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Home » Featured » Pike Dumplings in Broth

Pike Dumplings in Broth

By Hank Shaw on March 5, 2015, Updated June 6, 2022 - 11 Comments

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4.75 from 4 votes
Pike dumplings recipe
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Pike dumplings recipe, served in a dark broth
Photo by Hank Shaw

Pike quenelles or dumplings are an ancient preparation in Europe, dating back at least to the Renaissance. It makes perfect sense if you’ve ever worked with pike. They are a bony fish, and require some special handling. (Here’s how to do it.) This recipe modernizes the venerable quenelle and serves it in an unexpected-but-rockin’ broth.

A quenelle (keh-nell) is just a dumpling made with two spoons. My friend Becky has a great video on how to make a quenelle. You can of course just make little balls out of the mashed pike, but these look more refined, and are not hard to make.

Most recipes for fish quenelles would have you serve them in über-rich sauces like Pike Nantua or the actual recipe I got my quenelles from, a great little cookbook called Spoonfuls of Germany: German Regional Cuisine. Most involve heavy cream or cheese or both, and are just impossibly heavy, at least to me.  That said, the Germans do another thing with their myriad dumplings: They serve them in clear broths. I have several such dishes on this site, but this is the first involving fish.

The obvious choice would be a fish broth, but I do that a lot. I do happen to love the combination of seafood or fish with chicken broth — somehow it accentuates the fish itself without making the whole dish fishy — but I wanted to go another route. Mushroom broth is what I came up with, just as a lark, really.

Damn. What a score! This is a dark, rich umami bomb of a broth. You’d think it would overpower the light fish, but they balance. The quenelles tame the broth a bit, and the broth boosts the dumplings, which are pretty subtle.

You’d get a whole different experience if you changed the broth, which I encourage you to do if you make this recipe several times. The dumplings become the canvas to paint on. Served with, say a fish fumet or a carrot consommé, it’d be a very light soup course. This mushroom broth makes it a main course.

Bottom line is that this dumpling recipe can be your go-to not only with pike, but with any bony fish, or with really any fish where you can’t get a nice clean fillet. Perch, panfish, small catfish, carp, you name it. I bet orange dumplings made with salmon would be cool.

You can play with the seasonings, too. Add some minced fresh herbs. Skip the nutmeg and white pepper and go with something zippier. Maybe mustard or freshly grated horseradish? Or even zipper: cayenne or chipotle powder and cilantro. Have fun. Play. Just do yourself a favor and make some fish dumplings someday soon.

Pike dumplings recipe
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4.75 from 4 votes

Pike Quenelles (Dumplings) in Broth

Think of this recipe as a guide. You can use pretty much any fish you want, even non-white fish like trout and salmon, and you can change up the broth to suit your taste. A clear fish broth would be lovely, but even regular chicken broth would be good. Of course, this mushroom broth is to-die-for, so if you can assemble the ingredients, by all means. But don't let the broth scare you off. It's the dumplings that are the key here.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time50 mins
Course: Soup
Cuisine: French
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 193kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

DUMPLINGS

  • 2 slices of white bread, crusts removed
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 pound pike meat, or any fish
  • 1 egg white
  • About 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
  • A few gratings of nutmeg, about 1/4 teaspoon

BROTH

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1 small onion, chopped, about 1 cup
  • 3 black garlic cloves or roasted garlic cloves
  • 1/2 to 1 ounce dried morel mushrooms
  • 1/2 to 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
  • 1/4 to 1/2 ounce black trumpet mushrooms (optional)
  • 1 quart broth (chicken, duck, vegetable)
  • 3 cups water
  • Soy sauce

Instructions

  • Start with the broth, if you are making it. Saute the carrot, celery and onion in the olive oil until they are soft and the onion is translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the black garlic (or roasted garlic) cloves and mash them into the vegetables.
  • Add the mushrooms and pour over the broth and the water. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot and simmer gently for at least 90 minutes, and 2 hours is better. Strain the broth through a paper towel set in a fine-meshed strainer into a bowl. Season it with the soy sauce. Pour into a clean pot and keep warm.
  • To make the dumplings, soak the crustless bread in the milk for a bit, and then mash it into a paste with a fork. Run the fish through the fine die of a meat grinder, of chop it coarsely and buzz it into bits with a food processor; don't let it become a paste, though.
  • Mix the fish into the bread paste with the remaining dumpling ingredients. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Form quenelles or little balls of the pike mixture -- use teaspoons for soups like this, tablespoons for serving by themselves -- and drop them into the boiling water. When the dumplings float, cook them for a minute more and then put them in the bottom of soup bowls.
  • When all the dumplings are made and in the bowls, bring the broth to a bare simmer and pour over the dumplings in the bowls. Garnish with something green, like parsley, chervil, chives or lovage.

Nutrition

Calories: 193kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 34mg | Sodium: 177mg | Potassium: 574mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1877IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 127mg | Iron: 1mg
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Filed Under: Featured, Fish, Recipe, Scandinavian

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Sean CSean C says

    January 22, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    Made this last winter with yellow perch caught through the ice. Was excellent.

    Reply
  2. Avatar for JonutJonut says

    April 3, 2018 at 10:16 am

    If the dumplings are having a hard time keeping together (almost breaking up despite a no bubble simmer) how would you suggest adjusting the mixture?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      April 3, 2018 at 11:33 am

      Jonut: Use more egg.

      Reply
  3. Avatar for Lolly VictorLolly Victor says

    January 8, 2018 at 8:52 am

    Ohhh, that broth sounds yummy! There are celiacs in our house so no can do the dumplings 🙁 Any brilliant ideas for another use for the broth? Shredded chicken? Maybe with GF pasta? Ideas?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      January 8, 2018 at 9:26 am

      Lolly: Sure, any of those ideas would be good. Or make pike dumplings with GF breadcrumbs, which I think exist.

      Reply
  4. Avatar for morganmorgan says

    February 4, 2017 at 7:50 pm

    what is the secret to not having the dumplings fall apart. i tried simmer and i tried low boiling… help?

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      February 5, 2017 at 9:02 am

      Morgan: Low simmer for sure, but I only cook them until they start floating, then for 1 or 2 more minutes. One thing that sometimes happens is a dumpling will get stuck on the bottom of the pot. Very gently dislodge it with a spoon or something.

      Reply
  5. Avatar for DonnaDonna says

    March 19, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    Where did you find European pike? My husband tells me that most of the fish called pike in N. America is a variety of perch, and not really pike. I’m in the San Francisco area, but none of the fishmongers I’ve talked to have any idea about pike.

    Reply
    • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

      March 19, 2015 at 2:02 pm

      Donna: What on earth gave you the impression I had European pike? And, unfortunately, your husband is wrong. Esox lucius is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; the pike in German is the same pike as in the US and Canada. They do not live in California, however. I got this pike from a fishing trip in Canada. More on pike here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_pike

      Reply
  6. Avatar for MariaMaria says

    March 5, 2015 at 2:25 pm

    I can’t wait to try this! My husband fishes for trout nearly every weekend and I get bored with the same ol’ method of prep. I tried your fish cakes recipe the other night with the trout and loved it. I’m certain I’ll love this recipe, too, and am excited to have another variation with the bony fish. Thanks for the myriad of great recipes.

    Reply
  7. Avatar for Mad DogMad Dog says

    March 5, 2015 at 11:51 am

    They look so perfect – I bet they taste amazing!

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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