Let me share my favorite recipe for chicken and dumplings with y'all. It's a great meal for this time of year. Serve it with some good Southern cornbread.
1 4-5 pound chicken
1/2 cup butter
salt to taste
4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons of salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening. I use Crisco
Ground black pepper to taste
In a large stock pot, place chicken and add just enough water to cover (Too much water makes a weak broth.) Bring to boil over medium heat. Add butter and salt to taste. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours until chicken is falling apart tender.
Remove chicken from broth anc allow to cool. Debone chicken into strips or small chunks. Discard skin and bones. Set chicken aside. Set broth aside reserving 1 1/2 cups for making dumplins.
In large bowl combine flour and 2 teaspoons salt. Stir well. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until flour resembles coarse cornmeal. Add just enough chicken broth to make a stiff dough. (You may not need all the 1 1/2 cups of broth; return leftover to pot.) Don't over mix dough because it will become tough.
In the stock pot, heat chicken broth to a rolling boil over high heat on the stove top.
Using one-third of the dough ball, roll out dough on a floured surface to about 1/8 inch thickness. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into thumb length strips. Drop dumplings into boiling broth. Do what's called "chasing the boil" by dropping the dumplings into the bubbles as they move around the pot. This keeps them from clumping. Repeat with remaining dough, using one-third of dough at a time.
After all the dumplings have been added to the broth, reduce heat tosimmer. Season with black pepper and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
Add reserve chicken and stir slowly. if stirred too fast dumplings could clump. Continue cooking until chicken is heated through.
Well, that's about it. It's really good and I could bust a gut eating it. Hope y'all enjoy it.
Dee
