What's a dumpling?

[JAZ]

A couple of weeks ago on The Splendid Table, Lynne Rosetto Kasper did a segment on dumplings. In a typically enthusiastic but inaccurate introduction, she started with a list of dumplings around the world, including (according to her), kreplach, ravioli, potstickers, samosas, empanadas and dim sum (I swear I'm not making that last one up). She then continued that a dumpling is "some kind of dough wrapped around some kind of filling."

To be blunt, I believe she's way off base. But when I tried to define what exactly a dumpling is, I admit I came up with more questions than answers.

First, I think the idea that a dumpling is dough around a filling is both too narrow on the one hand and too broad on the other. What about the dumplings from Eastern Europe that are boiled dough, with no filling at all? I'd say that's the original meaning of dumpling, and the dough-around-a-filling meaning came later. But I really don't know.

I'd also say that boiling, or perhaps steaming, is crucial to dumplings. I don't think empanadas and samosas qualify at all -- they're much more like savory pies than like dumplings. If it's baked or fried, it's not a dumpling.

So my working definition is that a dumpling is some kind of dough (filled or not) boiled in water or sauce, or steamed. That's more or less what Food Lover's Companion says: "Savory dumplings are small or large mounds of dough that are usually dropped into a liquid mixture (such as soup or stew) and cooked until done. Some are stuffed with meat or cheese mixtures."

How does that coincide with what others think about a definition for dumplings? Does it cover Asian dumplings? Is it too narrow, or too broad?

[Fat Guy]

I agree with all that: the main definition of dumpling should be dough, stuffed or unstuffed, cooked by wet heat. There are some special cases that probably need to be included too, such as Asian pan-fried dumplings, though those are usually steamed first or simultaneously. Once you call an empanada a dumpling, though, you broaden the term so much you render it kind of useless.

[Kent Wang]

That sounds about right.

Don't forget about the Southern US chicken and dumplings which are just balls of dough.

Is a matzoh ball a dumpling?

[Lisa Shock]

I'd include gnocchi. And, I agree with the boiled/steamed part.

The other stuff is part of the history of pie.