Problems making dumplings

17 years ago

I normally use flour tortillas for dumplings in chicken & dumplings. The last few times they all cooked to mush. I tried the packaged frozen dumplings from Wal Mart and they did the same. I drop them into boiling broth and cook for a few minutes then cover with lid and turn heat off. I tried problem solving on Google and some said they will cook up if the liquid is too hot. So I started with liquid that was not boiling and ended up with the same mess. Then I tried bisquick just exactly as the box says. Mixed soft dough and dropped by teaspoons into boiling broth turn heat down and let cook for 10 minutes without lid then 10 with lid. I ended up with about 4 dumplings. I'm talking about the small dumplings like me make in the south. Does any one have a clue what I can be doing wrong?

Featured Answer

User

17 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

I love chicken and dumplings. I make both the fluffy doughy dumplings and the noodle dumplings. I'm assuming since you mentioned using flour tortillas that you are looking for what I call Southern Style Dumplings and some call Sliders.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Chicken Stew And Dumplings
==========================
4 to 6 Chicken Breasts
(Or a whole chicken with extra pieces)

5 to 6 whole small cooking onions

2 or 3 stalks of celery

2 or 3 potatoes - halved or quartered (Do not use potatoes in stew if making Southern Style dumplings. I make mashed potatoes to serve with Southern style dumplings)

1 clove of garlic

fresh thyme or dried

1 bay leaf

chicken broth

Regular Dumplings
-------------------------------------
1 1/2 cups flour
1 Tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons shortening(butter/margarine or crisco
3/4 to 1 cup of milk

Mix dry ingredients and cut in shortening. Add enough milk to make a soft wet dough. Drop by tablespoon on to the top of stew and cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes.

Southern Style Dumplings
--------------------------------------
2 cups flour
3 Tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of baking powder
Milk

Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. Add enough milk to make a soft dough. Knead for a minute until smooth and let sit for 1/2 hour. Roll out dough to desired thickness. Dough should be on the thin side. Cut into 1/2 inch strips, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long.

Drop into boiling stew and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until noodles are cooked.

Parsley Bread Dumplings
=======================
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 slices white bread, quartered
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Combine parsley and bread in processor; whirl until medium
size crumbs. Add 1 1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt; process just until combined. Add 1/2 cup milk and butter; process using on-off pulses just until blended. 5 Drop mounded tablespoons of dumpling mixture into stew.

.
Add chicken to a pot and cover with chicken broth or combination of
water and broth.

Add 1 garlic clove, a few sprigs of thyme and bay leaf. Cook for 15
minutes and add whole peeled onions, celery cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
and simmer until onions are tender. Remove Chicken from pot and
separate meat from bones. Add chicken back to pot. If using potatoes
add now.

Now add what ever dumpling recipe you are using and simmer until
dumplings are cooked.

If you like your stew thicker, mix some flour and milk or cream in a
jar and pour into hot stew.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (13)

jessicavanderhoff
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
I think it might be because you are using pre-cooked dough products. I would try just making a basic dough from flour, spices, and water, drop spoonfuls into the boiling broth, and just cook them a couple of minutes. They should float, and you can break one open to make sure it's cooked in the middle. They'll be a little slimy on the outside, but they won't fall apart.

Here is a link that might be useful: Paula Deen Chicken and Dumplings
lindac
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
By "dunplings" do you mean doughy, biscuit dough or those that are likd noodles?
I don't know about the noodles type....but the others I can do.
follow the directions for the dough on the bisquick box.....but don't drop them "into" the broth....they need to be on top of something. Don't drop them into a pot of boiling liquid, when I do it the pot is full of chicken pieces and carrots and onions and the dumplings sort of are supported by the food in the pot.
And don't have your pot of chicken and broth at a furious boil, but at a gentle simmer...AND....as soon as you put the dumplings into the pot, put on the lid and don't peek for 20 minutes!
I think you are boiling your dumplings into pieces.....simmer! Just a slow gentle simmer!
Linda C
Related Discussions
How to make sauerkraut and dumplings
Q
Comments (15)
Lpink, this is the recipe I use for dumplings, It has egg in it. A bit more work than the Bisquick kind, But they are good! They are the only kind I've made since I first tried them Back in the early 1980's. Dumplings (From "A Texas Hill Country Cookbook") Ingredients: 1 stick margarine* 1/2 stick butter* 2 C boiling water 2 C sifted flour (AP) 1 tsp salt** 4 eggs 1/4 to 1/2 C flour*** *All butter or all margarine can be used successfully. Using all margarine may call for a little more flour. **Plain salt can be replaced with seasoned salt you like, that will compliment your finished dish. ***This is for rolling them out. Omit if you drop them from a spoon. Method: Melt margarine and butter in boiling water. Add 2 C flour and salt. Stir & cook over low heat until mixture leaves sides of pan. (This happens quickly) Cool slightly. Add eggs, one at a time, Stirring well after each addition. (I use my hand mixer to beat each egg in.) Pat dough out on floured surface, with hands & rolling pin. Cut into squares, drop into gently simmering broth. And cook until done. A very short time. This is a pretty wet and sticky dough, so I prefer to use a small cookie scoop And just drop them into the broth, rather than rolling them out. Either way, they quite literally melt in your mouth. It is good to cover the pot while they simmer. It helps them rise up higher. Enjoy! Rusty
...See More
Potato Dumpling Recipe?
Q
Comments (1)
FOAS, I have never made them from scratch and have no desire to. I won't make spatzle or pasta either. Some things are worth buying. I buy the Panni or Knorr brands at either the German or Polish stores. Big box stores have them too. I have had homemade ones, and can't tell the differance. Mine have always been light and fluffy. And given the ease after making a saurebratten, it is welcome. And the leftover ones freeze well. I foodsaver them and re-pheat in boiling water for about 8 minutes. I did this on New Years day to go with the rouladen. Now saurebraten with buttermilk is a new one for me. Let me know how it turns out. I have to go look at that receipe.
...See More
Dumplings, dumplings, dumplings...
Q
Comments (11)
I learned to make a spaetzle thingy my dad always called a dumpling. Much the same as Linda's recipe only a bit more simple. Beat eggs like you would for scrambled eggs. A large pinch of parsley. Add flour until it forms a stiff dough... it should not run off the spoon. Must be exact in proportion... okay maybe not. About two eggs per person or three eggs per teenager. A splash of milk will make them more fluffy but I seldom have milk around. I like them thick and heavy. Extras keep in the fridge for a few days just fine... warm in a microwave or by putting hot soup on them. Unlike the other I never boil them in the soup... yucky slimey starchy things I don't like. I boil them like a noodle. Drop them from a wet teaspoon into boiling water. While spooning them into the boiling pot keep a small bowl of plain water... dip the spoon in the water between each scoop of dough and the dough won't stick to the spoon. We push them off the spoon with a finger. They are done when they float... fish them out with a slotted spoon. You will get all sizes and some fines. If making a large batch drain the whole pot into a collander. About half the size of an egg is the perfect size but the tiny fines eat well. Large ones may have to be cut with a knife to eat. This makes an all purpose "dumpling". At soup time put some in a bowl and ladle hot soup over top. A family favorite is to put chicken gravy over them. My youngest sister likes butter and parmeasan cheese on them. They are simple, filling, inexpensive. With chicken gravy they are the #1 family favorite and we always make them for my middle sister when she comes back to Michigan. We so enjoy them the chicken we cook to make gravy gets pushed aside and is eaten later. Lots of protein in the eggs so with a side of veggies this makes a complete hearty meal that will stick with you out in the cold. A common soup we make other then chicken is beef bones, a can/few tomatoes, celery sticks, carrot sticks, and some black pepper. Boil it all until it smells good and ladle over a bowl of dumplings. Being homemade it will take lots of salt... I seldom salt while cooking but pour it on at the table. : ) lyra
...See More
Greater love hath no woman . . . (plum dumplings)
Q
Comments (11)
For quite a while after my first husband and I married, he kept telling me "Jenny didn't make it that way", etc. Jenny was his step-mother. Well, I finally wrote to Jenny to ask her what to do. Her response was to write and tell him to stop saying that because we were two different people and there were different ways to fix things. The remarks stopped after that. The second time around came almost 40 years ago when I married my second husband and the only thing he has ever said was he'd sure like some fried apple pies like his mother used to make. I don't feel bad about it because all the females who knew his mother said they tried and couldn't do it. I haven't tried - yet. When I made Apple Pie Jam, he said that it would make a fried apple pie filling like his mother used to make, so I might try it.
...See More
ghoghunter
17 years ago
last modified: 11 years ago
Yes Linda C is correct. Most recipes that call for dumplings always say to put them carefully on top of the solid foods and not to put them into the broth. Then with the lid on the steam cooks them.
Joann
topping_sharon
10 years ago
I believe there is a relationship between a pan and the pan's lid. When the lid is too heavy it creates high pressure and keeps the dumpling from rising. This is the trouble I have had.
annie1992
10 years ago
Another old thread given life, this time from 2009! And the result is that I want chicken and dumplings now...

Annie
morz8 - Washington Coast
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Me too! I love chicken and dumplings, and DH would rather stewed chicken and vegetables over rice, and brown rice at that. I do it my way about half the time....but I love dumplings, even Bisquicks on a busy day ;-) I'm not sure what problem the OP was having years ago, when I make the fast Bisquick type, I halve the box recipe and get 5 medium dumplings for the two of us. DH will consume two without an excess of enthusiasm, leaving three for me.
sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)
10 years ago
I like the thick creamy noodle style but any will disappear if left too long in your broth even on a simmer, (ask me how i know). happened to a batch of meatballs a few weeks ago.

I have taken to laying them in a low heat saute pan and adding a bit of broth, cover and turn off heat. We get distracted,.. "oh, come out and look at the tulips!"....dinner is often a hour delayed.
lindac92
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Anything can boil to death and become "gravy thickening"....but if you are like me, once you drop those little lumps of fluffy dough on top of the chicken pieces or whatever....you stand around tapping your fingers for the time to be up to eat them!
plllog
10 years ago
LOL!! Linda, I can just see you standing there tapping in time to Think! by Merv Griffin (The Jeopardy theme).

BTW, for something a little different, I can highly endorse Peppi's recipe from the January thread.
lindac92
10 years ago
Merv Griffin?? You are older than I thought!!! It's been Alex Trebek for more than 30 years! LOL!!
plllog
10 years ago
It's history! Merv Griffin was the producer and wrote the song. That's one of those trivia questions that get around. :)
Jasdip
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Pllllog, I never knew that the theme song had a name!

My Nan made the best chicken and dumplings, and they were always the round fluffy/dough kind that simmered with the chicken. I've never tried making them myself, but this old thread is sure making me want to do it.

Problems making dumplings

User

Comments (13)

jessicavanderhoff

lindac

Related Discussions

ghoghunter

topping_sharon

annie1992

morz8 - Washington Coast

sleevendog (5a NY 6aNYC NL CA)

lindac92

plllog

lindac92

plllog

Jasdip

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US