Nanny's chicken & dumplings

I believe this is my first venture into the permie cooking forums ever. So here's my grandmother's world famous chicken & dumpling recipe.

Not that she ever used a recipe. She just knew how to cook!!! I went to great lengths to recreate it. The dumplings were/are the tricky part. Have to get them just right. Soft but not too soft. Slightly firm in the middle. Basically a thick noodle filled with love. Enjoy.

(wouldn't accept .doc file attachment so here's copy & paste version)



Nanny's chicken & dumplings

1 whole chicken
2 cups all purpose flour
1 medium onion
2-3 cloves garlic
2 tsp salt (iodized sea salt)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

Remove neck, gizzards, heart, liver from chicken. Drain whole chicken & place in large stainless steel or ceramic pot. Not cast iron unless you don't mind a browner color. Add neck & innards. Add 1 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder. Fill container with water. Bring to a full boil. Lower heat just enough to keep from boiling over. Rotate chicken every 15-20 minutes. Boil until water reduces & the chicken falls apart when turning. Turn off heat & remove chicken. When chicken is cool enough to handle remove the bones, skin, & fat. Keep the meat in as large of pieces as possible. Add meat back into the stock.

Remove 1 cup of chicken stock & put in large bowl. Gradually mix in flour & 1 tsp salt. Knead for 1 minute. Dough should be slightly moist but not excessively sticky. Add a little stock or flour to adjust.

Bring the chicken back to boiling. Make ½ oz balls of dough. Flatten them a little. Drop into the boiling water as each dumpling is made. Keep the water boiling hard until all dumplings have been added. Slowly add water to refill the container. Once the dumplings all float, full boil them for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to a very low boil & cover. Chop the onion & garlic & add to water. Adjust salt & pepper to taste. (carrots, mushrooms, & wild rice are also good additions to add here) Simmer covered for 3-4 hours. Chicken should be completely falling apart. Sauce should be thick & rich. Dumplings should be juicy & flavorful.

Note: Yellow food coloring is optional. I cook this & almost everything else in cast iron. Cooking the neck seperately or in cheesecloth makes bone removal easier.

Sounds mouth watering Mike !!! Thanks for sharing that with us !

Sounds like a great use for an older bird.

I love dumplings!

This year I'll try it with wild duck. My family will disown me. They're still not too keen about the carrots, mushrooms, & wild rice. They felt that was messing with perfection. But they willingly tried both kinds:)

Working on reviving her gumbo now. That's more of an art form. Took about 10 tries for the dumplings. Might require 50 attempts for the gumbo. Someone has to do it.

Julia Winter wrote:Sounds like a great use for an older bird.

It's a great way to use a rooster too. You are stewing the heck out of it, and concentrating all the goodness. I occasionally get roosters at a ridiculously good price (I suspect because here in the city nobody knows what to do with them) and this is how I cook them- although at least the first hour in the pressure cooker, and my dumplings don't stay in so long. I will have to try this recipe though!!! I've never met a dumpling I didn't like.

concentrating all the goodness

Exactly.

Dumplings taste really good! Thanks for this Mike!

Ya'll are most welcome. Was thinking it might be the perfect permies meal since many of us have chickens & grow the basic ingredients.

Good time of year for this tasty treat.

Hey guys have you tried using Jamaican festival dumplings? I tried these for the first time last week with some baked chicken and its sauce. This thing knocked my socks off I believe you can pair it with any type of sauce at this time tbh!

Those look really good. Thanks for that recipe. It's close to what we call hush puppies here.

I have been looking at dumpling recipes and this one by far is the easiest I have seen.

Easy as this is just 1 cup stock to 2 cups flour and 1 tsp salt.  Easy peasy!

My son-in-law's favorite meal is chicken and dumplings.

I have not made dumplings since I got married years ago.