My favorite meal has always been Chicken and Dumplings. Not just any C&D, but the kind my mom used to make. It had big chunks of everything. The best part was the dumplings. They were the size of a softball and always perfectly cooked.
So I thought, I should be able to do that.
Gave Mom a call and got the recipe. It basically came down to "a little of this and a little of that and there you have it."
Wrong!
I should have remembered my own findings: Anything that involves bread is akin to witchcraft.
I tried to make dumplings. I tried from scratch and I tried with Bisquick. I checked on the internet and I asked friends. They all said the same thing, "Simply do this..."
The best I could do was a lump slurry.
Then there is this stuff called Corn Starch. It's supposed to make the liquid thicker. Same thing as the dumplings. Everyone said, "Simply do this and then that..."
Turns out this stuff is temperamental. You must first mix it with cold water or milk, the exact ratio appears to be either unimportant or a keenly held secret. Then you add it to the cooking stew. You must bring it to boil or the Corn Starch Gods will be unsatisfied. However, if you allow it to continue to boil, the whole things breaks down. You must "skirt" the boil. Stay there long enough to get a sense of the heat, and then remove from the heat immediately.
This was starting to sound like Anti-Cooking For the Single Man.
Having tried and failed, I am going back to my old formula; one which has served me well.
Keep it simple. Make it fast. Make it good and make it filling.
What you will need;
A large pan with a lid
3 cans of Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup
1 container of Pillsbury Biscuits (ever notice how hard it is to spell biscuits?)
In the pan, bring all of the soup to boil.
Take the Pillsbury biscuits and cut them into fourths.
Drop the biscuits onto the soup. The reason you want a pan instead of a pot is to increase the surface area where you drop the biscuits. The more surface area, the more room for the biscuits (which are about to become your dumplings.)
Turn the heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Before taking it off of the heat, take out one of the dumplings. Let it cool for a minute and then test to make sure it's done. If the dumpling is not cooked all the way through, give it a few more minutes.
Eat and enjoy.
jim
So I thought, I should be able to do that.
Gave Mom a call and got the recipe. It basically came down to "a little of this and a little of that and there you have it."
Wrong!
I should have remembered my own findings: Anything that involves bread is akin to witchcraft.
I tried to make dumplings. I tried from scratch and I tried with Bisquick. I checked on the internet and I asked friends. They all said the same thing, "Simply do this..."
The best I could do was a lump slurry.
Then there is this stuff called Corn Starch. It's supposed to make the liquid thicker. Same thing as the dumplings. Everyone said, "Simply do this and then that..."
Turns out this stuff is temperamental. You must first mix it with cold water or milk, the exact ratio appears to be either unimportant or a keenly held secret. Then you add it to the cooking stew. You must bring it to boil or the Corn Starch Gods will be unsatisfied. However, if you allow it to continue to boil, the whole things breaks down. You must "skirt" the boil. Stay there long enough to get a sense of the heat, and then remove from the heat immediately.
This was starting to sound like Anti-Cooking For the Single Man.
Having tried and failed, I am going back to my old formula; one which has served me well.
Keep it simple. Make it fast. Make it good and make it filling.
What you will need;
A large pan with a lid
3 cans of Campbell's Vegetable Beef Soup
1 container of Pillsbury Biscuits (ever notice how hard it is to spell biscuits?)
In the pan, bring all of the soup to boil.
Take the Pillsbury biscuits and cut them into fourths.
Drop the biscuits onto the soup. The reason you want a pan instead of a pot is to increase the surface area where you drop the biscuits. The more surface area, the more room for the biscuits (which are about to become your dumplings.)
Turn the heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes.
Before taking it off of the heat, take out one of the dumplings. Let it cool for a minute and then test to make sure it's done. If the dumpling is not cooked all the way through, give it a few more minutes.
Eat and enjoy.
jim
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