Recipe: Northern and Southern Style Chicken and Dumplings

Pauline: Here are two dumpling recipes. The first is a northern type of dropped dumpling and the second, from Seretha, are the kind of dumplings that are eaten throughout most of the South. They are often called flat or tough dumplings but they are not tough, only flat.

DROPPED DUMPLINGS

"Four generations in my family have used this same recipe. They are not 'soggy' but light inside." - Sue Geisler

Instructions from my gram are as follows:
"The secret to a good dumpling is not only in combining the exact ingredients, but also how they are cooked. After these are in the pan with the lid on tightly - let them cook all by themselves. Don't Peek! Your dumplings should come out nicely cooked and not soggy inside. If your dumplings come from 'good stock' , then you have a meal fit for a king." (my Gram's words)

1 egg
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
Cooking Stock - your choice - beef, chicken, pork

Beat egg slightly with a whisk and add milk. Whisk together. Combine the four dry ingredients and stir in. Mixture will be quite thick (about like drop cookies).

Have stock just at the simmer. Use a wide semi-shallow pan so they have room to grow. Dip spoon in broth, then spoon in dough in heaping spoonfuls (soup spoon size) - carefully dipping the spoon each time so batter will leave spoon.

Cover tightly and let cook for twenty minutes. Have it just at the bubble - not boiling hard.

Your choice of cooking stock is a very individual thing. My mother used pork hocks, my grandmother used chicken. Adding poached chicken to the stock is wonderful and the dumplings have a 'roost' as they cook. Cooking them in a thin vegetable beef soup is a treat as well.

Depending on the rest of your meal, this serves two very well - three moderately and four sparingly.

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SERETHA'S CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
Makes 4 servings
Source: Seretha Milligan

To make the chicken, I normally saute a cup of coarsely chopped onions, a cup of chopped celery and a 1/2 cup of bell pepper. Brown about 3 pounds of cut up chicken pieces and then add hot water to cover. Skim the pot until the scum begins to go away and let simmer for about 30 minutes until the chicken pieces are cooked through.

While the chicken is simmering, I make the dumplings and then add them to the pot. If using chicken breasts, be sure to not over cook them, as they will get stringy and dry on you.

FOR THE DUMPLINGS:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup Crisco solid shortening
1/3 cup ice water (or as necessary for dough)

Mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is in even bits about the size of peas.

Put the ice water in a cup. Sprinkle it over the flour until the dough is moistened. (Caution: do not over sprinkle -- You want just enough so that you can pat the dough lightly into a ball.) Flours and climate conditions vary, so you may not need all of the water. Handle the dough as little as possible and do not knead it.

Roll out very thin and cut into strips. (Hint: A pizza cutter is wonderful for cutting the strips.)

Add the dumplings slowly to the simmering chicken broth and cook until they are cooked through (about 10 to 15 minutes).