IngredientsVegetables
Mehligkochende Kartoffelnfloury potatoes
Solanum tuberosum, bred for starch. In the pot the starch grains swell, the cells come apart and the tuber collapses. Cut open, the flesh looks dry and crumbly.
That loose starch is the glue in dumpling dough, the body in mashed potato and the reason Reibekuchen hold together in the fat and crisp up. Waxy potatoes do none of that: they keep their shape, which is why they belong in fried potatoes and potato salad.
In Mexikoin Mexico
At the mercado ask for papa harinosa, or simply papa para puré. The term is understood; the potato is not always there.
Papa alfa comes closest. Supermarket potatoes are mostly waxy whatever the label says. Papa cambray, the small thin skinned one, is the opposite of what is wanted here.
Ersatzwhat to use
If only waxy potatoes are on offer: boil, peel, push through a ricer and let the steam off before working the mass. The drier it is, the better it holds.
Then stabilise with cornstarch, a spoon at a time, until the dough shapes without sticking. Test one dumpling in barely trembling water, not a rolling boil, before the whole batch goes in.
Vorsichtwatch out
With waxy potatoes and nothing to bind them, dumplings break up in the water. The dumpling becomes soup and there is no rescuing it.
Never mash potatoes in a blender or food processor. The starch turns to paste and the mash pulls threads. A ricer or a masher, nothing else.