Pork Rib Stew with Sage Cornmeal Dumplings

  4.3 – 21 reviews  • Pork

To Halloween parties, Christmas parties, and so forth, I bring bat wings. With only 3 ingredients, they are simply fantastic and simple. My guy enjoys modifying this recipe. However, I simply adore this straightforward, basic dish, and I hope you do too. Better if you can marinate this for an entire night. I place it in a gallon zip-top bag, store in the fridge, and then pour it into a pan the following day.

Prep Time: 45 mins
Cook Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
Total Time: 4 hrs 15 mins
Servings: 6
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  1. 1 pound boneless country-style pork ribs, cut into 1-inch chunks
  2. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  3. 2 cups chopped onions
  4. 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  5. 1 ½ pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
  6. 2 quarts water
  7. 2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
  8. 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  9. 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
  10. 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
  11. ½ teaspoon dried thyme
  12. 2 bay leaves
  13. ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  14. 1 teaspoon salt
  15. ⅛ teaspoon ground black pepper
  16. 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted
  17. ¼ cup yellow cornmeal
  18. 2 teaspoons white sugar
  19. 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  20. ¼ teaspoon dried sage, crumbled
  21. ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  22. ½ teaspoon salt
  23. 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
  24. ½ cup milk, or as needed

Instructions

  1. Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler.
  2. Arrange pork pieces one layer deep in a large baking pan. Broil, stirring often, until meat is browned, about 10 minutes. Pour off and discard the fat.
  3. Heat vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions; cook and stir until the onions have softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is fragrant but not brown, 2 minutes more.
  4. Stir in potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in water, beef bouillon, sliced carrots, chili powder, marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon thyme, bay leaves, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cover. Simmer until the meat and all of the vegetables are tender, about 3 hours.
  5. To make the Sage-Cornmeal Dumplings: combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, sage, 1/4 teaspoon thyme, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add milk all at once, stirring just until the mixture holds together.
  6. When the stew is ready, remove the bay leaves. Bring the stew to a gentle boil over medium-low heat. Drop the dumplings by rounded spoonfuls evenly over the surface. Cover the pot and boil for 12 minutes, until the dumplings are cooked through. Ladle the dumplings into soup bowls and top with lots of stew.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 364 kcal
Carbohydrate 44 g
Cholesterol 36 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 15 g
Saturated Fat 4 g
Sodium 951 mg
Sugars 9 g
Fat 15 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

Beth Anderson
This was one savory concoction. Not convinced the dumplings are a critical element, but it’s a nice touch. Used 1/4C milk for the dumplings and still too loose, so added Tbl of flour and cornmeal. Also, didn’t have marjoram, so replaced it with allspice, not too shabby. Included mushrooms (added just before the dumplings) and some sort of small squash.
Jamie Garrison
Needs more ingredients.
Jason Hicks
I followed Mary’s crockpot version of this recipe minus the cornmeal dumplings. I used some cornstarch to thicken the sauce and it was delicious!
Kyle Smith
Delicious! 2.5# pork and a little over 1 rec hope for the sauce. Cooked it in the instant pot, Browning the meat first then removing it before following the rest of the recipe. A tad too sweet.used only half the milk for the corner and it still got largely absorbed by the sauce. We still loved out it.
Jason Evans
My family loved it. We ate the whole pot! Will double the dumplings next time.
Joshua Brown
Wasn’t sure about this when I read the recipe, but it was wonderful! I had some leftover pork roast that I chopped fine and tossed in instead of the pork rib. I also added about 1/2 cup of chopped celery. I would have said yesterday that I didn’t like dumplings – but these are really good. Recipe is definitely going into the recipe box!
Geoffrey Garcia
I usually don’t have success making dumplings (think rocks). These were great, light and fluffy. I doubled the amount of dumpling batter.
Eric Garcia
I followed the directs exactly since I’m not a real cook and ended up with pork soup thickened with corn meal. 2 qts. is way too much fluid. I compared this to my mother’s stew recipe (using 1 lb. more meat) and it only uses 3 c. liquid. 1/2 c. milk for the dumplings makes a thin batter like another reviewer said and mine just disintegrated in the stew and made a medium thick gravy with all that fluid. I would also cut back on the thyme since marjoram is similar. I will say I liked the taste and will try it again using 3 cups of water or broth and adding milk to the dumpling mixture a little at a time until it reached bisquick dough consistency.
Jaime Hopkins
I too have been using a recipe similar to this one and it is excellent. I add some liquid smoke to it though that is not to everyone’s taste. I like the dumplings, but I use chilled butter instead of shortening.
Alexandra Mcfarland
This is honestly the best stew I’ve ever had. I used just enough milk so that the dumpling mixture would be a bit thicker and I used fresh sage rather than dried. I think this stew will cure all ails! Move aside chicken-noodle soup!
Paula Petersen
The soup was delicious. We didn’t care for the dumplings at all, the batter was really loose. The dumplings themselves were grainy. We used cabbage instead of potatoes and it had a real nice flavor. Needed salt desperately.
Sarah Aguilar
This was absolutely awesome. I made this recipe exactly as written. I did let the the dumpling dough sit for a few minutes before adding to the stew. I used the mixing spoon and made huge dumplings. They did disintegrate just a bit, but this added to the stew and made an awesome gravy. The actual dumpling was delicious. I will definitely make again. Thanks so much for sharing.
Scott Cook
Wonderful Recipe! Hats off to the chef! I made a few changes. No bullion because of MSG, I slow cooked in a crockpot before boiling in dumplings, and last I sub Tony Chacheres Creole Seasoning for most of the salt, as I do for almost all recipes, Im southern. So glad I found this because now I add the dumpling part to most of my stew recipes. Adds richness and body.
Randall Leblanc
This was excellent. I only had chicken bullion, and was missing some ingredients so I substituted garlic powder for garlic, rosemary instead of Thyme, and omitted the marjoram and bay leaves, it was Very tasty, I can’t wait to make it with the proper ingredients I’ll bet it’s even better. I do believe the 1/2 cup of milk is a bit to much, i had to thicken my dumplings up so they would stick together when I dropped them in to boil, perhaps cut the milk and add a little at a time until you reach a good thick/well mixed consistency. .
Todd Byrd
Just made this tonight! I didn’t have bouillon, so used 1 quart of beef broth. Also just mixed the dumpling mixture until it was the right consistency. Came out very good and hubby loved it! Something tasty and different to make on a cold night. Thanks for the great recipe!
Debra Braun
Awesome! Perfect for a snowy evening. The dumplings are so flavorful, and thicken the broth perfectly.
Daisy West
This was really delicious. I made this in the crockpot. I followed all the directions as stated except I cut the amount of water in half. I also took the suggestion of the other reviewers and added just enough water to make a dough and it worked like a charm. Thank you so much for sharing your great recipe.
Natalie Dawson
Great stew! I have made it twice so far. I added parsnips and sweet potatoes also. I used less milk and the dumplings were perfect. You might want to double the dumpling recipe. We ran out.
Adam Franco
WOW. I *loved* this recipe. The seasonings are perfect—the chili powder just adds a warm note, without it tasting like chili. I made it in the pressure cooker in the morning, and then reheated it and added the dumplings right before dinner. I roasted the pork ribs and then cooked them in the pressure cooker with the whole potatoes for 15 minutes. When the pressure dropped, I added chopped carrots and parsnips plus a chopped sweet potato, just for the heck of it, and simmered for about 20 minutes until the veggies were tender. I chilled it and then cut the whole potatoes into chunks. I did have trouble with the dumplings: instead of being a dough, it was more like pancake batter. Still delicious! Just not very dumpling-y. Next time, I’ll just add enough milk to hold them together. Also, since I made this in the pressure cooker, the liquid didn’t evaporate so I should’ve cut down the amount of water. Oh, and I didn’t have beef bouillon so I used one can of chicken broth (milder than beef) and water. Perfect fall stew.
Marcus Morales
Loved the flavor. However, my dumplings disintegrated in the stew. I cooked the dumplings according to the time in the recipe. Next time, I will not cook the dumplings as long.
Joseph Valdez
We really loved this recipe but I revised it a bit for use in the crock pot. I used the same ingredients but added a green pepper. I browned the meat in a skillet then sauteed the onion and garlic and placed all of the ingredients in a crock pot but I cut the amount of water down to 3 cups. I cooked it on high for 4 hours and added the dumpling mix and cooked it an additional 20 min until dumplings were done. I doubled the dumpling recipe but found that it was the consistency of pancake batter so I would reduce the amount of milk next time. Perhaps just add milk until it reached the desired consistency. The flavor was absolutely fantastic.

 

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