Potato Dumplings

There are a few recipes for potato dumplings. I will post our family recipe and then a typical or common recipe.

Our family recipe:

This is one of those recipes which is passed down in the family and taught, not really recorded, so the amounts are guesstimated.

How many potatoes? How many people are you having dinner, and who are they? For me, one dumpling is enough, but as a young person I could/would eat two or three. Others would eat more. Older people tend to eat less. Great grandpa John V said that potato dumplings would kill the tailor. G Grandpa was a farmer and blacksmith. He worked hard and could eat the potato dumplings without gaining weight.

For a family meal of 6 to 8 people, I use a five pound bag of potatoes. Otherwise, I tend to use two potatoes per person.

Peel and grate the raw, uncooked potatoes, using a fine grater, not shredding the potatoes. You could also use a food processor. The grated potatoes are then placed in a woven cotton dish towel and moisture is squeezed out, being saved in a cup or bowl.

Place the moisture reduced, grated potatoes in a bowl and add some flour, perhaps a 1/2 to full cup for 5 pounds of potatoes. Salt to your liking, perhaps a teaspoon or so for 5 pounds of potatoes. Pour the moisture off the top of the saved potato water into the drain and put the starch which has settled in the bottom into the bowl of potato and flour. Mix all together well. Smooth the top of the ingredients and sprinkle the top with a thin layer of flour.

Take spoonfuls of the mixture and roll into a ball, using the flour from the top as the outer edge of the dumpling, so the dumpling does not stick to your hand, but rather clumps together. Your dumplings will be around 3 to 4 inches in diameter.

Place the dumplings into a large pot of boiling water and cover. You will want to use a spoon to loosen the dumplings from the bottom of the pan. Also, the pot boils over easily and you will have to watch them closely if you do not want a big mess. I lift the lid often and reduce the heat a little. They just need to be watched!

They will cook in about 20 minutes. They will float up at some point, but are not necessarily done when they float. To test for doneness, take a dumpling out and cut it in half. You will be able to see if it has cooked though yet.

After cooking the pork, remove the meat from the pan. Add some water to deglaze the pan, heating the water and stirring until all the good flavor from the pan is loosened and incorporated into the water. How much water? Too much dilutes the flavor. Too little and there is not enough pan gravy for everyone. You want it to be dark brown, but it is not a thick gravy. It is watery. This is never thickened.

Serve dumplings with saurkraut and pork (roast, chops, side pork) and the drippings from the pan. Duck was another common meat eaten with dumplings.

The potato dumplings are eaten by each individual cutting up their dumpling into bite size pieces on their plate, which is then covered with a layer of kraut and some of the pan juices spooned over the top.

Potato Dumpling recipe (More common recipe amongst Czechs)

4 1/2 cups grated boiled potatoes
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup farina
3 eggs
2 cups flour

Stir all ingredients together and put dough on bread board and work together with more flour. Shape into 20 oblong dumplings. Boil 10 to 12 minutes.

(When I made this recipe, I found it took more than 12 minutes, more like 20 minutes to cook these dumplings. They were mushy before that. You want them to be done!)

In the Czech Republic, these potato dumplings are cut up and fried in a pan with butter. They are served for all meals, including breakfast.