In Every Good Kitchen...

In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot, and a mom.
Barbara Castikyan

Isn't this a beautiful quote. One of my goals is that when my children are grown, they will hear this and agree.

So I promised a recipe for Chicken and Dumplin's and I intend to make good on that promise. I thought I would start by sharing with you something I read out of my favorite cookbook, A Return to Sunday Dinner: "On the nineteenth-century farm, chickens were kept for laying eggs; when they became too old and were too tough for frying or baking, they went into the pot for a soup or stew. While stewing a chicken may no longer be necessary to create a tender dish, the rich flavor of slowly stewed bird is hard to beat. I prefer using only thighs for this dish. The key to light, wonderful dumplings is a tight fitting lid for the pot. Drop the dumplings in the pot and then cover till they are done. Resist the temptation to look inside while they are cooking, it's a test a faith!"

For me, reading things like this, really put me in the mood to tackle the dish myself and see if I can really make "light, wonderful dumplings". The recipe that follows this quote is extremely time consuming and I worked all day on it. I did everything just like it said, cooked everything just as long as I was suppose to, used chicken thighs only, refrigerated the dough as long as I should've, resisted the urge to peek, and they were terrible. Yes, you heard me right, down right disgusting. Way too much dumpling, not near enough gravy or chicken. The seasoning was too much and my family just didn't like it at all. Of course they ate it, being the sweet, polite people they are, but the looks on their faces, and the "Thank you so much Mom for making these" instead of "These are delicious Mom!" quotes told me what I needed to know.

So it was either throw up my hands and give up (this wasn't the first time I had failed at these. I had tried another recipe when company was coming, and we ended up throwing them away and going to Cheddars. Embarrassing huh.) or keep on my endless quest for making delicious chicken and dumplin's.

Then I got this months Southern Living in the mail, and the front of it says "Thirty-five comfort foods. Pancakes, Cheese Grits, and CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS!!!! (of course theirs wasn't in caps with four exclamation points, but it might as well have been!) It gave two different options. Either "Mama's Way or Your Way" .
Mama's way was definitely better. Now this recipe that I will post is not exactly like theirs. I have found that one of the signs that you're a true cook is when you can boast "Well, I found a recipe, but my way was much better". And this is exactly what I did.
I will try to remember every single step and then you can try it and tell me what you think. Remember though, to take your own poetic license with this one.


Three to four pounds of dark meat chicken
Half tsp garlic powder
Half tsp dried thyme
Two and a half tsp salt

Three quarter tsp pepper

One tsp chicken bouillon granules

Three cups self-rising flour

Half tsp poultry seasoning

Third cup shortening

Three tsp bacon drippings

One cup milk

Step one: Bring chicken, water to cover, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper to a boil in a large dutch oven over med. heat. Cover, reduce heat to med-low, and simmer one hour. Remove chicken and reserve broth.

Step two: Cool chicken, skin, bone, and shred. Add chicken bouillon (I like my food salty so I added more than this). Return to simmer.

Step three: Combine flour and poultry seasoning in a bowl. Cut in shortening and bacon drippings with a pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in milk. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to eighth inch thickness, and cut into one inch pieces.

Step four: Drop dumplings, a few at a time, into simmering broth, stiring gently. Cover and simmer, stirring often, twenty-five minutes.

All right then, step five is my own: Mix a couple of tablespoons corn starch into one or two cups of buttermilk (depending on how thick you want yours, the broth in this recipe, is more like chicken noodle soup) and add a little at a time until the thickness you desire.

Also if you don't have self-rising flour, then just add about a half tsp salt and a tsp baking powder.

My family loved these! They even said they were better than Cracker Barrels! High praise indeed!!!

Good luck to you, and feel free to use the comment section if you have any ideas or other recipes.

Tomorrow I'm planning a Feeding a Group post as per Cindy Holcomb's request. It will include my best efforts to give you the recipe for Chicken Spaghetti. Everyone always asks me for this recipe, but I make it just like my Mom and neither of us follow a recipe of any kind.

Now if your eyes are as tired of reading this as my fingers are of typing this, than I feel sorry for you extreme level of exhaustion. Good Night my lovely readers. I am off for an impromptu date night with my sweetie:-)