Meat Stuffed in Dough
December 19, 2011 9:45 AM   Subscribe

All across the world you'll find different varieties of dumplings. However, starting in Eastern Europe and spreading across central Asia and into northeast Asia, you'll find a remarkably similar variety featuring a thin skin and a meat filling. Variants can be found all the way from Poland (Pieorgies) to Korea (Mandu), a distance of nearly 5,000 miles (more than 7,500 km).

This list is not meant to be exhaustive.
posted by Deathalicious (64 comments total) 73 users marked this as a favorite
 


Admit it. "Pieorgies" is probably the best typo you'll ever see.
posted by koeselitz at 9:51 AM on December 19, 2011 [57 favorites]


Well damn it now I really want dumplings for lunch. Sadly it looks like my options are limited to Wow Bao, oh the inhumanity.
posted by Carillon at 9:53 AM on December 19, 2011


That is basically when you have a wild pierogi-eating extravaganza and wake up on the floor the next morning all fat and gassy and smeared with sour cream.
posted by elizardbits at 9:53 AM on December 19, 2011 [10 favorites]


In my ignorance of most things culinary, I've always wondered why in South America, with its mostly Spanish/Italian based dishes (plus the few surviving things from local cultures precolonization) we have almost no concept of steaming our food. Just the loss of dumplings, which I never tasted before living abroad and having a chance at real chinese food, is enough to make me weep.
posted by Iosephus at 9:59 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


That's it, I'm throwing a "dumplings of the world" party.
posted by neuromodulator at 10:02 AM on December 19, 2011 [5 favorites]


Well damn it now I really want dumplings for lunch. Sadly it looks like my options are limited to Wow Bao, oh the inhumanity.

I feel much the same, although my options are limited to taking the train to Boston. Imagine my pain, will ya?
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:09 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


man, I love pelmeni. yum.

love the dumpling links. thx for sharing!
posted by EricGjerde at 10:12 AM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


DIM SUM MEETUP!!!
posted by DiscourseMarker at 10:13 AM on December 19, 2011 [8 favorites]


Artist Jeff Lohaus has designed a sculpture for Minneapolis to honor pierogis and all related dumplings.
posted by Kabanos at 10:13 AM on December 19, 2011 [5 favorites]


That "difference between baozi and jiaozi" link doesn't really get to the main difference between jiaozi and baozi, at least in my experience: jiaozi wrappers are made from thinner non-rising dough, baozi wrappers are made with thicker rising dough.

And I like ravioli and pierogis and such, but nothing beats heaping bowl of pork & Chinese leek jiaozi with some slightly sweetened Chinese vinegar for dipping in. Mmm. It's said in my family that I got good at math when I was a kid from counting out my allotment of jiaozi at dinner. I would pitch a fit if they tried to shortchange me.

Another jiaozi-related family anecdote: when my family first came to the US, having jiaozi meant making wrappers and filling from scratch. Then we started buying pre-made wrappers while still using home-made filling. Finally we just started buying fully prepared frozen jiaozi from Asian groceries. If you got the right brand they were often better than what we could make at home anyway.

You know, I think I've got a bag or two of jiaozi in the freezer at home right now. I know what I'm having for dinner tonight.
posted by kmz at 10:17 AM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]


Ahh, one of the universal recipes. Put meat into grain dough and cook. From potstickers to perogies to pigs in a blanket, it's a fast way to NOM!
posted by eriko at 10:25 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


This brought to mind visiting my aunt (my mom's sister) and uncle in New Jersey and having pierogis for breakfast. She fried them in butter in a cast iron skillet and they had such a delightfully crunchy outside.

It was one of the few things she didn't fry in bacon fat.
posted by tommasz at 10:25 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


I like dumplings, they are tasty.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:28 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


In my ignorance of most things culinary, I've always wondered why in South America, with its mostly Spanish/Italian based dishes (plus the few surviving things from local cultures precolonization) we have almost no concept of steaming our food. Just the loss of dumplings, which I never tasted before living abroad and having a chance at real chinese food, is enough to make me weep.

I'd argue that tamales and humitas belong to the general "dumpling" family.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:29 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


In Carinthia/Kärnten (Southeastern Austria), they've got the Kärntner Nudel, also know in local dialect as the Kasnudel.

In Tyrol/Tirol (Southern Austria), they've got the Schlutzkrapfen.
posted by syzygy at 10:29 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Something I whip up at home once and a while. Real easy to make...
posted by The Power Nap at 10:30 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Artist Jeff Lohaus has designed a sculpture for Minneapolis to honor pierogis and all related dumplings.
posted by Kabanos at 10:13 AM on December 19 [+] [!]

Gee, I wonder why that looks familiar? Oh, yeah it's been done before.

posted by sardonyx at 10:31 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


We used to have a pelmeni place here in Madison. It was on State a few blocks from the university. Basically, some local guy had picked up the idea from a friend when he was in Alaska. They had one rather stonerish guy presiding over the world's most basic menu: meat or potato pelmeni, butter sauce or spicy sauce, with any mix of the above and little cups of sour cream in the fridge.

5 bucks a dish. It was pure college student crack. And, of course, so successful that an the original Alaska guy came to town, sued the owner and ran it out of business.

DAMN YOOOOOOOOOOOU
posted by Madamina at 10:32 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Iosephus: “In my ignorance of most things culinary, I've always wondered why in South America, with its mostly Spanish/Italian based dishes (plus the few surviving things from local cultures precolonization) we have almost no concept of steaming our food. Just the loss of dumplings, which I never tasted before living abroad and having a chance at real chinese food, is enough to make me weep.”

I wonder that, too. I don't know much about South American food. However, I know that El Salvador, at least, has the awesome pupusas.
posted by koeselitz at 10:33 AM on December 19, 2011


While they don't have ground meat in them (so maybe they fall outside the scope of this fpp), it's always good to keep an eye out for a restaurant that might serve good ashak (Afghani leek/scallion dumplings with tomato-dill-coriander sauce). They are amazing and even if you're not a vegetarian you won't miss the meat (and some restaurants actually put ground lamb or beef in the coriandery tomato sauce). I last had them at Kabul restaurant in Madison; nomnom.
posted by aught at 10:34 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Haha suckers! I already had plans to have dim sum for lunch! I know what I'm having!
posted by KathrynT at 10:38 AM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


The only place I've seen pelmeni is in a Korean spa in Virginia.
posted by QIbHom at 10:43 AM on December 19, 2011


Ahh, one of the universal recipes. Put meat into grain dough and cook. From potstickers to perogies to pigs in a blanket, it's a fast way to NOM!

My wife and I threw a Christmas party over the weekend, including serving pigs in a blanket. My brother-in-law was helping us prepare, had no idea how easy they were to make (at least if use premade Pillsbury dough). He claimed that this discovery was going "change his life."
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:43 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Put meat into grain dough and cook.
There's also plenty of vegetarian options. Speaking just of the Polish cuisine, there are the "Russian" pierogies - the stuffing consists of cottage cheese, potatoes and fried onions. The quotes are because this dish is pretty much unknown in Russia. There are also the small Christmas dumplings with wild mushrooms called "uszka" (ooshka means "ears", they resemble piglet ears a bit and I'm grateful that this thought didn't cross my mind when I was young and tender) and bigger ones with cabbage and mushrooms/champignons.
On preview: all right, I'll go now and check out the pig in a blanket thing. I wonder if it's better than toad in a hole...
posted by hat_eater at 10:48 AM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


My holidays appear to have a strong dumpling fixation this year. I am having knödeln and klößchen offered to me, combined with being told to pick dumplings to make out of German/Bavarian cookbooks, and will be spending New Years' making baozi in Bratislava in exchange for potato dumplings with sheep cheese.
posted by frimble at 10:52 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


In my ignorance of most things culinary, I've always wondered why in South America, with its mostly Spanish/Italian based dishes (plus the few surviving things from local cultures precolonization) we have almost no concept of steaming our food. Just the loss of dumplings, which I never tasted before living abroad and having a chance at real chinese food, is enough to make me weep.

I'd argue that tamales and humitas belong to the general "dumpling" family.


And empanadas?
posted by LionIndex at 10:54 AM on December 19, 2011


empanadas aren't steamed and are large.
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:56 AM on December 19, 2011


I just made some baozi the other day and it was wonderful. There's nothing like sweet, yeasty dough that's been steamed full of meat and cabbage.
posted by Malice at 11:06 AM on December 19, 2011


While they don't have ground meat in them (so maybe they fall outside the scope of this fpp),...
posted by aught at 10:34 AM on December 19


Actually for the most part when I think of Varenyky (which were named in the original post) I'm working under the assumption they don't likely have meat in them. Sure they can, but typically they don't. Potato and cheese is the standard version, although they can be filled with cabbage/sourkraut, prunes, cherries, buckwheat, etc.

They are usually a key part of the 12 meatless dishes served "to commemorate Christ's birth, the evening before Rizdvo, Sviat Vechir,"
posted by sardonyx at 11:07 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


There's also plenty of vegetarian options.

Yep. My family's Christmas tradition includes the veggie ones, because historically Christmas Eve was a meatless day on the Catholic calendar. (The Polish Roman Catholic Christmas Eve meal/celebration is called Wigilia). And frankly, since pierogi are so much work to make, we don't bother making other varieties with meat during other times of the year.

To me, Christmas just isn't Christmas without my grandma's recipe (self link) for cheese and/or sauerkraut and mushroom pierogi. This year I've already made 70 or so for one potluck dinner party, and will be making another similarly-sized batch for our Christmas-dinner-with-friends-that-aren't-traveling-or-seeing-family (aka Friendsmas).

By the way, I love my Grandma's cheese pierogi because they don't have potato in them. Just farmer's cheese (ricotta-style fresh unsalted cheese) and some onion. So unlike the frozen ones at the grocery store and so much more delicious.
posted by misskaz at 11:09 AM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


Wonderful! The Food in my Beard recipe calls for regular cheese in place of farmer's cheese, I have to try this once.
posted by hat_eater at 11:24 AM on December 19, 2011


Faint of Butt: “I'd argue that tamales and humitas belong to the general "dumpling" family.”

LionIndex: “And empanadas?”

Jon_Evil: “empanadas aren't steamed and are large.”

First of all, not all dumplings are steamed. Second of all, lots of empanadas are small. So, er – yeah.

Empanadas are a form of dumpling.
posted by koeselitz at 11:28 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Yeah, baozi are often pretty large too. Except in special cases like xiaolongbao. (And the xiao there means "little".)

Though then again if you're counting any kind of stuffing inside carbs, you'd have to consider calzones (they're like pizzas but they're harder to eat, and dumb) and xiarbing too. Mmm xiarbing.
posted by kmz at 11:38 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wonderful list!

My little sister made gyoza just last week for all of us, which she described to my spouse and I as pretty much what we know as potstickers. That was pretty much right on as far as I could tell.

Pierogies were introduced to me by a friend with polish ancestry (and later Cooking Mama for the Wii). He told us that it was tradition in his family to make hundreds of them during the holidays, which sounds like a lot until I remember how many different kinds of Christmas cookies my wife has made in the past.

Empanadas are one of my favorite dishes at tapas restaurant. Regardless of being steamed or not, they should be on the list - they are listed in the dumpling wiki article linked in the post, which states "They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking". I think that is a valid statement.

I was surprised though that raviolis were not on the (OP-admitted non-exhaustive) list, as they are probably one of the more well-known dumplings (along with tortellini). Here in St. Louis, we developed toasted ravioli, which is a marvelous thing to introduce to people who have never had it. Actually, for the longest time, I didn't even realize there were any other types!
posted by mysterpigg at 11:38 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


First of all...Kreplach!

Okay, now that that's out of the way. I love anything wrapped in dough! Boiled, fried, potstickered, whatever. It's all gooooood!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 11:45 AM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


Throughout the formet Soviet Union you can find Georgian Khinkali because they are the best dumplings ever.
posted by nestor_makhno at 11:54 AM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]


I guess it's a bit different on the Andean countries, which have preserved much more of the native traditions. Here, with the exception of the northernost part of the country, you will not hear of tamales or humitas as popular dishes. If you can have baked dumplings, then I guess empanadas should count, yes. While here we are used to a pretty standardized size of the individual empanada, I suspect that is more the fault of the big commercial dough makers for pushing that size in the supermarkets since before I was a kid. On the other hand, I always think of ravioli and the like as pasta, but I can see how they are a kind of dumpling too. Now to decide on what kind of empanadas to have for dinner, heh.
posted by Iosephus at 11:55 AM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


nothing beats heaping bowl of pork & Chinese leek jiaozi
Funny, I was just about to say that as much as I like jiaozi, on most days I'd take a huge steaming plate of pierogi first. Goes to what you grew up on.
posted by 1adam12 at 11:56 AM on December 19, 2011


Wow, I didn't realize mantu was so widespread across so much of Central Asia/Asia Minor!

Another datapoint: mantu is also an Afghan dish, though I don't know how regional it is. My mom's mantu is the bomb, and is a little different than the majority of those recipes: in addition to the yogurt on top of the dumplings, there's also a ground beef or lamb and tomato-based sauce that goes on them as well. My mom uses ground beef, tomato paste, coriander, and diced onions and carrots. It's a shame more Afghan restaurants don't serve them, but they are a little more labor intensive than your average Afghan restaurant menu item.

And now it's lunchtime and I'm craving all manner of delicious savory dough-covered dishes...
posted by yasaman at 12:20 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Well, dumpling is a nebulous term, and I still think empanadas are actually pies, but suffice it to say that I've never met anything that could be described by someone as a dumpling that wasn't delicious.

Interestingly, the English word "noodle" comes from "knödel", the German/nordic word for dumpling, which shares the same root as the Italian gnocchi, Spanish ñochi, and Portuguese nhochi, which are all forms of boiled dough. In Italian, "pasta" can refer to any dough, including uncooked bread or pie dough.

/beanplate
posted by Jon_Evil at 12:27 PM on December 19, 2011


Goes to what you grew up on.

Of course! We can try to be as cosmopolitan in our cuisine as we'd like, but in the end the food we grew up on lives with us forever. I love sushi and pizza and steak and kitfo and falafel and barbecue and tacos and schnitzel, but goddamn I could live forever on jiaozi, maybe add some stir fried tomato and egg over rice, or some zhajiangmian.

Or just Peking Duck. In Beijing there was cheap and good Peking Duck with home delivery. I could almost deal with the ridiculous pollution and traffic and authoritarian government if I could get Peking Duck delivered to me every day. But then I'd probably just die of a heart attack within a month.
posted by kmz at 12:33 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


it's also interesting that "mantou" is also the chinese term for steamed buns, as well as the central asian word for dumplings.

Moreover, what I've always thought was the greatest dumpling produced by Earth, are actually considered buns and not dumplings, because their dough is semi-leavened.
posted by Jon_Evil at 12:39 PM on December 19, 2011


Pie? Dumpling? Who cares Empanada de Atun is heaven.
posted by Splunge at 12:45 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


The problem with the tamale-dumpling equivalence theory is that they've also got members of the tamale family in Eurasia. Turnip cake, f'rinstance. That right there is a Cantonese tamale. Am I wrong?

I'd argue that the crucial factor is gluten. Dumplings are made of glutenous dough with some structural integrity of its own, so it can be wrapped or stretched around a filling. Tamales are made of starchy non-glutenous dough that's you have to sort of pack together like a snowball, and hold together with an inedible wrapper.
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:45 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Tamales are definitely iffy in dumplingness, but I also wouldn't call them equivalent to turnip cakes. Turnip cakes don't really have any kind of filling, other than occasionally stuff like diced meat or shrimp peppered throughout. Whereas tamales often have a central filling.

Moreover, what I've always thought was the greatest dumpling produced by Earth, are actually considered buns and not dumplings, because their dough is semi-leavened.

Xiaolongbao are baozi, and whether baozi are counted as dumplings depends on the person. Growing up, the direct translation of dumping into Chinese was "jiaozi", so we didn't consider baozi dumplings at all. In the context of this FPP though, I'd say baozi definitely qualify. Though jiaozi are still the first thing I think of when talking about Chinese dumplings.
posted by kmz at 12:53 PM on December 19, 2011


(You know what? We should debate the proper definition of barbecue next... )
posted by kmz at 12:57 PM on December 19, 2011 [7 favorites]


I am so happy I was actually eating a dumpling when I started reading this thread!!!! (Chinese pork dumpling with handmade dough) I am always left desperately craving the topic item in these delightful, teasing food threads but not today!!!

thank you, goddess of leftovers, thank you!
posted by supermedusa at 1:00 PM on December 19, 2011 [2 favorites]


Oh man, I have had "plan a Pike Place Market dumplings-of-the-world MeFi meetup" on my to-do list for at least two years. Now I have a roadmap, I guess, though not all of these countries/cultures are available there.
posted by librarina at 1:19 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


SF dimsum meetup.
posted by babbyʼ); Drop table users; -- at 3:19 PM on December 19, 2011


These lists are all missing Latvian Piragi, (they look like this) which I happen to have spent 5 hours making yesterday. I gave them all to my co-workers. Mmmm bacon and onion inside buttery bread...
posted by Hildegarde at 4:10 PM on December 19, 2011


Mmm, dumplings, my favourite hangover-therefore-too-lazy-to-cook food. 5 minutes in the pot, poured over with sour cream and with plenty of pepper. Perhaps a dash of sriracha, or some ketchup if you have no taste. Also, radishes!

The second flickr link seems to show something similar to (k)hinkalis, which you should grab by the knot at the top and bite it, no fork needed, really.

And vareniki are not made with meat, but with fairy products such as cheese or cottage cheese.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 4:46 PM on December 19, 2011 [1 favorite]


Gyoza! That's the Japanese version, though it's basically an import from China. But the flavor may be a bit different. They're dead easy to make: minced pork, add some chopped negi (leek), cabbage, and garlic; some people add various other things. Wrap in the gyoza wrappers, put sesame oil in a pan, fry one side then add water. Cover and steam for 10 minutes or so. No need to flip--only one side gets fried, which sets off my OCD-like need for symmetry, but whatever. Serve hot. The standard dip: one part soy sauce, one part vinegar, and a healthy blob of rayuu (chili oil).

The only problem with gyoza is they taste too good and all you can't stop eating them and you only do so when your stomach protests all the grease or your wallet protests a lack of funds.
posted by zardoz at 5:05 PM on December 19, 2011 [3 favorites]


Instead of the usual shkvarky, get some shallots and gently fry in tarragon butter, then slather over pirogies. So good you may not even need sour cream!
posted by Kabanos at 9:54 PM on December 19, 2011


Burkek:

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV2kvKXDN7k&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Then there fond memories of thepicking up pieroškis at a place run by two very old Ukranian ladies in Haight-Ashbury, by Golden Gate Park. We got boršt as well, and
sour cream to put on the boršt.
When I had burke the first time the taste reminded me of pieroškis!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:49 AM on December 20, 2011


*burek! Shut up AutoCorrect!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 12:50 AM on December 20, 2011


You know what? Let's stop arguing about semantics, and instead just agree that any variety of starch wrapped around a filling is delicious. Whether it's a dumpling, or a pie, or anything else, it doesn't matter. Bring on the strombolis! Bring on the pasties! Bring on the kibbeh, the beef patties, the onigiri! Let's eat!
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:12 AM on December 20, 2011


So, there's this little boy who's completely freaked out by kreplach. Fear and loathing: every time a nice bowl of soup with kreplach is put in front of him, he takes one look and shrieks,

"OOOOOYYYY! KREPLACH!!"

His mother is concerned and goes to consult the rabbi/kidshrink/neighbor, who advises her: the problem is that he's scared because he doesn't know what it is. Show him exactly what goes into the kreplach, explain slowly and clearly that it's nothing to be afraid of, and he'll be fine.

So one day, mom takes her boy into the kitchen, puts him on a high stool, and, with lots of smiles and reassuring pats, begins to deconstruct the dreaded dumpling. First she rolls out a piece of dough. Holds it up.

"Just like a pancake, she sez. "You love pancakes."

"Just like a pancake," said the little boy.

Then she chops up meat and gathers it into a ball. "Just like a meatball. Mmm, meatballs! Yummy meatballs!"

"Just like a meatball," says the little boy, and smiles.

Mom then places the meat on the dough and folds the dough over. Holds it up:

"Just like a little hat."

"Just like a little hat," the kid says, comfortably.

She cooks it up: just like a dumpling. like in the Chinese restaurant? Just like a dumpling, o.k., o.k.

Mom's had a pot of chicken soup on the stove; she now pours some into a bowl and offers it to the little boy, who responds eagerly. Sure, soup; he loves soup.

Just before putting the bowl in front of her son, she drops the kreplach in the soup.

Kid takes one look at it and screams,

"OOOOOYYYY! KREPLACH!!"
posted by dbiedny at 9:29 AM on December 20, 2011 [5 favorites]


And here's one for the thread: I'm visiting my new honey in Alabama, and she made me a local specialty this weekend, chicken with dumplings, and I was very surprised to watch her make the dumplings, which were essentially the dough cut into strips and placed into the soup. I asked her about the meat filling, and she looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Her mother told me it might have to do with how precious meat was back in the day, which I would believe. The "dumplings" soaked up the soup, and were damned good, FWIW.
posted by dbiedny at 9:37 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]


Ah yes, I remember being confused by chicken and dumplings the first time I had it too.

What was not confusing however was how goddamn delicious it was.
posted by kmz at 10:57 AM on December 20, 2011 [2 favorites]


Most delicious dumpling: Kabanos Jr. on Hallowe'en.
posted by Kabanos at 11:46 AM on December 20, 2011


I have a duck carcass in the freezer. (We had roast duck at a friend's house, and she took the carcass out of the pot and was preparing to tie it up in plastic bags to throw it out; I said "What are you going to do with that?" and she said "Throw it out?" and I said "The hell you are!" and brought it home.) Well, I had a duck carcass in the freezer. Now I have a duck carcass simmering in water with ginger and garlic and cinnamon sticks and star anise, and I'm going to make cilantro dumplings to go in it. MMMMM dinner.
posted by KathrynT at 12:44 PM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]


Georgian khinkali is way better than all of those.
posted by k8t at 6:30 PM on December 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


dbiedny, I grew up in eastern North Carolina and we called the dish you're describing "chicken pastry" or "chicken slick." I always thought that distinguished it from the more traditional and widespread "chicken and dumplings," which also contain filling-less dough, but in balls or lumps rather than noodle-like strips.

Once I left that little corner of the South no one knew what I was talking about when I brought up "chicken pastry" (or they thought I meant a dish made of chicken wrapped in puff pastry), so I was pleasantly surprised to see St. Alton mention it in an episode of Good Eats, where he distinguishes them as "rolled dumplings" vs. "dropped dumplings."

I think filling-less dumplings are their own thing that happen to also be called dumplings, and not a variation of filled dumplings that came about because of a meat shortage or something.
posted by rhiannonstone at 11:42 PM on December 27, 2011 [1 favorite]


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