# Why no potato dumplings? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [August 10, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414 "2022-08-10T05:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/1 "2022-08-10T05:32:51Z")
growing up in a 1/2 German family, my mother would always make home-made potato dumplings (knodel) to go with her sauerbraten (there were NO leftovers!), but in all the German restaurants I’ve visited in the US cities, no one does them. You’ll find lots of spaetzle, potato pancakes, a few use gnocchi, once bread dumplings, but no potato. Since it’s not more time-consuming than the sauerbraten, why don’t more of them make it? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/2 "2022-08-10T11:16:31Z")
I always thought pierogies were potato dumplings. Have I been wring all this time? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/3 "2022-08-10T13:53:42Z")
How weird. We have a lot of German cooks in our family, and probably have knödel/klöße three or four times a year. I just assumed you could also get them at nearby German restaurants, but I checked the two nearest, and it ain’t on the menu. Maybe American tastes don’t tend toward big old dumplings!? ETA: perversely, the Hofbrauhaus in Las Vegas, which largely seems built around recreating the feeling of a bunch of drunks in a tent, does offer a potato dumpling. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/4 "2022-08-10T14:20:46Z")
There are two German restaurants left in my area - although I really only consider one of them German as there are too many non-German items ( like pierogi\* and eggrolls) on the menu. The other one has potato dumplings but they are only served with the sauerbraten - the schnitzels are served with homefries and the wursts with potato salad and sauerkraut. \* I’m not sure of the difference between pierogi and knodel - but if they are the same, I would think a German restaurant would call them knodel or at least potato dumplings. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/5 "2022-08-10T14:23:45Z")
There is the health issue. Potato dumplings with the appropriate amount of sour cream are not a light meal by anyone’s definition. Then - People think of potato dumplings as plain food made from plain ingredients. They’re the kind of thing where you’d pick up a package from the grocer’s freezer to make at home. But I don’t have an answer of why they are not more popular as a side dish. Potato pierogi with mushrooms, yum. I think there are a lot of “old country” foods that didn’t make it to restaurants because they either take too much labor to make/cook, or just don’t fit the operation of the restaurant. That’s why a lot of ethnic items only appear at home for family get-togethers on holidays. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/6 "2022-08-10T14:29:29Z")
sorry, I was referring specifically to German-style dumplings, not gnocchi or pierogies ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/7 "2022-08-10T14:30:28Z")
A few of Milwaukee’s german restaurants offer knodel from time to time, but it doesn’t seem to be a daily menu item for any of them. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-potato-dumplings/969414/8 "2022-08-10T14:31:26Z")
a true knodel is the size of a matzo ball, but a pierogi is similar to an Asian dumpling