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I have only a few memories of my great-grandmother, Granny Mary. I remember sitting on her front screened in porch, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and drinking my first cup of coffee around age six (which meant I was really drinking milk with a little bit of coffee.) I remember walking down the street to the Five and Dime and buying a sun-hat, making sure to leave the tags on like Minnie Pearl, and I remember her Chicken-and-Dumplings. They were legendary. The dumplings thick, the soup silky, the chicken chunky.
I have done my best to recreate her recipe from memory, and my Paw (Granny’s) said I got awfully close, which is good enough for me. This recipe has now become a family favorite and my boys ask for it most in the winter months, when the wind is cold and the nights long. This is a large recipe—enough for twelve adults.
Note: You can use homemade or store-bought chicken stock, or a combination of both.
4 pounds of boneless chicken breast (frozen or thawed)
Dumplings
6 cups of flour
3 tablespoons of baking powder
3 teaspoons of salt
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
all-purpose flour
ice water
Instructions
Broth
Bring 15 cups broth to a boil.
Add in carrots, celery, onion, salt and chicken breasts.
Once the chicken breasts are fully cooked, pull them out, and set them aside to cool.
Reduce broth to simmer and leave simmering while you make the dumplings.
Dumplings
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt.
Next, cut in 1 cup of solid vegetable shortening (use either a pastry cutter or 2 table knives).
Once the shortening has been cut in well, begin adding ice cold water, ½ cup at a time, into the mixture.( I use about 2 ¼ cup of iced water - sometimes I use more, sometimes I use less, depending on the humidity in the air).
Your goal is to create a dough that is soft, smooth, and easy to roll out but is not leathery or mushy or grainy.
Next, roll your dough out. These dumplings are Southern-style flat dumplings like we make in Arkansas, not the round fluffy “drop” dumplings that are common in the North.
Roll out the dough, using a slightly floured rolling pin, to between 1/8-1/4-inch thickness.
Next, using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips about 1 inch wide by 3 inches long.
Bring your stock back to a rolling boil, and tear the cooked chicken breast into bite-size pieces (or shred using a stand-mixer,) then add the meat back to the liquid.
Once that is done, begin adding the strips of dumpling dough into the stock.
Once all the strips have been added, give the pot a good stir, and cover.
Reduce the heat to a simmer. Check every few minutes, stirring gently, until the dumplings are tender and cooked through, about 15–20 minutes.
Serve hot!
Enjoy.
Notes
My good friend and baking mentor Lynn taught me this great kitchen tip: When rolling out dough, spread out a smooth kitchen towel on your counter (I prefer the flour sack variety) and cover it with a good dusting of flour. This will be your rolling surface, and after you are done, you can simply fold the towel up and take it outside to shake off the excess.
Jerusalem Jackson Greer is a writer, blogger, speaker and Minister to Children, Youth, and Families at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Conway, Her first book A Homemade Year: The Blessings of Cooking, Crafting and Coming Together was published in 2013, and her second book, At Home in this Life, will be released spring of 2017. Jerusalem, her husband Nathan, and their two boys Wylie and Miles live in rural Arkansas where they are attempting to live a slower version of modern life. She blogs about all of this and more at jerusalemgreer.com.
