Thursday, April 22, 2010

Sharing a Recipe--Missy Tippens

Missy, here. I wanted to do something different today. I recently watched Alton Brown on the Food Network in an episode of his show, Good Eats, where his mother and mother-in-law (in doll form) battled it out over which type of dumplings to make--the southern rolled out and cut ones ("hard" as my family calls them) or the northern drop dumplings ("fluffy" as we call them). It was a cute show. And it inspired me to try something different. So I decided to try making the northern type--which we prefer anyway! But this was the big time. I wasn't going to be using Bisquick to make a dough to drop into broth. No, I was making them from scratch! :)

Also, everytime I make chicken and dumplings, my family tells me to lose the chicken and just make more dumplings. So this time, I got a big box of chicken broth and used that. (Not a piece of meat to ruin their meal of starch.) :)

So here's the recipe as I made it. (For the original, click here.)

A large box of chicken broth plus some water to bring it to about 8 cups. Heat to simmering. (or use the broth from cooking your chicken.)
3 Tbs. butter
1/2 c flour
2 large eggs at room temp
1/2 tsp. salt

Put 1/2 c of the broth, the butter and a 1/2 ts salt in a saucepan, bring to a boil. Once it boils, add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon, about 1 minute.

Then decrease heat to low and keep stirring until the mixture forms a ball and is no longer sticky, about 3 minutes. (Note, this didn't happen for me. It never formed a nice ball like it did for Alton.)
Transfer to a mixing bowl and mix on low speed for 5 minutes with electric hand mixer. Beat until cool.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing in the first before adding the second.
Transfer dough to a gallon size ziplock baggie. Cut off one corner so it's about a quarter-size opening.

Squeeze out 1 inch of the mixture, then snip off with kitchen scissors right into the simmering broth. Repeat until empty. Cook, covered (without stirring!) about 8-10 minutes. Turn off heat. If you're using chicken, add back in now. Wait 2-3 minutes before serving.

Though my process didn't go quite like Alton's, the dumplings were yummy. And cute! And honestly, they were more like hard dumplings in my opinion, not fluffy like I was expecting.

I hope you enjoy. How do you make your dumpings? Northern or southern?? :)

Missy

20 comments:

  1. I had some in couple dats ago. I love those chicken &dumpings. It is one if my favorites

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  2. I like the Northern kind, and ironically, a nieghbor in Texas told me to leave the egg out of the biscuit to make it lighter....thanks to her, I just use flour and some of the cooled broth to make dumplings and they are great!

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  3. My family goes into JOY mode everytime I say--chicken and dumplings tonight.
    I follow an old recipe from my 1940 Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. If you'd like the recipe, let me know.

    And the secret to light and fluffy dumplings IS....

    Drop them in, cover and NO PEEKING. That's key. Learned this from one of my landlady's while I was in college. Wonderful woman, Ethel Henning in Quincy IL. She's with the Lord now, probably making her HEAVENLY dumplings! GRIN

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  4. Missy, I'll have to try this ... but I've gotta tell you, dumplings at my house means the thinnest rolled out dumplings EVER (think parchment), and lots of rich broth. I'll have to rename your dish before I serve it, or otherwise The Husband and The Kiddo will revolt. :-)

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  5. Terrie, I'm having a craving now! :)

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  6. Anastasia,

    I bet leaving out the egg would make them more like the Bisquick ones I'm used to. I'll have to try it! :)

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  7. Lyn, I collect cookbooks, so I'll look to see if I have that one! If not, I may holler at you to get it. :)

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  8. Oh, and Lyn, I opened and peeked once (and gave a slight stir) when I made them a few months ago. I ruined them! They all kind of fell apart and made a starchy broth with just a few little bits of dumpling. LOL

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  9. Cynthia, this recipe makes what I would call heavy pillow dumplings. :) So maybe they'd be heavy enough to please your family.

    I've actually bought some frozen thins ones before that cooked up pretty well. I liked them.

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  10. I never heard of rolling out dumplings or paper thin ones. You have expanded my knowledge!

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  11. I've never even tried. I mess up spaghetti. I shudder to think what I could do to dumplings.

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  12. My mother made the most mouth-watering soft dumplings when I was growing up. I'm for sure going to try your recipe.
    Pat

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  13. I've never made a dumpling in my life. I leave that for my mother-in-law.

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  14. LOL, Pamela! You should at least try the Bisquick ones. :)

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  15. Did I mention that when I make spaghetti, the sauce is from a jar. Pre-made. Believe me, Bisquick isn't going to help.

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  16. Okay, I have to ask. Are dumplings 'slimy'? I've never eaten one because they look gross-like wet bread. lol Ya'll make them sound so good, maybe I should be brave and try some.

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  17. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  18. Well, Linda, they're not slimy, but maybe you could say soft or moist to sound more palatable! They mostly just taste like puffs of bread soaked in chicken broth. Very yummy! :)

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  19. Okay, I'm going to have try some. My daughter is from Ukraine originally and she gets hungry for Ukrainian foods, one of which sounds a lot like dumplings with mash potatoes in the middle. No chicken broth, though, just hot water. I'm going to try making them for her soon. Should be interesting.....

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