Cracker Barrel's Chicken and Dumplins
I was gonna make my regular chicken & dumplings for dinner last night, but I know how much my hubby LOVES Cracker Barrel's version. So I did some searching and found the recipe posted on a random website. It happens to be from one of Todd Wilbur's cookbooks -- he figures out restaurant recipes and posts them on his site Top Secret Recipes. So I tried Cracker Barrel's recipe. It seems involved, but it was fun to try and not really hard -- and it turned out really well! Don't be intimidated by the dumplin making part. See it as a challenge that I know you can tackle.
Chicken and broth:
3 quarts water
1 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut up
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 small onion, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and quartered
1 bay leaf
3 to 6 whole parsley leaves
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 Tbs lemon juice
Dumplins:
2 cups all-purpose flour, see note
1 tablespoon baking powder, see note
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add chicken, 1 teaspoon of salt, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and parsley to the pot. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook the chicken, uncovered, for 2 hours. The liquid will reduce by about one third.
When the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pot and set it aside. Strain the stock to remove all the vegetables and floating scum. You want only the stock and the chicken, so toss everything else out (or find another use)
Pour 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) of the stock back into the pot (keep the leftover stock, if any, for another recipe - it can be frozen). Add coarsely ground pepper, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and the lemon juice, then reheat the stock over medium heat while preparing the Dumplins.
For the Dumplins, combine the flour, baking powder, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and milk in a medium bowl. Stir well until smooth, then let the dough rest for 5 to 20 minutes. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to about a 1/2-inch thickness.
Cut the dough into 1/2-inch squares and drop each square into the simmering stock. Use all of the dough. The Dumplins will first swell and then slowly shrink as they partially dissolve to thicken the stock into a white gravy. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until thick. Stir often.
While the stock is thickening, the chicken will have become cool enough to handle. Tear all the meat from the bones and remove the skin. Cut the chicken neatly into bite-size pieces and drop them into the pot. Discard the skin and bones. Continue to simmer the chicken and dumplings for another 5 to 10 minutes, but don't stir too vigorously or the chicken will shred and fall apart. You want big chunks of chicken in the end.
When the gravy has reached the desired consistency, ladle four portions onto plates and serve hot. Serve with your choice of steamed vegetables, if desired.
Notes:
~I only had boneless skinless chicken breasts on hand, so I used three of them. It still turned out well. I did add about a tablespoon of chicken bullion (equivilant to 1 cube) because a whole chicken will add more flavor to stock than chicken breasts alone.
~If you don't have coarsely ground black pepper, use only 1/2 tsp of regular pepper. I used a full tsp not remembering coarse pepper takes up more room in a measuring spoon and therefore adds less spice than the same amount of regular pepper. It was way peppery, but still good.
~The author of the article indicated they needed about 3/4 cup more flour and 1/2 tsp more baking powder than the recipe called for. I found this to be true when I made it. Add the flour 1/4 cup at a time until it is more of a dough than batter. It was still sticky when I was ready to roll it out, so I just WELL floured my surface, place the sticky dough on top, then WELL floured the top of the dough. I kneaded it not more than 5 times just to get it less sticky. Don't overwork it though!
~Use a pizza cutter to cut the 1/2 inch squares -- it's so much easier. You may have to occasionally roll the edge in flour as the center of the dough is sticky.
~The dumplins do swell quite a bit, so dont' think something went wrong.
~I served it with baby carrots steamed in a little water, butter, and brown sugar because that's the side Matt always gets with the Chicken & Dumplins.
(I'd take a picture, but really...it's just a mass of white dumplins and white chicken. If you follow the recipe, it will look like it's supposed to. If you want a pic, request it and I'll post it.)
Chicken and broth:
3 quarts water
1 3- to 4-pound chicken, cut up
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 small onion, sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and quartered
1 bay leaf
3 to 6 whole parsley leaves
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
2 Tbs lemon juice
Dumplins:
2 cups all-purpose flour, see note
1 tablespoon baking powder, see note
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add chicken, 1 teaspoon of salt, onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and parsley to the pot. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook the chicken, uncovered, for 2 hours. The liquid will reduce by about one third.
When the chicken has cooked, remove it from the pot and set it aside. Strain the stock to remove all the vegetables and floating scum. You want only the stock and the chicken, so toss everything else out (or find another use)
Pour 1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) of the stock back into the pot (keep the leftover stock, if any, for another recipe - it can be frozen). Add coarsely ground pepper, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and the lemon juice, then reheat the stock over medium heat while preparing the Dumplins.
For the Dumplins, combine the flour, baking powder, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, and milk in a medium bowl. Stir well until smooth, then let the dough rest for 5 to 20 minutes. Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to about a 1/2-inch thickness.
Cut the dough into 1/2-inch squares and drop each square into the simmering stock. Use all of the dough. The Dumplins will first swell and then slowly shrink as they partially dissolve to thicken the stock into a white gravy. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until thick. Stir often.
While the stock is thickening, the chicken will have become cool enough to handle. Tear all the meat from the bones and remove the skin. Cut the chicken neatly into bite-size pieces and drop them into the pot. Discard the skin and bones. Continue to simmer the chicken and dumplings for another 5 to 10 minutes, but don't stir too vigorously or the chicken will shred and fall apart. You want big chunks of chicken in the end.
When the gravy has reached the desired consistency, ladle four portions onto plates and serve hot. Serve with your choice of steamed vegetables, if desired.
Notes:
~I only had boneless skinless chicken breasts on hand, so I used three of them. It still turned out well. I did add about a tablespoon of chicken bullion (equivilant to 1 cube) because a whole chicken will add more flavor to stock than chicken breasts alone.
~If you don't have coarsely ground black pepper, use only 1/2 tsp of regular pepper. I used a full tsp not remembering coarse pepper takes up more room in a measuring spoon and therefore adds less spice than the same amount of regular pepper. It was way peppery, but still good.
~The author of the article indicated they needed about 3/4 cup more flour and 1/2 tsp more baking powder than the recipe called for. I found this to be true when I made it. Add the flour 1/4 cup at a time until it is more of a dough than batter. It was still sticky when I was ready to roll it out, so I just WELL floured my surface, place the sticky dough on top, then WELL floured the top of the dough. I kneaded it not more than 5 times just to get it less sticky. Don't overwork it though!
~Use a pizza cutter to cut the 1/2 inch squares -- it's so much easier. You may have to occasionally roll the edge in flour as the center of the dough is sticky.
~The dumplins do swell quite a bit, so dont' think something went wrong.
~I served it with baby carrots steamed in a little water, butter, and brown sugar because that's the side Matt always gets with the Chicken & Dumplins.
(I'd take a picture, but really...it's just a mass of white dumplins and white chicken. If you follow the recipe, it will look like it's supposed to. If you want a pic, request it and I'll post it.)
posted by Dawn | 9:35 AM
4 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rolling and cutting the dough into little squares is pointless and too much work! When I make dumplings I just scoop the dough from the bowl with a spoon and dump it in... thus the "dumplings"... teeheehee...
Ah, but then it would not be true Cracker Barrel. ;-)
I never knew dumplings were flat noodle like things 'till I moved to Arkansas...the way we Yankees make them, they are more like biscuits cooked in the meal. :)
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