Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Chicken and Dumplings, Southern Style

Today is a cool, rainy day. It has been windy and overcast since early this morning.
I stopped at the store and picked up a 6 pound chicken, some celery and carrots, onions and turnips.
Cut up the chicken, and cooked it for two hours, then added in the veggies, and in the last 15 min, the dumplings.
Amazing. The flavor and texture is simply amazing.
My 90 year old Mom is visiting for a few weeks, and she says my Dumplings would have made her Mama jealous. Now THAT is high praise indeed.
We ate until almost bursting, and then finished it off with some of the local Sweetwater brand Coffee from Columbia, and a Red Bartlet Pear Tart.
Live is good indeed.

Sam,

#$%&@##&&* that just isn't fair! You know I can't make it in time for dinner! You want to be camp cook next year? You accepting apprentices?

Keith

I like chicken and dumplings a lot. It's something you have to make yourself though, no restaurants serve it.

Dang does that look good. Is there any left? We'll be there in about 19 hours.

Keith, nothing could be simplier to fix.
Cut up a chicken into it's component parts. Submerge in lightly salted water. Throw in celery tops, sliced onions and carrots. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for a couple of hours. You want the meat to literally fall off the bone.
I pull out the veggies at that time, and discard them. I add fresh celery, turnip, carrots, and more chicken broth if needed.
Cook the chicken and veggies another half hour or so, and then top with the dumplings.
I make these with two cups sifted AP flour, three teaspoons baking powder, half teaspoon salt, and a cup of milk. Some folks like to add in a bit of fine diced onion and some chopped parsley. You want a fairly soft dough, and you don't want to work the dough a lot.
Drop the dough on top of the still bubbling broth with a large spoon. This will give you fairly large dumplings.
Cover, and cook another 15 min or so. If you like, turn the dumplings over after about 10 min.

This would make a great hunt camp meal, as it cooks slow while you are out hunting, feeds a crowd, fills them up, and tastes great.

My Brother lives in Bloomfield Hills, and makes Chicken and Dumplings with the same recipe. Our Grandma made them like this down on the farm in Virginia.
I bet he would be proud to serve you a plate any time, and you would not have to drive all the way to Florida.

Sam

Jesus Sam, you just don't quit do you!!

A perfect meal on a perfect day.

Looks wonderful, I can just imagine coming in out of the cold to

that would be something else.

Rob if you ever get down this way and find yourself in the hill country around New Braunfels or San Marcos some of the German restaurnats serve chicken and dumplings. Best I ever ate (commercial) was at Oma's in San Marcos. Don't know if it is still there. Was a family style German place.

In a pinch you can use flour tortillas for dumplings. Just cut them in strips and chunk them in the pot. Not as good as boiled biscuits but not bad either.

BCR

Well, i saw this and had to do it myself. Hopefully the family likes it. Honestly I can't see how they won't.

Sam,

I'm going give it a try this weekend. Forgive the novice questions but this was not a dish I grew up on. Mom, grandma etc.. always made chicken and noodles. It's tough to tell from your photo, but how deep is that pot/pan? Do you halve or de-bone the breast, or any of the pieces for that matter? How about the turips... sliced, diced, cubed? How much broth do you typically have to add? Again, sorry for the beginner questions but the more I think about it I'm pretty sure I've never had homemade chicken and dumplings. Hope to change that soon.

Thanks In Advance,

Mike

Mike, the pot is a cast iron 5 quart. I disjoint the bird, and debone the breast. I leave the legs, thigh, wings all bone in. The mark of when its all done, is when the meat just falls off the bones. I cook the carcas in another pot with more onion, celery and carrot. I want the extra stock, and the flavor needs to match the pot I am fixing the dish in.
The veggies I leave in large pieces. The carrots, turnips and celery can be in chunks, not a fine dice.
The dough is NOT biscuit dough. There is no fat added for the dumpling dough, as it would be if you were making biscuits.
I keep the broth topped off to about 1 1/2 inches from the top of the pan. This covers the meat, but leaves enough room for the dumplings to expand when they cook.
I always turn the dumplings over once, about 10 min into the time it takes to cook them.

Sam

If you are in a hurry, try this....After the chicken is done I take it out, let it cool and pull off all the meat....skim off some of the fat off the broth and season to taste...then for dumplings try flour tortillas cut into 2 inch strips...put them right in the broth and simmer until tender...then add the chicken meat back in before serving...those flour tortillas make a very easy, tasty, and delicate dumpling

I made beef stew yesterday for dinner with dumplings, but I do cut in shortening into the flour before adding the liquid. It should look like it has some crumbs in it before I add in the milk. I have also used Bisquik when I am in a hurry. Add some chopped fresh or dried chives or green onions to the dumplings for a variation.

Chicken & dumplings...YUM, & such a comfort food!

Sam,

I tried it last weekend. It was great! Thanks for sharing again!.

Keith

Hey Keith,
I am glad it worked for you. Glad to share.

Sam

You boys know there is always a problem with dumplings . . . there is never enough of them. For our family the dumplings are the main dish with the stew (beef, chicken or venison) a side dish. Have not figured out how to solve it.

By the way, Why turnips instead of tators?

Long

Looks good!

Did you post the recipe for that Tart a while back?

I posted a couple of recipes for tarts, I believe the free form one with no pie pan.
This uses the same crust, but is made in one of those tart pans with the removable bottom and fluted sides.
The filling is simply Red Bartlett pears, sliced thin. I sprinkled them with sugar, Cinnamon, fresh grated Nutmeg, some Allspice and Cloves. I tossed them with a few tablespoons of Amaratto, filled the crust, made the lattice top and baked it for an hour at 350.
I guess you could get a lot fancier, like add a glaze, or a thickened fruit syrup like comes in a can of apple pie filling, but I like a simple fruit tart.