Recipes

[151949]

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@ECBG wrote:

It takes longer to cook a whole chicken than chicken breasts.  Next time you could cook your skinned breasts/breasts and thighs, skim off the fat ahead of time and cut down time and calories tremendously.

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HUH?

[qualitygal]

I do the dumplings (cut in 1/4's) and they cook right along with the meal. They are placed on top at the beginning. It's wonderful tasting! Yours is different than how I do mine.

[IamMrsG]

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@151949 wrote:

@IamMrsG  I have been making recipes with dumplings all my life - being from German heritage - and ALWAYS you drop the dough into the boiling broth. The outside will be wet but the inside will be cooked and very fluffy.

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@151949   I based my advice to you--which I stand behind, BTW--on the words you chose for the subject line, "First time ever..."   My intent was to prevent what seemed to be a novice from having disappointing results.

Apologies for intruding.  Enjoy your dumplings.

[CelticCrafter]

Just my own experience and opinion, chicken breast in the crock pot for a total of 6 hours is way too long, even if it's going to be shredded. 

[Tigriss]

I can not tell  you how many pots of chicken and dumplings I have made over the years from childhood forward.  I do it from scratch, and it takes two days.  I first cook my hen (I use a hen because hens are older and have more fat than chickens.  You want the fat to develop the flavors.) in my crock pot with bone/reg. broth on low for 8 hours until it comes off the bone easily.  I pull the chicken out to cool and pour up the broth to cool overnight in the fridge (this develop the flavors and lets you pull the fat off very easily).  I clean the chicken meat from the bones, skin, and cartilage.  I'm very picky and clean it carefully.  I hate to get a bite of gristle when I eat mine.  I tear/cut the chicken into bite/small size pieces and put them into a ziploc bag and into the fridge.  On day two, I pull out the broth and skim the fat, then bring to a boil on the stove in a large pot (the dumplings need room to move about).  While that boils, I mix up about a cup of flour, an egg, and just enough water to bring it into a dough.  I roll that out thin and cut my dumplings layering them onto wax paper on a sheet pan for dropping into the broth later.  When the broth boils, drop your dumplings one at a time and not on top of each other so they don't stick.  When they have cooked a bit, I drop the chicken in to warm (I usually pull it out when I start to come up to room temperature).  When the dumplings are cooked, I turn to low/keep warm until ready to serve.  It is time consuming, but very good.  You can put a bit of turmeric in to tint the broth a great shade of yellow.

[151949]

It turned out great. The dumplings cooked 30 min and were perfect. The flour used to keep them from sticking when I rolled them out thickened the gravy perfectly. DH had 3 servings. We ate every last morsel of it!. It was so simple - I'll definitely make it again. 

Sitting here now watching a gorgeous coral sunset over our lake while I finish my tea. Life is good.Tomorrow is NYE - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

[Kachina624]

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@ECBG wrote:

It takes longer to cook a whole chicken than chicken breasts.  Next time you could cook your skinned breasts/breasts and thighs, skim off the fat ahead of time and cut down time and calories tremendously.

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I'VE never liked the rolled out dumplings.   I've always cooked my chicken in the pressure cooker for 20 minutes as opposed to 5 hours in a crock pot.   I then drop my dumpling dough into the broth,  cooking 5 minutes with lid off and then steaming 5 minutes with lid on.   That's it and I have big,  fluffy dumplings.   I don't care for the doughy ones. 

[RedTop]

Love chicken and dumplings.   My family always made rolled and cut dumplings.   My husband and I prefer a dropped dough dumpling.   

[Bjjo]

I do the same, a tigriss😀