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It’s an Indiana Thing
Written By: Jenny King | Issue: 2017/01 - Winter
Karin Potts loves to feed people and she attributes that to the influence of her mother, Louise Scott, who was fondly known as MoMo.
“Mom always made my favorite dish on my birthday and it was beef and dumplings every time,” she says. “She made it for my friends who loved it, and our home economics class even made it together for a class project. It was the last thing she cooked for me before she passed away.”
She has many other fond memories of that happy dish. One in particular was the time her mom accidentally used sugar instead of flour for the dumplings. This left Karin and her sister Leesa trying to figure out how to tell their mom they tasted a bit strange, without hurting her feelings.
The origin of the recipe was an old, well-worn, cookbook owned by her mother. There are several listings in the book since it’s a popular dish in Indiana, where her parents lived.
Karin says she has a lot of home cooked recipes.
“It’s hard to pick just one because there are so many things my mom taught me to make, and there are so many great recipes I’ve gotten from (my husband) Terry’s family’s cookbook that have become staples in our home,” she says.
This was the one she chose, perhaps because Karin always makes it for her daughter’s birthday and for her own, as well.
Beef and Dumplings
1 lb. Stew Beef
Dumplings:
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup milk
Take the stew meat and put it in a large pot of water with salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer all day long. Bring the soup to a boil and add the dumplings one at a time about 30 minutes before eating.
After you get all the dumplings in, you turn down the heat and let everything simmer till done.
The dumpling dough is rolled out thin and cut into squares. You could buy some already made, but you know they’re not going to be as good as homemade, so don’t take any shortcuts.
You have to add the dumplings to the boiling soup one at a time, Karin says, “It’s a pain but worth it!”
One very important thing to make note of — this dish must be accompanied by mashed potatoes! Guess it’s an Indiana thing.
