Dumplings for Stews

A plain baking-powder dumpling of the 1930s, leavened entirely by chemical action and steam. It works as written, provided the pot stays shut.

• Do not lift the lidThe dumplings rise on trapped steam; opening the pot in the first ten minutes drops the temperature and leaves them dense and gluey. Cover tight, set a timer, and check only at the end with a skewer, which should come out clean.
• The stew must be at a boilThe stew must be boiling -- Drop the batter onto the boiling stew, or onto pieces of meat and vegetable sitting just above the liquid, not into a slack, barely bubbling pot. Batter that sinks into cool broth disintegrates.
• Batter consistencyOne cup of milk to two cups of flour gives a thick drop batter, not a dough. Flour absorbs differently from brand to brand, so hold back a tablespoon or two of milk and add it only if the batter will not fall from the spoon.
• Baking powderFour teaspoons to two cups of flour is on the generous side by current standards. Three teaspoons is ample and may avoid a metallic aftertaste.
• FatThere is none in the batter, so the dumplings depend on the stew for richness. In a lean broth they taste flat; two tablespoons of butter or shortening cut into the dry ingredients improves the texture considerably.
• Steamer methodThe alternative given here cooks the dumplings out of the stew, so they are served alongside rather than in it. Grease the plate well; the recipe gives no separate time, so allow at least the same ten minutes over water at a hard boil and test before serving.
• YieldSpoonfuls of roughly two tablespoons will give something on the order of twenty dumplings, enough for four to six servings. Leave space between them in the pot, as they swell as they cook.