by Jeannie Travis
This is my own take on my Mama’s recipe…She didn’t write things down, but I’ve been cooking them like this for more than 50 years…..Just cook some chicken…Whole chickens you cut up yourself give the best flavor but thighs or anything is alright. Cook till tender but not falling apart…..Turn off heat..Remove chicken to a plate, cool enough to handle, take out bones, fat and skin….Skim most of the fat off the top of the broth , saving about 3 TBL for the dumplings….Add 2 or 3 Wyler’s chicken bouillon cubes…Stir fat and milk into self rising flour till like soft biscuits……Guessing 2 cups of self rising flour….Return broth to a boil, drop dough into broth in rounded TBL sized lumps…Dip the spoon in the broth as needed….Save about two dumplings worth of the dough and mix in about a half cup of the broth…Stir into a ‘slurry’, ‘then carefully pour back in the pot between the dumplins…Stir just in that spot for a second, to mix the ‘slurry’ in…..Sprinkle tops of dumplings with Salt n Spice [or black pepper, I guess.] Turn heat down till it’s barely cooking, cover tightly…Cook for 20 minutes, then remove lid and dip out the fluffy dumplings , some chicken and pour on some of th e’gravy’ Add pepper to taste….Just remember, 20 minutes on slow simmer, tightly covered, and no ‘faih ‘ peeking ! I used to say that….back when I couldn’t pronounce my R’s and was still cute as a button…
I wouldn’t use anything but White Lily self rising unbleached flour, because I like the taste…still, after 30 years of using it. I got my Southern Living magazine today and noticed they used ‘my’ kind of flour in testing some recipes…White Lily has been around for more than 100 years, at least…..Theres an amazing difference in the taste of
flour…