Our Favorite Cookbooks: "The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide"

The book is arranged not by cuisine or shape of dumpling, but by month, which I love because it encourages you to try something different using what’s currently in season. Don’t worry, though, there are also indices by region/cuisine and type—stuffed versus wrapped versus dropped off a spoon—at the end.

I’ve not tried every recipe yet, but some of my favorites include the aforementioned shu mai (aka bottlenecked pork and shrimp dumplings), “priest stranglers” (a gnocchi-like Italian dumpling made from bread, egg, and spinach), and the tamales made with fresh corn, cheese, and poblano peppers. Other tamale-filling options in the book include chicken, pork with green olives, and chocolate; I love tamales.

I’ll be honest: “The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide” is not a cookbook for beginners or people in a hurry. These are complex, sometimes multi-day recipes that involve making and rolling out doughs, cooking broths and stews from scratch, and then assembling lots of dumplings that sometimes require pretty fiddly (albeit well-explained) techniques. You might want to save them for weekend cooking, but the results are so worth it. The book also starts with a dumpling encyclopedia: extensively illustrated step-by-step procedures for 21 styles and shapes of dumplings, a long glossary of ingredients and equipment, and even tips for freezing and reheating, and adjusting recipes if something goes wrong.

Neither of the book’s co-authors, Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt, seem to have written another cookbook since this one came out in 2009, which makes me sad. As far as I can tell, Chu is a culinary instructor and food studies professor in New York City today, and I can’t find anything online about Lovatt besides this book. If either of you are out there reading this, I love your recipes!

Why Trust The Spruce Eats?

Jason Horn is a commerce writer for The Spruce Eats and has been writing about food and drinks for more than 15 years—and enjoying eating dumplings for nearly 40. His first non-internship job was as an editorial assistant at Cooking Light, where he got his hands on this cookbook. Since then, he's written for Liquor.com, Serious Eats, Playboy, HGTV, The Daily Beast, and more.