I really like chicken soup with dumplings.
These dumplings, though… hmm.
AuthorRetroRuth
From Vintage Newsletter or Newspaper Clipping
Tested Recipe!
[cooked-sharing]
Crumb buns. Add melted butter, beaten eggs, allspice, and other seasonings.
Work and knead until very smooth.
Add cream and knead again.
Form into balls about mothball size or a little larger.
Cook in chicken broth with rice or noodles. Add butterballs last, after noodles or rice have cooked.
Cook until the balls come to the top of the broth. Do not boil rapidly, better to simmer them.
Ingredients
Directions
Crumb buns. Add melted butter, beaten eggs, allspice, and other seasonings.
Work and knead until very smooth.
Add cream and knead again.
Form into balls about mothball size or a little larger.
Cook in chicken broth with rice or noodles. Add butterballs last, after noodles or rice have cooked.
Cook until the balls come to the top of the broth. Do not boil rapidly, better to simmer them.
Notes
What’s most unusual about this recipe is that it’s more stream of consciousness than instructions. It’s got interruptions, speculation on variation, and commentary on why you’re doing things.
Not to say this is bad, necessarily — it’s simply unusual to feel like the recipe is having a chat instead of dictating precise instructions.
We made a half-batch of these, because I only had 12 stale hamburger buns on hand.
At first I was concerned that I’d misread something when halving the recipe, because the crumbs immediately soaked up all the liquid and it looked awfully dry.
After plenty of kneading, though, it got smooth and goopy (which Chatty McRecipe had assured me would happen).
As an aside — it’s about 8-10 minutes of simmering for them to cook and rise to the top of the broth. Not long at all!
“Alright, time to tas— what are you doing?”
“Balancing a spoon on my nose!”
The kids promptly started balancing spoons on their noses, and dropping spoons on the floor. We are full of maturity in the Retro Recipe household…
“Mmmm, it smells like Thanksgiving.” And then he put a butter ball in his mouth.
“Oh man, that’s bad. Is it supposed to taste like that?”
“I double-checked the recipe and the measuring spoon. Yes… apparently it’s supposed to taste like that.”
“I see what they were going for, but it feels like the allspice went for a hostile takeover. Oh, wow, I need water.”
Verdict: Allspice with a hint of chicken.
From the tasting notes:
The allspice could be nice if there was a lot less of it. It sort of punches you in the back of the throat so you can’t taste anything else. Consistency was very buttery. Maybe a teaspoon of allspice for 24 buns…
Thyme, sage, poultry seasoning – but allspice?? Holy moly. Why?
Interestingly enough, I think could have been great with a HINT of allspice. Good idea, bad ratio!
A TABLESPOON?! That’s kinda horrifying, to be honest, even with 24 hamburger buns. Just… ack!
Sounds like someone tried to remake Chicken and Dumplings without a clue what was in it. It makes my tounge (I actually had to look that word up to spell it) try to curl up thinking about all the Allspice in it! And Thyme and Allspice? Now Chili Powder might have been good, but just a smidgeon.
One time, I asked my husband to bake some pork chops. He sprinkled them liberally with ground cloves before doing so. We had to throw them away. (He is no longer allowed in the spice cabinet. I’m pretty sure he was trying to get out of cooking duty altogether…)
This sounds similar. It also sounds like “all I have in the house is butter, eggs, a little cream, a bunch of stale hamburger buns, and some allspice, what can I make?” Creativity is not always a good thing.
I recall the first time I tried using herbs with meat when I was a boy… oregano actually did go well with the beef, but not that much of it. I choked the bitter, aromatic result down out of pride and thrift; fortunately I’d just been allowed to cook dinner for myself only.
More recently I’ve discovered how too much turmeric can make a curry unpleasantly like cheap yellow mustard…
If you want a bunch of chatty recipes all in one place, look for Edith Bunker’s All in The Family Cookbook. I bought mine years ago for a quarter at a yard sale. Paperback, now fallen into many pieces, sections, with the pages actually crumbling. Some surprisingly good recipes (and some real stinkers), though. The commentary is in Edith’s “voice”, not always accurate though. I use her banana bread exclusively, abandoning my previous recipe. Her split pea soup is good, too, though I don’t use dry soup mixes anymore; I just wing it on the seasonings/spices. Those little dumplings just look awful, though I personally enjoy a chatty recipe.
Yeah. “Hmm, the lid fell off and a tablespoon of allspice is in the mixture. Let’s say we meant to do it that way.”
I bought a paperback copy of Helen Gurley Brown’s Cosmopolitan/Sex and the Single Girl cookbook from decades ago, all brown with age and falling apart now. The recipes, however, are to DIE for. Many different cuisines, like French and Russian, not too hard to make, very interesting reading besides the recipes.
Hey, I’m about three years late to this party but I found this blog only recently and am loving it. I noticed this recipe asked to make the dumplings “moth ball size”–well, I was born in 1953 and can remember my mom putting mothballs in the clothing bags that held our wool items. Does anyone else remember that or am I so old that I actually AM retro?
We make these every year for Christmas! Our hand down recipe is slightly different. My Great great Grandmother passed these down she was from Germany. Great tradition. Very rich taste
A teaspoon is the correct amount