead of rolled. When mom had times that she ran out of time and needed to get the dumplings done, she just dropped them instead of rolling them. Still good but light and fluffy.

 

[tluvstink]

Southern girl, born and raised, here. First you have to boil a chicken. A whole one. Add a couple of bouillon cubes and some diced carrot and celery. When the chicken is cooked, take it out and let it cool enough to debone. My dough is flour, salt, and water. That's it. And just like my great-grandmother, I don't measure anything. I just mix until it looks and feels right. I roll it out and cut it into whatever shape I'm feeling that day and drop it into the broth and throw the chicken back in. When it's thick, it's done.

Do you use All Purpose flour or self rising?

Thanks,
Terri

 

[bookgirl]

So my grandmother made both from scratch, but I'm lazy. LOL

I make the light fluffy ones from raw biscuit dough. I buy the noodle type in the freezer section of the store. They're usually next to the cheese bread frozen biscuits and frozen dinner rolls.

We call the fluffy ones Chicken and Dumplins, we call the flat ones Chicken and Noodles.

We eat them in the amish style over mashed potatoes. Gotta love the double starch meal.

I like both types, but can't have them anymore.

 

[firecracker725]

Do you use All Purpose flour or self rising?

Thanks,
Terri

All purpose, but it really wouldn't matter all that much here.

 

[firecracker725]

Flour, salt and water? I would expect them to turn out like glue-lumps. I hope to get to "the south" someday where I can try these, but I really don't see myself making them at home here. Thanks for the information everybody!

The flavor comes from the broth they're cooked in. You need to make sure the broth is super flavorful.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

My mom makes strip-type southern dumplings. She uses eggs and flour - no water. She'll do more eggs depending on how many people she's feeding. 5 eggs makes enough dumplings for Sunday lunch (my parents, my family of 4, my sister's family of 4). She'll first throw in a scoop (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup depending on how much she's making) of self-rising flour, then the rest is all-purpose. She mixes it up till it's doughy, then rolls it out on a well-floured surface. She cuts them in strips with a knife or pizza cutter, usually about 1/2 inch wide and 2-3 inches long, then leaves them laying out to "dry."

She boils chicken pieces, shreds it, and adds more seasoning - poultry seasoning, salt, pepper, whatever. With the soup at a rolling boil, she drops the dumplings in a few at a time till they're all in the pot. They are every grandchild's favorite meal at Grandma's.

 

[Sheree Bobbins]

I have no experience eating or cooking dumplings, Western style that is. I am ignorant of them except for that scene in "True Grit." Where they're all seated at the dining room table in the boarding house, eating chicken and dumplings.
Now, the dumplings I have eaten from Dim sum restaurants, they are just the best! Love the siu mai & har gow, to name just 2.

 

[bethbuchall]

We have three types of dumplings here. The first is the drop-type that I usually put on top of beef or chicken stew. That one is flour, baking powder, oil, and milk. The second is the rolled or strip type that are boiled in with chicken, carrots, celery, onions to make "chicken and dumplings." That one is a little butter, flour, baking powder (but much less than in the drop-type), and milk. They are rolled thin and cut into pieces before being dropped into the stew. The third type is what my grandma made for her chicken paprikas. It's basically her noodle dough with less flour...just eggs and flour and a little salt. That is dropped by spoonfuls into boiling water and cooked until they float. After they are drained, they're topped with the chicken mixture.

 

[wenrob]

I am making Chicken and Dumplings for dinner because of this thread.

 

[WDWBarb]

Oh wow.. I'm craving dumplings now. Before I was a vegetarian, my favorite meal was Chicken & Dumplings from Cracker Barrel. But it's been 27 years! I did find a good meatless Chick'n & Dumplings recipe a few years ago and it was pretty darn close. Don't know why I didn't bookmark it, but I've never found it again. But it did have you roll out the dumplings and cut them in small squares. They were yummy.

 

[bcla]

There's two kinds of dumplings: drop biscuit type and noodle strip type. Both are yummy, we prefer the noodle strips (which is more the southern type).

There's way more than that. Gnocchi are actually potato flour dumplings.

It also doesn't have to be solid piece of flour. Dumplings can be stuffed. Chinese potstickers or Japanese gyoza are technically dumplings with a filling. There may literally be hundreds of variations from around the world.

And now that it's Chinese New Year, I've been a guest at dinners where a dumpling made of sticky rice flour was served as a dessert - often with red bean or these small green beans. I looked it up.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangyuan_(food)