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Southern Chicken and Dumplings

Using boxed chicken stock for the initial cooking liquid adds depth and intense chicken flavor to the dish.

You don't have to use bacon fat in the dumplings. You don't even have to season the dumplings. But I think you'll be happy if you do both!

Notice I'm not giving weights here. No need to be super precise, even with the dumplings.
Course Main

Ingredients

For the Chicken

  • 1 small fryer/roaster (3-ish pounds)
  • 1 quart organic chicken stock
  • 1 medium onion , washed and quartered
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 15-20 whole black peppercorns
  • 2-3 cups filtered water
  • ¼ cup all purpose flour mixed with 1/2 cup cold broth , stock or water until there are no lumps.
  • ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning (or a pinch each of rubbed sage and dried marjoram)
  • Additional salt and pepper , to taste

For the Dumplings

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ¼ teaspoon poultry seasoning (or a pinch of rubbed sage and dried marjoram)
  • several grinds of black pepper
  • 1 Tablespoon solid bacon fat
  • 1 Tablespoon butter or shortening (or sub 2 Tablespoons of either if you don't want to use the bacon fat)
  • ¾ cup whole milk (feel free to sub in 2% or skim if you'd rather)

Instructions

For the Chicken

  • In your pressure cooker or a Dutch oven, place the chicken, boxed stock, onion and peppercorns. Bring up to pressure and cook at high pressure for 15 minutes. (If using a Dutch oven, simmer over medium-low heat until the chicken is cooked through. You may have to flip the chicken to get it to cook evenly).
  • Carefully remove all the meat from the carcass and set aside to cool. Refrigerate after it has cooled off some, about 30 minutes.
  • Return the carcass to the pot. Add enough additional water to almost cover the chicken.
  • Put the lid on the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 1 hour to produce a lovely stock. (If using a Dutch oven, this will take 3-4 hours at least. You can skip this step entirely if you want and just use some extra boxed stock).
  • Strain the stock into another pot, pressing down on the solids.
  • Skim off as much of the fat as you want. I probably ended up skimming off about 1/4 cup of fat. Save this. It's schmalz, and it's gold.
  • Add the flour slurry to the stock along with the poultry seasoning. Bring to a boil to thicken the sauce.
  • Taste and adjust seasonings.
  • Bring to a very low boil. Drop dumplings (procedure below) into the pot, a few at a time so they don't stick together.
  • Cover the pot and reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, or until dumplings are cooked through.
  • Return the reserved chicken to the pot to reheat.
  • Serve in bowls with a fork and a spoon. Have some good bread or rolls handy to sop up the extra sauce.
  • Grin like an idiot and enjoy!

For the Dumplings

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, poultry seasoning and black pepper.
  • Drop in the bacon fat, if using, and butter or shortening and rub in with your fingertips until it is completely incorporated. No pea-sized pieces here. You want it to disappear.
  • Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stream in the milk.
  • Bring the dough together with a fork. It will be fairly wet.
  • Liberally flour your counter. Scrape the dumpling dough onto the floured surface. Liberally flour the top of the dough and roll out into a rough rectangle about 1/8-3/16" thick. If the dough sticks, add some more flour to assist with rolling, but don't knead it in. Use your dough scraper to lift the dough and toss some flour underneath and add some to the top as necessary.
  • Brush excess flour off the top of the dough. Cut into 2"x3" rectangles (don't measure--just use a pizza cutter and go for it), and they're ready to be cooked.