Sound Bites & Snap Shots

After moving to Indiana, I learned that chicken and dumplings is a dish with regional variations. I don’t recall eating it very often growing up but I had ideas about what Chicken and Dumplings was.  For me, it was a chicken stew base with clumps of biscuit dough cooked on top.

Our first meeting of this dish here in Indiana came about at the summer socials.  The Chicken and Dumplings we were served alongside our fried chicken was not what we expected.  The Midwest variation is more of a thick chicken soup with skinny noodles cooked in.  It has been a favorite dish of Walker’s ever since he first had it. 

My dear friend, Liz, grew up making this with her mom and I begged her to teach me.  Two weeks ago, I went over to her house and we each made a batch.

Here is a basic recipe for Midwest Chicken and Dumplings.  Keep in mind, there is a lot of room for interpretation. 

Fill a soup pot with water.  Next, prepare a whole chicken.  Rinse it off and then trim off any excessive skin and fat.  Cut the chicken into pieces and put it into the soup pot.  Add one diced onion, sliced carrots and celery to taste, two bay leaves, salt, pepper and parsley flakes.  Make sure there is enough water to cover but not so much that it will splatter out as the soup cooks.  Bring the pot to a boil and then let it simmer for about an hour.

Now it’s time to make the dumplings.  In a medium bowl, beat three or four eggs.  Add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.  Start incorporating all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time, to make a dough.  The dough will start as batter and then get sticky.  When enough flour has been added to make a dough that holds together but is not dry, dump it out on a floured surface.  Kneed in a little more flour but don’t overwork the dough. 

When the flour is well incorporated, roll it out as thinly as possible.  I would guess it to be about 1/4” thick. 

Flour both sides and then lay it on newsprint to dry. 

When it is dry, cut it into strips and then into squares.  Precision is not required.

Meanwhile, when the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are soft, remove the pot from the stove.  In a bowl, place all the cooked vegetables.  Pull the chicken off the bones and shred it into the bowl as well.  Discard the bones and unmentionable yucky stuff.  Chill the soup stock and then skim off the fat that remains. 

Marry the soup stock with the chicken and vegetable mixture. 

If the chicken and dumplings are to be eaten at a later date, bag the dried dumplings and freeze them.  Freeze the chicken soup base separately.

When it’s time to prepare the chicken and dumplings, bring the soup up to a boil.  Add additional water or chicken broth as the dumplings will absorb it as they cook.  Add the dumplings to the soup and reduce the heat to medium low.  Let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes or so, or until the dumplings are done.

Making Chicken and Dumplings a la Midwest was surprisingly easy.  The dumplings were a wee bit time consuming but definitely doable.  I’m so glad I got to spend the morning with a good friend learning how to prepare this classic Midwest Summer Social meal*. 

*Of course, there is an asterisk.  Every Midwest family has its own variation on the preparation.  For example, after sharing how I made dumplings with another friend born and raised here, she said, “My Grandma James said you have to freeze the dumplings before you add them to the stock.  It makes a big difference!  And the thinner the dumplings, the better!”  The moral of the story is that there are many, many variations of this dish and each one of them is the right way to make Chicken and Dumplings.