Chicken of Dumplings

By: Angela Gillaspie Copyright © 2019

A few years ago, I'd spent my life being chicken of dumplings. I had never liked them and had never made them for my family. One fateful day, I received this question from one of my readers...

"Do you have a recipe for Southern Style chicken and dumplins? Not the Northern kind. I live in Minnesota and no one has a clue what old timey Southern Food is. The food here is very bland. Thank you, P.A."

I hadn't failed a reader yet, so I went into research mode. I asked my hubby - a devoted chicken and dumpling disciple - his thoughts. He replied, "They're just squashy wads of dough cooked in chicken soup."

Squashy wads - that wasn't much to start with, but it did spark a memory. One evening, when I was little, way back around the time God made dirt, my daddy ladled some chicken and dumplings onto my supper plate and said, "Angel, yer gonna love this!"

Uh ... no. I was an ornery and stubborn child that reveled in being as difficult as possible. Whenever I heard that I was going to like something, I never would. I wouldn't touch it, taste it, sniff it, and hardly look at it. So obviously I didn't like them. Momma said that I could make a preacher cuss.

So I now had my mission: stop being chicken of dumplings and open my eyes, heart, and mouth to this Southern comfort food.

After a few days of looking through recipe books and a bazillion Internet sites, I learned that dumplings were simply smallish chunks of boiled, steamed, or fried dough served both savory (with meat and vegetables) and sweet (with fruits). No one can lay claim to the original recipe of chicken and dumplings.

Almost every source said something about chicken and dumplings originating from the South in the antebellum era, or during the Civil War, or from the great depression as a way to extend meals. The truth is that on almost every continent during almost every age, there was someone cooking meat with some sort of dumpling.

Dumplings go way back in time and are known to many societies. The ingredients (grain, meat, vegetable, fruit), the way dumplings are cooked (steamed, fried, boiled), and the ways the dumplings are served (with gravy, in soup, as dessert) vary. Every culture had its own dumpling specialty.

Here in the South, we normally don't stuff our dumplings. One of our favorite dumplings is the humble hushpuppy. This strictly Southern recipe is rumored to have received its name from the cook trying to keep the huntin' dogs quiet while he cooked supper. He threw a piece of fried cornbread at the whining dogs and hollered, "Hush puppy!" And the name just stuck.

In addition to hushpuppies, other popular dumplings found around here include apple dumplings, ham dumplings, butterbean dumplings, and yes, the famous chicken and dumplings.

The two types of dumplings are "rolled" and "dropped." They start out as a dough made from countless combinations of flour (wheat, rye, corn, rice, all purpose, self-rising, etc.), liquid (water, milk, buttermilk, broth, etc.), and often fat (butter, lard, margarine, oleo, bacon grease, etc.). Rolled dumplings are made by kneading dough, rolling it out thin, cutting it into strips, and then cooking them in some sort of chicken soup. Drop dumplings are similar except the dough is dropped by spoonful into the soup.

There are two versions of these two types of dumplings - Northern and Southern. Some sources refer to Southern dumplings as being drop dumplings and Northern dumplings as being rolled, and of course other sources cite the opposite. I had to find an answer, so I did what I always do - I called home. All of Momma's family's dumplings were rolled, as were Daddy's family. Even all the church folk's dumplings were rolled.

So, in my opinion: Southern chicken and dumplings are rolled, and Northern chicken and dumplings are dropped.

Now we know.

With the war between the dumplings decided, it was time that I made my very first batch of chicken and dumplings. I put together bits and pieces of other recipes to form my own and then started cooking. After spending a couple hours on the chicken and veggies, it was time to make the dumplings. Gulp. I mixed together some biscuit mix and milk, rolled it out thin, cut this dough into little 1-inch squares, and then dropped it in the soup.

Supper was finally ready, and as I ladled the chicken and dumplings, I realized that I'd come full circle. My kids, (aged 5, 10, 13, and 15 at the time) were suspicious of this new meal item and I held my tongue to keep from saying, "Y'all are gonna LOVE this!" because all four of 'em are stubborn as a mule and they too could make a preacher cuss.

The chicken was succulent and tender and the dumplings were flat-fluffy and light. My hubby was smitten and halfway through supper, he knelt by my chair and professed his undying love (for my chicken and dumplings). The kids were amazed and actually asked for seconds. I too was shocked by the combination of down-home flavors and textures of this satisfying comfort food.

Mrs. P.A. was thrilled when she received my reply - the recipe was exactly what she wanted, give or take some hot sauce and sage seasoning (and whether their classification was Yankee or Dixie dumplings).

Hungry for dumplings? In the mood for deep dumplin' thoughts?