Jackson Jambalaya

Which came first? The chicken or the dumpling? Who cares? Well, I do. And my answer to this important question comes from a farm kitchen in Itta Bena, MS. 

By the way, did you know saying, “To be honest” indicates that usually, you aren’t telling the truth? Sorry, I hardly got this started and I am already off track.

I have an absolutely irrelevant opinion about chickens and eggs, but I am 100% certain about something else. This old-fashioned recipe for chicken and dumplings makes a mighty fine dinner when you want Southern comfort food. 

The wife is an excellent cook and whenever we disagree on recipes, 53 years of experience has proven to me that her way will always be better than mine. In this case, the recipe is not actually hers. It comes from her grandmother, who was from Itta Bena, Mississippi, the home of Mississippi Valley University. Actually, you could stand in her grandfather’s cotton field and hear the band (actually the Mississippi Valley College Band back then) when they were practicing on the football field, which was located two cotton fields, a drainage ditch, and a gravel road southeast of their family farm. 

How one creates the dumplings used in his chicken and dumplings can be a subject of considerable controversy. There are several brands of frozen, ready-made dumplings at the grocery that work fine if you have limited cooking skills or are pressed for time. Some folks take canned biscuits and cut them into pieces, and I guess that method works too. Some folks make a thick-thick flour batter and make “spoon dropped dumplings” which to me, look like floating cathead biscuits or maybe Matzo Balls. At our house, we make our dumplings from scratch, using shortening or lard, self-rising flour, and hot chicken broth. Here is a bit of cook’s wisdom you may already know. Pie crust is made with cold liquid and dumplings are made using hot liquid. At least this was the rule followed in the farmhouse kitchen in Itta Bena.  

Here is how the wife’s grandmother made her chicken and dumplings back in the day and how the wife cooks this classic southern comfort food now.

Chicken and Dumplings

My wife tells me this will make 12 servings (those would be 12 big/big servings)

Ingredients:

- A 3-6 pound chicken hen, cut up or chicken parts of your choice. A hen is an older (bigger) chicken that has more fat and better flavor
- Self-rising flour
- Butter
- Chicken bouillon cube or Better than Bouillon chicken paste (optional) 
- Chicken broth in can – added to the liquid when cooking the chicken (optional)
- 2 or 3 stalks of Celery
-1 large Onion
- 2 whole carrots, peeled or scrubbed clean
- 6 cups or more Water
- Kosher Salt – granny had never heard of kosher anything, just salt for her
- Black Pepper
- Unsalted Butter

Note: Both the bullion and canned chicken broth will add more chicken flavor to the dish. Granny used only water and cooked her broth down to make it richer.

Directions:

Start with a suitable pot, a large hen (cut up), three sticks of celery, a medium/large onion (halved) and two carrots (scrubbed):

We use a hen or chicken with bones, because the bones help the stock have the flavor you want and a large hen usually has more flavor than a young bird. You can cook the chicken in canned broth, plus a bouillon cube or Better Than Bouillon paste if you like, but if you use a whole hen, you probably won’t need canned broth or bouillon to make your stock.

A three-to-six-pound hen will need to be cooked at a low boil with a lid for at least two hours to get tender. It is an old bird and just takes longer to get tender. By this time, the stock/broth will be tasty-good. That is what you want because this dish demands a good chicken stock broth. As already stated, a chicken bouillon cube or paste can be added to the pot if you want to help provide a little more flavor to the broth after removing the vegetables and chicken parts and tasting for flavor and saltiness. Bouillon cubes and Better than Bouillon paste can both be really salty, so be careful to not add too much salt if you plan on adding either. You can always taste the stock toward the end and add salt if needed.

Here again is the important rule for making flour dough you need to remember. Pie crust is made with cold water. Dumplings are made with hot broth - as hot as you can stand. You'll need 5 cups of self-rising flour, 1/3 cup of shortening and 3 cups of hot chicken broth to make your dumplings. 

First, add the shortening to the flour and mix well. You want a crumbly mixture.

Then add 3 cups of strained hot broth and mix until incorporated. This makes a damp dough. 

Add additional flour if needed to dry the dough up a little and make it easier to handle.

The dough is turned out onto a floured surface. The wife does this on a full sheet pan to keep everything under control and the flour mess to a minimum. You can work your dough all at one time or divide it into portions to make it easier to work. After turning the dough out onto a floured surface, shape it and allow it to rest for a few minutes. Then shape it into a loaf so you can roll it out.

Hopefully the diced celery and onion in the stock will be cooked until soft by now and the chicken will be cooled enough to pull it from the bones.

When the vegetables are soft and the broth is at a full boil, begin adding the dumplings to the hot boiling stock.

You do not stir the dumplings!!!! Never!!!!!!

Use a spoon to gently push them under the broth surface, but do not stir them as they are easily broken apart until they get done.

They will quickly swell and get thicker as you add them. The broth will also begin to cloud up and thicken. 

When all have been added, turn heat as low as possible (or off) and cover the pot. Allow the heat in the pot to complete the cooking for 5-10 minutes. After about 5 minutes taste one. You'll know if they are done or if an additional five-minute rest is needed to complete the cooking. At this point too much heat will burn (scorch) the dumplings, so be careful. Since the stock is plenty hot, the wife just turns off the heat and allows the cooking to finish up in the hot stock. Stirring is still a no-no and too much heat will cause them to stick and burn.

You are now ready to add the pulled apart chicken pieces and gently fold them in until they are incorporated.

Any leftover dumplings will suck up all of the available liquid while stored in the refrigerator and will get very thick. They will keep a couple of days under refrigeration. To reheat, add some water, milk or canned chicken broth and microwave until they get warm enough to eat.

If you are worried that you have made too many, just invite Uncle Luther over. He can eat his weight in good dumplings, eats with the gusto of a hound dug, and is not embarrassed to go back for thirds. You know Uncle Luther. He is Aunt Ernestine's husband.

Thanks for looking at my post.

God Bless You