Directions: |
Directions:Cover chicken with water & boil with lemon juice, salt, pepper, large sliced onion, celery stalks, and carrots cut into chunks. Cook until tender. Best to let the chicken cool in the broth. Retain at least a quart of stock left when chicken and vegetables are removed.
While chicken is cooking, make dumplings. Mix flour and salt well. Cut in Crisco and keep cutting in until the mixture looks like oats. Add milk & stir to make soft dough. Roll dough out on lightly floured waxed paper to about 1/8 inch thick. Sprinkling dough top with flour makes rolling it out easier and provides flour for thickening the broth. Cut dough in 1inch wide strips & add to stock that is boiling good. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so dumplings do not stick. Broth will thicken as it cooks. Add a little water gradually or extra broth if there doesn't seem to be enough.
While dumplings cook, remove chicken from bone and tear or cut into bite sized pieces or a little larger. When dumplings are done, add chicken to the broth and dumplings to heat.
Note: The vegetables in the stock water are mainly to give the broth & chicken a good flavor. I sometimes leave the vegetables in the completed dish, but they should be chopped small enough to be bite sized before cooking if you plan to keep them. Also, you can use chicken parts, such as breasts and some thighs rather than a whole chicken. Chicken with the skin and bones provides more tenderness and flavor. You can remove some of the excess fat and skin before cooking. |
This recipe for Grandmother Margaret's Chicken & Dumplings is from