It’s funny. Lately I’ve been thinking about my grandmother’s chicken and dumplings, which were fantastic and were made from, I would’ve sworn, canned biscuits. My cousin and aunt say no way, that Nanny always made her dumplings from scratch (still, I’m pretty sure I saw a can of biscuits once…).
Anyway, Gary sent the following e-mail to me and I told him we’d put our heads together. Who knows how to make good dumplings? (Nanny’s, by the way, were fairly dense. They were prehaps a half-inch thick and while they were completely soft, they had some body to them. )
“My grandmother (died in 1986 at age 85) used to make the best dumplings - I have never had their equal. They were round and between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball. When you dug into one, the first half an inch or so would be saturated with the chicken broth, and the rest would be hot and fluffy like a biscuit fresh out of the oven. She always put a dab of butter in the middle, which saturated the middle of the dumpling - it also seems that some of the butter would be pooled in the middle of the dumpling when you cut into it.
Grandma was from Southwest Virginia, in the coal fields of the Appalachian Mountains. Perhaps this is a scotch-Irish recipe, as many of the people in the Appalachians are. But, her family was a combination of Irish, English, German, and French - so who knows the origin of the recipe. It is possible that it was her creation, but I suspect not.”
Cooking at home
Responses to “Need good dumplings, please”
November 9th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
My grandmother and mother made awesome dumplings, but I never knew how they did it, and was too young to care. My sister makes great dumplings, and she uses canned biscuits. She boils the chicken, removes the chicken when done, lets it cool and debones it. Then she drops pieces of biscuit into the chicken broth. “The cheaper the biscuits, the better the dumplings”, she says.
November 9th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Bisquick dumplings http://www.bettycrocker.com/Recipes/Recipe.aspx?recipeId=7855.
November 10th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
My mom always made biscuity dumplings for her chicken and dumplings. I don’t think she put butter in the middle but how bad could that be? I think this calls for experimenting!
November 10th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
I grew up dumpling-deprived. But my sister learned to make great rolled ones after she married.
Those are my favorite but I don’t know to make them. I bought some frozen ones awhile ago but they weren’t very good.
November 12th, 2007 at 1:29 am
The only ones I ever made were Paul Prudhomme’s. They weren’t really like regular dumplings at all though.
I like the description of fluffy like a biscuit in the middle as I am very ambivalent about soggy bread.
And butter in the middle is BRILLIANT.
November 14th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
i have seen others use the canned biscuit method and the dumpllings were just fine!!
November 14th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Here’s a recipe for no fail dumplings. Leave out the herbs and they taste just like Mama’s! These are no-fail, no kidding!
QUICK CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS
1 2/3 cup Bisquick
1/2 t dried rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley or 1/2 t dried
2/3 cup milk
2 cans chicken broth (16 ounce)
1 can white chicken in water, drained or
substitute leftover boned chicken, cubed
2 t chopped fresh parsley
Combine biscuit mix, rosemary, and parsley in a bowl, Stir in milk until just moistened. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Drop dumplings mixture in by teaspoonsfuls (for larger dumplings, use a tablespoon). Reduce heat, cook uncovered 10 minutes. Cover and cook 10 minutes longer. Add chicken and cook 1 minute. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons parsley and serve.
November 15th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
I found this while googling the internet. This sounds promising.
British and Irish Cuisine - Savoury dumplings made from balls of dough are part of traditional British and Irish cuisine, and make up a filling meal in winter. The simplest dumplings are made from twice the weight of self raising flour to suet, bound together by cold water to form a dough. Balls of this dough are dropped into a bubbling pot of stew or soup, or into a casserole. They sit, partly submerged in the stew, and expand as they are half-boiled half-steamed for ten minutes or so. The cooked dumplings are airy on the inside and moist on the outside. The dough may be simply flavoured with salt, pepper and herbs, or the dough balls may have a filling such as cheese pressed into their centre.
November 15th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Basic Dumplings recipe - fits the description in the previous post
ingredients
1 cup (100 g) 4 oz self raising (self rising) flour
50 g shredded suet
salt and pepper
method
1. Mix together the flour, suet, and seasoning to taste.
2. Bind with enough cold water to make a soft smooth dough.
3. With floured hands, divide the dough into 16 portions and roll into balls.
4. Drop into simmering salted water, stock, soup or into a stew, and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. Serve with the liquid or with boiled meat, stew or vegetables.
serving amount
makes 16
9 comment.