POT STICKERS

Just as promised: I made pot stickers, and only one of them looked like it needed a mercy killing. WHAT NOW?

I did a few things differently this time that made a difference:

• Knead the dough more. The cookbook I used suggests just kneading until the dough is smooth. Fine, you can do that, but what you need is for the dough to stretch over the filling without breaking, and for that you need gluten, and for that you need kneading. This batch of dough passed the windowpane test, while the last one did not. That makes it easier to stretch and gives you a lighter dumpling.
• Grind your own pork. I had some shoulder left in there that was begging to be used. Grinding that up in the food processor got me a finer grind than the ground pork I bought at Safeway. That made it a little easier to break off small pieces for filling.
• Bias the dough in favor of water. The flour/water ratio in the book produces a dry dough that isn't very resilient. It's easier to work with when it's a little tackier. (Sticky dough would be a pain, but I didn't get to that point -- it was kind of like French bread dough, minus the yeast and most of the salt.)
• Make more dough. I doubled the dough this time and still didn't have enough for the 1/3 lb. of ground pork.

Now I have eleven extra pot stickers that I can eat for lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow night's dinner will probably be pasta so that I'll have leftovers for the rest of the week.

I also made a curried peanut "bisque" (I agree with Ruhlman -- it's not a bisque because it doesn't have seafood, but it is a heavier, creamier kind of soup that isn't chunky enough to be a stew) out of my new Southern cookbook. It was decent, but it needed to pack a little more heat (this, after doubling the cayenne!) and be a little smoother (though I guess it's my own fault for using chunky peanut butter and then refusing to use a mesh strainer). Next time I'll play with the spices a little bit more.

Hooray for the Cuisinart, which did a lot of work today -- grinding pork, kneading dough, and pureeing soup. That food processor is my life. Now I just need a pink stand mixer from Bed, Bath, and Beyond to go with it.