Grandma Sandlin’s Chicken And Dumplings

Ingredients

For the chicken:

3 Ibs chicken, cut into quarters

3 quarts water

1 carrot

1 celery stick

1 small yellow onion, halved

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 can chicken stock

For the dumplings:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Crisco shortening

1/2 cup cold water

In stock pot, bring water with chicken, carrot, celery, onion, salt and pepper to a

Directions

In stock pot, bring water with chicken, carrot, celery, onion, salt and pepper to a boil.

Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 to 2 hours (until the meat falls off the bone).

Remove cooked chicken and set aside to cool. Once chicken is cool enough to handle, pull the chicken off the bone and cut into large bite size pieces and set aside.

Strain the broth of the vegetables, fat and impurities then return the broth to the stove.

Bring broth to a rolling boil.

While chicken is cooking, make the dumplings.

In a large bowl, cut together flour, salt and shortening.

Make a well in the center of the bowl and add half a cup of cold water, little by little, until the dough comes together (you want the dumplings hard, not sticky).

Sprinkle the counter with flour, add dough and kneed until the dumplings dough is hard, adding additional flour as needed.

*Grandma's secret is having the dough very hard and tough, this way they don't break apart when boiling.

After dough is kneaded well, roll the dough out to a cracker thickness, and cut into 1x3 inch strips.

Slowly drop strips, one at a time, into the boiling broth. By dropping the dumplings one at a time, so they will not stick. As you add additional strips use the back of a wooden spoon to move over floating dumplings to add new ones.

Once all dough has been added, lower heat slightly to gentle boil and cook 20 minutes uncovered, gently stirring often.

After 20 minutes, lower heat to medium-low to simmer and add cooked chicken into the broth and dumplings.

Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Simmer for an additional 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If broth is too thick, add 1 can of chicken broth; if too thin, add a slurry of flour and broth. Simmer until desired thickness of stock. Serve

immediately with cornbread.

Notes

Recipe by Grandma Sandlin, 1975