Chicken and Dumplings | Chicken and Dumplings Recipes | Chicken and Dumplings Recipe

Trim and cut the celery ribs in half. Peel the onion and leave whole. Place the chicken, celery, onion and peppercorns in a very large pot. Add water to barely cover the chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook about 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Remove chicken from broth and store in refrigerator. Remove the celery, onion and peppercorns from the broth. Store the broth in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. The recipe may be made up to this point and held for several days before proceeding.

Remove all skin and bones from the chicken and put aside. Skim the solidified fat from the broth and put in a small saucepan over low heat to melt. Place the broth, reserved chicken and parsley in a very large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Taste for salt and add up to a tablespoon if needed.

Make the dumplings: In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder and melted chicken fat. Gradually add milk until dough reaches a good consistency for rolling. The dough should be slightly less firm than a pie crust. If the dough seems too wet add a little flour. If too thick, add a little more milk.

On a well-floured surface, working with half of the dough at a time, roll the dumplings out as you would a pie crust. Cut into long strips or squares as you prefer. Drop dumplings individually into gently boiling chicken stock. Continue until all the dough is used.

Cook approximately 20 minutes or until dumplings are cooked through. Stir several times while cooking to keep dumplings separated, but be careful not to break the dumplings when you stir.