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This week in Omnivorous I wrote about Wanda Kurek and her 72-year-old Whiskey Row tavern Stanley’s. I wanted her to give us a recipe for one of her big, hearty lunch specials, but she keeps all that stuff in her head and didn’t want to give one up. So I asked bartender Guy Vanek for his mom’s Czech dumpling recipe, which he occasionally whips up if he arrives for work early enough. I’ve had them. They’re dense, a bit chewy, and great for sopping up Wanda’s roast pork gravy. Here goes, verbatim:
Vanek: “I kind of look at it. I don’t know, three, four ounces. And then you whip all that shit together there. And when it comes to ball, it’s gotta kind of look like beige–the color. And it can’t be too sticky because then they come out not so good. They gotta kind of be like more solid. And then you boil water and you salt the hell out of the water in a big old pot. And you just scoop them out little by little, like about the size of . . . I don’t know, how can I put this?”
