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Chicken and dumplings


Dirtyhip

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That was one of my favorite meals as a kid, late 50's early 60's. I was too young to remember how it was made, but I do remember it being a process, make dough, make chicken stuff, some kind of broth, combine it all.

The dumplings were pulled off the ball of dough and dropped into the liquid, they were random shaped, not noodles, and they were awesome.

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Don't think bread, think hearty pasta.

I grew up with slippery noodles instead of instead of the rounder dumplings.  Einstein won't eat chicken so I usually only make this when I have family in town.  This is basically my recipe, although I do not use one in real life.

Ingredient Checklist
  • 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken meat- i use all breast meat
  • 2 small carrots, sliced
  • 3 small sweetpotato, (5")s sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 3 medium  Irish potatoes, cubed
  • 5 small onions
  • 5 cups water
  • salt to taste
  • ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 stalks celery tops- use up those leaves that go wasted and some stalk too if you like
  • 1 big pinch cayenne pepper
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 4 tablespoons rendered chicken fat- or use crisco or butter or lard

Directions

Instructions Checklist
  • Step 1

    Place chicken in a large pot. Add salt and pepper, a dash of cayenne, a bay leaf, and a handful of celery tops. Cover with water, and cook until done. Discard bay leaf. Add vegetables, and continue cooking until vegetables are nearly done.

  • Step 2

    Meanwhile, make the dumplings. Mix together flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, baking powder, chicken fat. Mix in enough water to make a stiff dough. Divide dough into three parts. Roll out, and cut into squares.

  • Step 3

    Add 1/3 dumplings to simmering chicken, and cook 5 minutes. Add another third, and cook 5 minutes more. Add the remaining third, and cook 5 minutes longer. Serve.

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I’ve seen it made two ways, one with biscuit dough the other with wide flat egg noodles. I prefer the biscuit kind. The dough cooks and thickens the broth so it’s not like slimy biscuits but not like iron skillet biscuits neither. They’re good and filling. Make you fat. Wo7 isn’t a fan so I haven’t made them in 20 years or so. 

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10 minutes ago, Old No. 7 said:

I’ve seen it made two ways, one with biscuit dough the other with wide flat egg noodles. I prefer the biscuit kind. The dough cooks and thickens the broth so it’s not like slimy biscuits but not like iron skillet biscuits neither. They’re good and filling. Make you fat. Wo7 isn’t a fan so I haven’t made them in 20 years or so. 

We prefer the flat egg noodles, and that is how my mom always made it.

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30 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

Why?  I suspect it is tasty good, but hard to make for amateur pie chefs.  I am not even a beginner pie chef (I have never made a pie), or I would attempt it.

grapes don’t seem to be the right texture for pie. The skin. Ew
 

I am making pie this weekend. Pumpkin 

😸

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31 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

grapes don’t seem to be the right texture for pie. The skin. Ew
 

I am making pie this weekend. Pumpkin 

😸

Well, apparently people who make pie and know grape pie have figured it out.  Somebody here should be able to as well, someone skilled and resourceful and willing to take on challenges, it is too bad we don't know anyone like that.  :scratchhead:

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2 hours ago, Randomguy said:

Well, apparently people who make pie and know grape pie have figured it out.  Somebody here should be able to as well, someone skilled and resourceful and willing to take on challenges, it is too bad we don't know anyone like that.  :scratchhead:

It ain’t me babe, it ain’t me you’re looking for. The recipe is read on grape pie was too work intensive to bother with. You have to squeeze the grapes one at a time to separate the skins from the squishy part. Set skins aside. Cook squishy parts, strain to get the seeds out. Mix the skins back in. Add sugar and what not, fill crust, top and bake. More trouble than it’s worth imho. 

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There was an old lady on our block in the 50's & 60's who had no grandchildren. All of us Baby Boomers affectionately called her Grandma Westgate.

She made a dish called "Muliigan Stew and Dumplings" which I liked because of those balls of dough floating in the stew, which was basically beef, potatoes, and veggies in a beef broth.

Whenever she made it, I was invited to dinner.

Those on my mother's Polish-side of my family also often made simple Polish Noodles (Kluski) and added them raw to soups and stews to cook in the hot broth. Personally, I like the noodles more than dumplings though dumplings are a good change of pace. I'd just as soon buy extra-wide egg noodles in the store as make them myself: a quick recipe that sounds right (though this makes a lot of noodles) I found online (https://www.cooks.com/recipe/mo0jx6a0/mothers-homemade-polish-noodles-kluski.html) is:

MOTHER'S HOMEMADE POLISH NOODLES

(KLUSKI)  

3 c. flour

3 eggs

2 to 3 tbsp. water

1 tsp. salt

Sift flour onto a board. Make a well in center. Place eggs, water, and salt in well. Work ingredients into a dough and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide into 2 parts. Roll on floured board until very thin.

This online recipe (http://www.ukrainianclassickitchen.ca/index.php?topic=2204.0), strangely from a ukrainian cooking site, sounds about right for Grandma Westgate's dish:

Mulligan Stew and Dumplings

1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
6 beef bouillon cubes
4 cups boiling water
2 cups diced cooked beef
4 medium onions, sliced
2 large carrots, diced
3 potatoes, diced
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
salt and pepper to taste
dash nutmeg

Melt margarine; stir in flour.  Dissolve beef cubes in boiling water.  Gradually stir into flour and margarine.  Cook until it starts to thicken.  Add beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, green beans.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add peas, dumplings and seasonings.  Simmer, covered, 15 minutes longer.  Serves 4-6.

DUMPLINGS:

1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. margarine, butter or shortening
2/3 cup milk

Mix all ingredients and drop by spoonfuls into hot stew.
 

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I forgot to mention earlier that the grapes in the recipe were Concord grapes. They may be easier to peel and such but I have no experience. @Longjohnrecently made some grape jelly with home grown grapes. Maybe he can chime in on the grape handling process. I never heard of grape pie until this forum. I think it’s a regional thing.

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It is a mainstay at our house.  My daughter loves it.  We make is simple.  Boil chicken.  Save stock.  Thicken stock and season (garlic, salt, pepper).  Shred chicken.  We use the little canned biscuits, roll flat, quarter and dredge in flour.  Slowly add biscuit quarters into thickened stock until cooked.  Shred chicken and add back.  Stir, simmer for a while and eat.  

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6 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

That sounds gross.

Grape pie?  No

I am sorry you feel this way. Grape pie is delicious. Yes you have to slip the skins but with Concord or Labrusca grapes this is easy as the skin is thick. Less work than cooking rhubarb, pitting cherries, or slicing strawberries for a pie. 
I only put back a portion of the skins not all of them.  I also add some uncooked grape halves because it makes a good texture.   Grape crumb is excellent. 

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1 hour ago, Old No. 7 said:

I forgot to mention earlier that the grapes in the recipe were Concord grapes. They may be easier to peel and such but I have no experience. @Longjohnrecently made some grape jelly with home grown grapes. Maybe he can chime in on the grape handling process. I never heard of grape pie until this forum. I think it’s a regional thing.

The recipes for grape jam call for the same process of separating the skins and adding them back in later. I don’t do it that way. I do it the way my mom always did it cooking the grapes and then running them through a sieve to remove the seeds.

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3 hours ago, Parr8hed said:

It is a mainstay at our house.  My daughter loves it.  We make is simple.  Boil chicken.  Save stock.  Thicken stock and season (garlic, salt, pepper).  Shred chicken.  We use the little canned biscuits, roll flat, quarter and dredge in flour.  Slowly add biscuit quarters into thickened stock until cooked.  Shred chicken and add back.  Stir, simmer for a while and eat.  

Bread and water?  Isn't that a jail food?

:D 

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