Chicken and Dumplings Made Easy
I better not see you buy premade biscuit dough for dumplings EVER again after you read this gem accredited to Sean Brock. This dish feels like my grandparents hot southern kitchen on a chilly Sunday afternoon.
Serving Size: 4-6
INGREDIENTS:
Soup Base:
2 quarts (64oz) chicken stock
3 1/2lb whole chicken (rinsed and patted dry)
2 cups (16oz) self-rising flour (preferably White Lily) or 2 cup all-purpose flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt if you don’t have any on hand
2 cups buttermilk (16oz), room temperature, plus more as needed
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
Method:
In a large stock pot, bring your stock to a simmer over high heat. Add the chicken, and maintain a gentle simmer. Cover and cook the chicken for 1-2 hours or until the meat is falling from the bone.
Remove the chicken from the pot. While the pot is still simmering, remove the skin and pull the chicken into nice chunks. Discard the skin and the bones and set the meat aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, buttermilk, and season with black pepper. If the dough looks dry, add a few spoons of hot broth and a few additional tablespoons of buttermilk. With a fork (down south technique), gently fold dough lightly until flour is incorporated. It will still look wet,
Season the broth with salt and pepper to your liking. Dip your best spoon in the hot simmering broth, scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dumpling mixture, and carefully nestle it into the broth over the spots with large simmering bubbles. Work quickly as the dough will dry up, repeat with the rest of the dough.
Reduce to a low simmer, cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick into a dumpling and it comes out clean.
While the dumplings cook, baste them with hot broth as needed to ensure even cooking. Be careful that the dumplings are NOT squished as they will clump together. With a spoon, carefully push some of the dumplings to the side, create a hole to drop the chicken in. Cover and simmer for another minute to warm up the chicken.
Ladle your beautiful dumplings, pulled chicken, and broth in a bowl. Finish GENEROUSLY with fresh cracked black pepper.
