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A World of Dumplings: Filled Dumplings, Pockets and Little Pies from Around the Globe

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The cookbook for making dumplings and small pies of all kinds, from pot stickers, ravioli, and knish to empanadas, pasties, and samosas―and many, many more. Ever tried a Turkish borek ? Swedish kroppkakor ? How about Cajun meat pie? Acclaimed photographer Brian Yarvin has traveled to neighborhood kiosks, festivals, and restaurants in ethnic neighborhoods throughout the northeastern U.S. to bring more than 100 traditional dumpling and filled-pie recipes from places as near as Flushing, Queens to as far away as Uzbekistan and beyond.

Starting with the basics of dough making, steaming, and frying, Yarvin provides mouth-watering color photographs and step-by-step instructions so that anyone can recreate their grandmother's pierogi or street-food treat at home, using ingredients from the local supermarket. Also included are tips for where to buy hard-to-find ingredients, and―if you just can't stand the wait of making your own―ethnic neighborhoods where you can find dumplings ready-to-eat. Full-color photographs throughout

288 pages, Paperback

First published August 6, 2007

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Brian Yarvin

9 books

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5 stars
28 (31%)
4 stars
37 (42%)
3 stars
15 (17%)
2 stars
8 (9%)
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Mrs..
287 reviews
July 9, 2013
I re-read this book, and am I glad that I did! Not only is it a treasure trove of dumpling recipes from around the world, it's a fun read, as well. One of the best things about the book is that the author provides many recipes for making your own wrappers.
Profile Image for Sumi.
143 reviews4 followers
March 20, 2008
I haven't had a chance to try out any of the recipes in this book, but it was an interesting read in and of itself as the author detailed his experiences in getting the native experts to walk him through preparing the different varieties of dumplings that were part of their cuisine.

It's interesting seeing just how universal dumplings are and the different fillngs that people used based on what was locally abundant.
Profile Image for Deb Shambrook.
192 reviews2 followers
May 22, 2017
I had no idea that there was that many different types of dumplings.
Profile Image for Sandra Noel.
458 reviews
March 10, 2018
Dumplings, dumplings everywhere!! I love dumplings, so I was excited to get this delightful cookbook to review! You won't just find what you might classify as a dumpling here, there are also empanadas, Dried Fruit Fried Pies (I grew up on these and love them!), pasties and pastas.

Far from just being full of recipes to fill pre-made wrappers, there are recipes for many wrappers as well. The book is divided by region: Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and The Americas.

All of my favorites are here from the fried pies I mentioned above, pasties (a definite favorite of my kids!), pastas, spring rolls, and--be still, my heart!--Shanghai-Style Soup Dumplings!! I first had these in New York City back in 2009 and my family STILL talks about them today. Now I can make my own!!

If you love dumplings of all shapes and sizes, then this is the book for you!! I highly recommend it!

I received a copy of this book from Countryman Press for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
1,247 reviews5 followers
August 18, 2018
Fun book to look through, but wow! What a lot of work! Everything looks delicious though. Okay, that's a lie--I'd probably skip the scotch bonnet peppers in some of the Asian and Jamaican recipes! But still, anyone serves me any of those I'd be one happy camper. :-) I enjoyed the authors aside notes and little stories where he searches for dumpling heaven, too.
2,934 reviews259 followers
December 31, 2018
This is an interesting collection of dumpling recipes.

Broken down by country of origin this book has lots of techniques for making the shells and fillings of dumplings.

Admittedly some of the history given for some of the recipes is a bit Western-minded from the author but overall this is a pretty thorough guide to making dumplings.
1,282 reviews5 followers
September 27, 2018
If you love dumplings, this is the book for you! Recipes for dumplings from all ethnicities. It made me hungry to read the book!
Profile Image for Susan.
35 reviews11 followers
December 11, 2020
Love this book - so many wonderful recipes, photos and stories.
Recipes that I have tried have been a success!
Looking forward to using this book again and again and again...
148 reviews
November 20, 2022
I got this mainly for the pierogis from Poland and German dumplings. Unfortunately, there was only one selection from Germany which seemed quite strange to me.
291 reviews2 followers
February 20, 2019
The one recipe I'vemade so far, kroppekakor, went with more effort than I expected and in the end was BLAND and pretty bad. We ended up throwing away a lot. So I've been reluctant to try anyothers. Not fair, so I'll likely pick one more soon and see.
EDIT UPDATE: Well, we've made two more recipes and I'm working on a last one. Rating has DROPPED. My husband made apple dumplings, which were pretty good, but we had small apples and he had difficulty pursing the dumplings and too much dough. He determined he should have rolled it thinner. Not bad at all and we ate them.
Today I am making pieroghies with the sour cream dough. Half went to cabbage and mushroom pieroghi and the rest are for cherry variniki. These are the LAST recipes I'll make. The cookbook calls for a pasta machine for many of the Euro recipes, even the Eastern European ones. I just got one 2nd hand for this, so there is that. I would have preferred the option to roll out the dough, but no directions for that are given so I just will guess next time. Besides, my #4 setting might not be the author's. SO ANY guidance for the thickness would be nice.
Secondarily, the filling. It tasted good, but it was hard to pack into the 3"+ circles. No guidance on how minced it should be. I think smaller would be better, but... this is probably a categorical issue simply because now I am cooking the cherries. From frozen, which it mentions. These I picked last summer. They are cooking fine, but imagining putting them into a small filling? One cherry will be a teaspoon. And supposedly I'll know the filling is cooked when it's like a good preserve. Sorry, but I jam and CAN and not the case following these directions. So I am going to mash down the cherries (longer cooking time right now, assuming I need to get the moisture out to drain) and then fill these varinikis. I'm sure they'll taste good, but... in future I'm more likely to look up a known source (King Arthur's pieroghi are on my list) or from a person on-line to whom I may ask more details. I like the idea of the cookbook, but the execution has been lacking.
Profile Image for AlexandraB95.
332 reviews
January 7, 2022
Some of the recipes’ ingredients are wrong.I don’t think the author throughly examined some nations’ the real recipes.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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