Cook's Cayalyst - Chapter 6 - Learning to Dump Dumplings

Chapter Six Learning to Dump Dumplings Rice and the various shapes of pasta go a long way in making your soup presentation. Dumplings, however, will stretch the paycheck and please the family. Since the soup is hot anyway, go ahead and get creative with the starch. You can produce perfectly acceptable dumplings by following the recipe found on the back of most biscuit mix boxes. They are simple to prepare and can be enhanced with a little touch of dry dill, pepper and garlic salt in the batter. Cook as directed for good results. These boxed mixes are sometimes a bit pricey when you are on a budget. You have conquered bread and soup, why not dumplings? My mother got adventurous once when she was short on time. The result were some dumplings that were half the size of a golf ball and chewy verging on hard. They were impervious to the broth and insisted on sinking to the bottom of the soup. The recipe said they would ripen if served the next day. After one of them fell off the table and bounced on the floor, my mother decided not to give them another chance! Butter Dumplings are solid, satisfying and taste good, too. They are not known for their lightness so you can approach the mixing bowl with few qualms. For six to eight servings, you will need: Butter Dumplings 4 tablespoons softened butter 4 eggs one cup all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt A dash of pepper A generous pinch of dried dill and thyme. Cream the butter until soft. Beat in the eggs and stir in the flour, salt and seasonings. You may haveto  add or reduce the flour depending on the dryness of the weather. Drop rounded teaspoonsfuls into the simmering soup. Simmer, covered, very gently for approximately eight minutes. 　 Lighter Soup Dumplings turn out as their title indicates. For eight servings, you will need: 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoon baking powder 2 teaspoons salt Dash garlic powder, pepper 4 egg yolks 2/3 cup milk Combine the dry ingredients. Mix the egg yolks with milk and add to dry ingredients. Mix carefully until just blended. Drop batter by tablespoons onto simmering soup. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes without peeking! Serve immediately. I was traumatized by dumplings early on in my marriage. I called my mother to ask for directions for making a certain type of dumpling. Although I managed to make a presentable batter, I decided to cook them quickly. I took a rapidly boiling pot of water, dropped in my dumplings and covered the pot. I maintained the high temperature and gave them over fifteen minutes for good luck. There were quite a few newlywed tears for my husband to mop up. I proudly opened up the pot to show off my perfect dumplings only to find a pot full of cloudy water. My dumplings had disintegrated completely!