Chicken & Dumplings
Submitted by moz
From-scratch chicken and dumplings with a stewed hen, buttermilk dough rolled paper-thin, and rich homemade broth. Southern-style flat dumplings the old-fashioned way.
YIELD
1 batchPREP
15 minCOOK
25 minREADY
40 minThis is the kind of chicken and dumplings where you start with a whole stewing hen and end up with something that tastes like it’s been passed down through three generations. Because it probably has.
The hen simmers until it’s falling apart, building a deeply flavorful broth that becomes the cooking liquid for the dumplings. The dough itself is simple: flour, baking soda, shortening, buttermilk, and an egg. Cut the shortening in until it crumbles, roll it paper-thin, and cut it into squares.
Drop them into the boiling broth one at a time, simmer for 15 minutes, and serve immediately. These are flat, slick, noodle-style dumplings that soak up broth like a sponge.
Kitchen Tips
- Use a stewing hen, not a fryer. Older hens have more connective tissue that breaks down into gelatin, giving the broth a body and richness that younger birds can’t match.
- Roll the dough as thin as you can manage. Think pasta-thin. The dumplings will puff slightly as they cook, so what feels too thin on the counter will be just right in the pot.
- Drop dumplings in one at a time and keep them separated. They’re sticky and will fuse into one big dough blob if you dump them in all at once.
Ingredients
Directions
In 8 to 10 quart saucepan with lid, stew in hen in water until tender with salt and pepper.
Remove hen, skin and debone; set aside.
Mix flour, soda, ½ ts. pepper, and ½ ts. salt. Cut in Crisco until crumbles. Add milk.
Mix well and turn on well floured surface to roll.
Sprinkle flour on top and roll very thin.
Makes approximately 17×25-inch squares.
Bring chicken broth to a boil and drop dumplings in one at a time.
Keep dumplings separated.
Simmer 15 min. Serve immediately.
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