Kasley Family Dumplings

Dough

• 1 cup of mashed potatoes – russet, boiled and mashed, no milk or butter.
• 5 cups white flour
• Tsp salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk, or more

Mix with stand mixer or food processor until dough pulls off side of bowl.

Beef Filling

• 2 lbs 80/20 ground beef
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1 egg
• Tsp worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to scent

Cheese Filling

Sourcing the cheese can prove difficult. If you can find dry cottage cheese or farmer’s cheese, choose that. If not, get standard cottage cheese and, per Mom, squeeze the fuck out of it with cheesecloth or a clean towel. Farmer’s cheese will likely need to be wrung out.
— Ben

• 2 medium containers of cheese
• 1 egg
• Salt, to taste (or scent)
• Dash of parsley

Instructions

Grandma Kasley and Uncle Tom would rip bits of dough by hand and work the whole dumpling in their palms. The civilized Kasleys cut circles with a cookie cutter or cup.
— Ben

1. Roll out dough to 1/8th inch, be cautious not to overwork the gluten
2. Cut circles out of the sheet of dough
3. Fill dumplings with a teaspoon of filling¹
4. Fold the dough over the filling in a rough half-circle
5. Crimp the dumpling’s seam with a fork

¹ Mom insists they fill the dumplings with a teaspoon of filling. I’ve seen them make it, they don’t measure it, they pinch a wad of filling out of the bowl by hand, and it’s way more than a teaspoon.
— Ben