The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide [Hardcover]

Wai Hon Chu (Author), Connie Lovatt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009

The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide by Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt is the most comprehensive collection of dumpling recipes ever produced.

Discovering that dumplings—as a category of food—have never been properly defined, Chu and Lovatt developed a definition that takes into account the ingredients, cooking methods, and shapes that most commonly define dumplings, not just in a particular region or culture, but around the world.

"A dumpling is a portion of dough, batter, or starchy plant fare, solid or filled, that is cooked through wet heat, and is not a strand or a ribbon"

This exciting collection shows us that not only are pot stickers, pierogis, and shao mai dumplings but so too are tamales, steamed cakes, and steamed breads. From Chickpea Dumplings in a Tomato Sauce (India) to Leaf-Wrapped Rice Packages Stuffed with Peanuts and Sausage (China), from Chocolate Tamales (Mexico) to a "Napkin" Bread Dumpling with Cherries (Austria), from Cloud-Shaped Bread Buns (Tibet) to Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers (Hungary), dumplings, whether steamed or simmered, are as fun to make as they are to eat.

A truly passionate exploration of every dumpling type imaginable, The Dumpling contains dessert varieties, dumplings for gifts or entertaining, dozens of vegetarian and vegan options, fast and easy dumplings, as well as 21 pages of step-by-step dumpling making-illustrations. Arranged by month so as to encourage all of us to cook dumplings seasonally and year round, The Dumpling contains a recipe for every taste bud, table, and occasion.

Chapters 10, 11, and 12

October

No-Fuss Potato Dumplings • Spiced Carrot Pudding • Collard Greens with Corn Dumplings • Chicken Paprika with Dumplings • Bean Soup with Tiny Dumplings • Chickpea "Fish" in a Spicy Onion Sauce • Bacon and Sage Roly Poly • Daikon Cake • Cheddar Cheese and Potato Pierogi • Lentil and Onion Pierogi • Potato "Tamales" Stuffed with Chicken and Jalapeno • Beef-Stuffed Plantain Balls in a Cassava-Corn Soup

November

Dumplings and Cocky’s Joy • "Napkin" Bread Dumpling • Turkey Stew with Stuffing Dumplings • Cranberry Pudding • Lord Randall’s Pudding, An Apricot Dessert • Sticky Toffee Pudding • Potato Dumplings with Crouton Centers • Country Cabbage Soup with Large Cornmeal Dumplings • Philadelphia Pepperpot Soup with Dumplings • Large Beef- and Spinach-Filled Dumplings in Beef Broth • Dumplings Stuffed with Pears, Figs, and Chocolate • Pumpkin and Lentil Ravioli with Browned Butter and Rosemary • "Little Ear" Dumplings Stuffed with Mushrooms in a Beet Soup

December

Root Vegetable Bread Dumplings • Clootie Dumpling • Starchy Coconut Stew with Slippery Rice Balls • Guava Duff • Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers • John in the Sack • Classic Christmas Pudding • Chocolate Tamales • Siberian Meat Dumplings • Chestnut Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce • Chicken-Filled Dumplings in an Escarole Soup • Dumplings Stuffed with "Stewed" Breadcrumbs

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chu, a cooking instructor at the Institute for Culinary Education, and Lovatt, a personal chef, offer a global perspective on dumplings, which they liberally define as being made out of some kind of dough, batter or starch and either steamed, simmered or boiled. They provide 135 dumpling recipes from all over the globe, with each labeled as to country of origin, and include an additional 60 recipes for soups, stews and sauces in which to use dumplings. Dishes are divided seasonally—with eight to 13 recipes for each month—when ingredients are at their natural peak. Recipes are arranged from easiest to most challenging. Offerings include January's Priest Stranglers with brown butter and sage; March's kasha and mushroom pierogi; August's corn tamales stuffed with stringy cheese and poblano; and September's wild grapes in dumplings. Desserts, such as July's banana cupcakes and December's chocolate tamales highlight the range of dishes. The authors also include substantial sections on ingredients, equipment, and folding instructions and illustrations. Cooks at all levels will delight in this book as they try their hands at familiar favorites as well as new dishes. 8-page color insert. (Nov.)
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Review

“A fine new book...richly instructional. So...study up, fling open your door and step out to sample this delightful, richly varied fare. Or stay at home, prop up your copy of The Dumpling, invite in a few friends and go traveling in your own kitchen.” (Nach Waxman, owner of Kitchen Arts & Letters )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060817380
• ISBN-13: 978-0060817381
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,009,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Will Not Be My Dumpling "Go To" Recipe Book, February 6, 2010

By 

Happy Girl - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide (Hardcover)

Some general notes about the book -

There are recipes for all manner of dumplings, quasi dumplings, steamed breadstuffs desserty puffings, on and on. Brown bread will be found, but not a fritter. Noodle? Yes. Gingerbread? Yes. Puddings? Yes. Fishballs? No. What you will find is mostly things starch based. If you have in mind a meat dumpling, you may not find it here. You will find dumplings - some standard (like spaetzle or cornmeal dumplings) and some odd ducks (like pounded rice dumplings stuffed with strawberries).

Pros:
Although the dumplings are arranged according to month, there is a handy dandy reference hidden in the back to look up your recipe by region, type or content. I mostly used this area to find what I wanted to cook. If I found myself casting about it kitchen looking for a project, I used the monthly reference and used months around my current month.

The other big pro of this book are the four primers up front. One is how to shape and wrap the dumplings. Then there is a full listing of ingredients and everything you need to know about them used in the recipes. Thirdly, an equipment list and what you'll use them for (more on that later). Finally a tips section including all things dough and cooking. All are well written, interesting and valuable, but most importantly the pages are grey tipped for easier reference.

Cons:
The book is a little gimmicky with the sectioning of the dumplings by month. Yes, yes we all want to cook what is in season. You cannot look up the ingredient? Pish!
There are pitifully few photos. While that may not seem like a big deal, it would be nice to have pictures of techniques and what the dumpling should look like before and after cooking or after it.
There are too many recipes for puddings and breads for my taste. This is my review and my opinion only.
There are too many dumplings with butter sauce as the go to medium.
What do I serve with the dumpling? Why is eaten in September? How is eaten?
There should be alternatives to one use equipment if one is available. For instance - a spaetzle maker? It annoyed me that the instructions required one. You cannot use a collander? Someone better ring grannie and tell her she has been doing it all wrong all these years! Don't have banana leaf or bamboo leaf at the ready? Well, you will never be told what you might use instead so those recipes are out. See my point?

About the recipes:
I have not made them all. Some I already knew. Anything that required me to grind anything by mortar and pestal I have not made. Apparently spice grinders and the food processor render it the ingredient inferior, spitoutable junk? Anything requiring that I pluck the coconut from my tree and make pressings and slurried and washes of coconut milk because canned coconut would not do - I did not make.

I have, however, made about a dozen of the recipes. I found them easy to follow, well laid out and referenced and so far no recipes with surprise ingredients showing up in the text.

In particular I enjoyed making and eating: "Chickpea Squares with Mustard Seeds and Spiced Oil" from India. I used frozen coconut. I also made "Potato Dumplings Stuffed with Ham" from Sweden. I had both ham and lingonberry jam on hand so the recipe demanded I make it. We also enjoyed the lamb dumplings in yogurt soup. That recipe spoke to me and I was not disappointed.

So my conclusion. I think you could find a better dumpling book elsewhere. One that would be just dumplings. One that had pictures. One a little less equipment and ingredient stringent (unless it was actually very very necessary).
It is not bad. It is not great.

4.0 out of 5 stars Dumplings by the Season, January 15, 2012

By 

Ohioan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide (Hardcover)

I love the front portion of this book, which shows you, with very clear drawings and instructions, how to make, fold, wrap, and tie many different kinds of dumplings. I also, for the most part, love the recipes, which are fairly simple to make. What is off-putting to me is the special equipment supposedly needed for some of these recipes. I will NOT buy a spatzle maker just to make spatulas. I would prefer it if (as Happy Girl pointed out) the authors would suggest alternative ways or methods of making some of these dumplings, using things that most people have in the kitchen. Most people do not have spatzle makers and probably have no intention of getting them.

In any case, I do like the recipes though, frankly, I would prefer them to be organized according to type (fish, meat, vegetable) or country of origin. When they're organized by month, searching for all types of one kind of recipe (shrimp, say) is time-consuming.

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, January 3, 2011

By 

Lori A. Gonzalez (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide (Hardcover)

Pretty good cookbook with a variety of recipes from different countries. Most things I made so far I was pleased with: steamed cornbread, Banh Tet, nine layer coconut tapioca cake. The Nigerian black eyed pea dumplings turned out more bland then what I hoped, but not bad. The sweet pineapple tamales, a TOTAL miss. I live in San Antonio, so I'll just keep helping the local economy by purchasing tamales already made, lol! I look forward to making more recipes. Another good (dare I say better?) book on dumplings is called "Asian Dumplings" by Andrea Nguyen. If you are mostly into asian dumplings, I would get that book instead. What I like about "Asian Dumplings" is that the instructions and tips are excellent, and the ingredients have weights next to them. (I have more success by weighing rather than measuring flours). Still, "Dumpling, A Seasonal Guide" has great instructions and excellent drawings on how to make the different folds. One tip from Asian dumplings I will share: if the recipe makes 12 dumplings, make your filling and divide it into 12 portions first, so you are putting the right amount in. When I made the nigerian black eyed pea dumplings, I had prepared and cut up all the banana leaves. The recipe called for so many rounded tablespoons of filling. Well, I must have rounded my spoonfulls TOO much, and ran out of filling and wasted banana leaves. If I would have divided up the filling in advance, it would've worked.