Better than the Cracker Barrel

One of Ben’s favorite dishes is Chicken and Dumplings.  When I was thinking of home-made dishes to make this weekend for the snow, many soups and stews crossed my mind.  But on MyRecipes.com, they had a compilation of 5-Star recipes and I stumbled across Southern Living’s Chicken & Dumplings.  Sure I’ve made this a few times in the crock pot…the “Semi-Homemade” way. However, this weekend I thought I’d tackle the real deal – cook the whole chicken, make my own broth and roll the dumplings. 

Other than it being a long process of letting the chicken cook for an hour, cooling it, shredding it and rolling the dumplings, it is not hard.  This recipe is definitely worthy of a special country cooked meal when you have a few hours of hanging around the house.  Ben gave it at 10, saying it was the best Chicken & Dumplings he’s ever had!

Chicken & Dumplings (Southern Living)

• 1  (4-5-pound) whole chicken, cut up
• 2 1/2  teaspoons  salt, divided
• 3/4  teaspoon  pepper, divided
• 1/2  teaspoon  garlic powder
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 1  teaspoon  chicken bouillon granules
• 3  cups  self-rising flour
• 1/2  teaspoon  poultry seasoning
• 1/3  cup  shortening
• 2  teaspoons  bacon drippings
• 1  cup  milk

Cover chicken with water, and bring to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and next 3 ingredients; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour. Remove chicken, reserving broth in Dutch oven; cool chicken. Skim fat from broth; bring to a simmer.

Skin, bone, and coarsely chop chicken. Add chicken, bouillon, and remaining salt and pepper to broth. Return to simmer.

Combine flour and poultry seasoning in a bowl. Cut in shortening and bacon drippings with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Add milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1-inch pieces.

Bring broth mixture to a boil. Drop dumplings, a few at a time, into boiling broth, stirring gently. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer, stirring often, for 25 minutes.