What is a Dumpling?
The word ‘dumpling’ can mean many different things in the culinary world: fluffy balls of wheat flour and animal fat floating to the surface of hearty stews; delicate parcels of dough filled with meat or vegetables and then steamed; or firm little lumps of potato, egg and flour served in a thick sauce. Savoury and sweet dumplings are widespread across the world, with simple varieties served as an everyday meal in the home or in school and factory canteens. More elaborate versions are prepared once or twice a year for celebrations and festivals.
Any official definition of the word ‘dumpling’ is likely only to partially describe what is an extraordinary variety of foods. This difficulty in finding a universal definition is also caused by the fact that the English word ‘dumpling’ is used as a shortcut translation for a long list of foods that have very similar characteristics but also very well-defined identities and vocabulary in the language of the country from which they come. The glossary at the end of this book provides an idea of these differences and similarities. A chef in Chiang Mai, Thailand – well-versed in Asian dumplings and in their sometimes very subtle differences – once said to me, pointing at a number of bamboo steamers on a dim sum trolley, ‘Chinese dumplings: same same but different.’ This popular Thai saying seemed quite appropriate in the circumstances.
Mongolian buuz filled with mutton or yak and steamed.
In order to match the meaning of the original language, some translations are required to be less telegraphic than the simple word ‘dumpling’, and might extend to a fuller description of the food including its ingredients, cooking method and presentation. The single Italian word carmelle, for example, captures very succinctly all the following characteristics: a dumpling made of a thin wheat wrap, ricotta cheese and spinach filling, shaped as a wrapped boiled sweet, boiled in water, served with melted butter and sage, and typical of the town of Piacenza, northern Italy. The English translation, correct but far from comprehensive, would simply be ‘Italian type of filled dumpling’.
The Oxford English Dictionary limits its definition to ‘a small savoury ball of dough’, excluding other shapes and omitting any reference to the possible presence of a filling. On the other hand, it accepts ‘boiled, fried and baked in a casserole’ as suitable cooking methods. For the purpose of this book, my definition of a dumpling, which I have developed over many years of research and in-depth conversations with chefs, cooks and enthusiasts, as well as a fair amount of eating, extends to both unfilled and filled varieties, including what is sometimes described as filled pasta. However, I prefer to exclude frying and baking as cooking methods, since these result in what people usually recognize as fritters or small pasties rather than dumplings.
Many unfilled dumplings are very easy to prepare, being nothing more than a few basic ingredients mixed together, dropped into boiling water, drained and served with a stew or rich sauce. To make things even simpler, they can also be cooked directly in the broth or casserole in which they will be served. This type of dumpling is used to add bulk to a meal and as an alternative to potatoes, pasta or rice. The simplest recipes include just wheat flour and water; other typical ingredients include breadcrumbs and fat, sometimes with the addition of herbs, cheese or egg. In Africa, wheat flour is replaced by millet, yam or other local starchy ingredients, while in Central, Eastern and Northern Europe potatoes tend to be the main ingredient of choice. Unfilled dumplings are not ideally served on their own, since they taste bland and, although filling, are not particularly nutritious.
Many unfilled dumplings are simple homogeneous mixtures of a very few common ingredients, cooked in boiling water and served with roasted meat and gravy or stews.
Filled dumplings consist of a layer of dough wrapped around a seemingly infinite variety of juicy and tasty fillings. There is no limit to the imagination when it comes to possible ingredients, the only constraints being availability – clearly linked to geography and seasonality – and tradition. Also, once the art of preparing and rolling the dough and shaping individual dumplings is mastered, depending on whether the dumplings are intended for a quick and simple everyday meal or for a special occasion, more unusual and elaborate combinations of ingredients and flavours can be developed. Filled dumplings are a complete course in themselves and do not need any substantial accompaniment beside the filling; they are served with the simplest of sauces, or with no sauce at all.
My passion for dumplings has meant that I have enthusiastically tried all the following: meat fillings – beef, pork, mutton, chicken, rabbit, yak, duck; vegetables – cabbage, spinach, nettles, mushrooms, pumpkin, chestnut, fennel, artichokes, onions, seaweed; cheese – blue cheese, ricotta, cream cheese, mozzarella; fish – salmon, pollack; seafood – shrimps, lobster, crab; and sweet varieties including fruit, jam, nuts, chocolate and chocolate/hazelnut spread. I have not yet cooked or been offered a peanut butter variety, but that does not mean it is not available or worth trying. In short, the rule for choosing a filling is that anything goes. In fact, most dumplings, as with many other traditional dishes, were originally intended as a way of using up leftovers, and many recipes make use of stale bread, breadcrumbs and day-old stews, roast meat or fish, saving the time of preparing the filling and resulting in interesting and unique combinations of flavours.
Dumplings are produced on an industrial scale, using machines with interchangeable moulds that wrap double layers of dough around the filling and transport the finished product on a conveyor belt for packing.
Preparing filled dumplings from scratch can be a tricky and sticky business. It requires practice and patience and is better achieved with more than just one pair of hands. In fact, it is traditional in many cultures for all women of the same family to gather in the kitchen to make dumplings for the feasts that mark particular celebrations, such as for the Catholic Christmas celebrations in Poland or Italy, the Chinese New Year or the eve of Jewish Yom Kippur. The rolling of the dough, the pounding of the filling and the shaping of the dumplings are of course made less onerous by the convivial atmosphere in the kitchen, the presence of children and the sharing of the latest family news and gossip. This is also the most immediate way of passing down recipes and skills to the younger women in the family, and first-timers are encouraged to persevere even if their initial attempts produce less than optimal results.
Once prepared, dumplings can be dried or frozen in large quantities and are then ready to be cooked, when required, in just a few minutes. Many types of ready-to-cook dumpling are now available from supermarkets, Eastern European delis or Asian stores. They are either packed in vacuum containers with a shelf life of several weeks, or can be bought frozen in large family bags and cooked in boiling water when required. Although the whole experience of making dumplings is worth celebrating and perpetuating, it does clearly take a lot of skill, effort and time. In societies that have changed beyond recognition, where the average time dedicated to cooking a meal barely reaches 30 or 40 minutes, the convenience of pre-packed, tasty, easy-to-cook dumplings is welcome and allows the preparation of fast but healthy and complete meals without having to cook from scratch. Traditional recipes coexist on the shelves of supermarkets with new and seasonal varieties. Italian tortellini, for example, are no longer limited to the traditional Parma ham filling but are made with Spanish chorizo and sundried tomatoes or Swiss Emmenthal cheese and juicy raisins. These combinations are the result of the fusion of regional ingredients into tasty and well-balanced recipes accessible to all thanks to the ever-increasing globalization of food supply.
Different types and shapes of dumplings.
When talking about dumplings, size definitely matters, as it is a defining characteristic of the different varieties. The largest dumplings are served individually or in twos, and often date back to very old, traditional recipes developed from staple ingredients and leftovers. Central European gomboc, African fufu and South American tamales are impressive in size and certainly good plate-fillers. At the opposite end of the scale, ‘dropped’ dumplings such as the German or Austrian Spätzle and Hungarian csipetke are tiny little things made of dough cut into very small pieces and rolled into oblongs before being dropped in boiling water for a few minutes. Such examples are testimony to the fact that the generic word ‘dumpling’ can only begin to describe the many varieties being dished out day in, day out throughout the world.
