The Great Dumpling Debate

Jason and I are both native North Carolinians, so we were raised on a lot of similar food.  However, there are occasions when it's clear that we grew up on opposite sides of the state.  The most obvious instance is when defining "chicken and dumplings."

An Eastern Girl's View:

"Dumplings" is synonymous with "pastry."  The dumplings in chicken and dumplings are thin sheets.  Your final product should look like this.

A Western Guy's View:

"Dumplings" mean dropped dumplings, a dough that you drop into a pressure cooker and cook with the chicken.  This dough puffs up and becomes pillowy.  At least, this is what I gather from my cryptic hubster.  I *think* his final product would look like this.

I never knew people had other ideas of "dumplings."  I was made aware of this the first time I prepared said dish for Jason, to which he replied "This isn't chicken and dumplings."  After a back-and-forth tennis match of "Yes, it is," "No, it isn't," we agreed to disagree.  And I, the ever-devoted wife, went on a mission to make him the dumplings of his youth.

Two Swings and Two Misses:

~If I had my way, we'd keep eating the thin sheets.  I'm not ashamed to mention that I do not make these pastries from scratch.  My go-to pastries are Anne's Flat Dumplings, found in the freezer section of the grocery store.

Adding frozen pastry to your chicken broth

~I found a slow cooker recipe one time that called for pulling apart pieces of canned biscuits and adding to the chicken when it had about an hour left to cook.  I thought these would be similar to the pillowy dumplings Jason loves.... I was wrong.

Alton Brown Saves the Day (sorta):

While watching a rerun of "Good Eats" the other day, Alton Brown addressed the dumpling debate!  He said his mother and mother-in-law had VERY differing opinions on the dumplings in chicken and dumplings.  He called them slickers (Davenport POV) and floaters (or swimmers?  I can't remember) (Self POV).  His "floater" recipe sounded doable, so I thought I'd give it a try!

Two-Hour Meal?  Ha, Try 30 Minutes:

You can find his whole recipe for chicken and dumplings here.  I cheated a bit, since I had some leftover baked chicken and store-bought stock, which made the meal a LOT quicker to prepare!

The dumpling dough is butter, chicken stock, salt, flour, and eggs (PS, I love when recipes call for stuff I already have around the house!).  You mix them together (in a certain order, follow the recipe), transfer to a ziploc bag, and pipe 1" pieces into simmering broth.  I promise, the whole meal took less than a half hour to prepare.

Now, I will have to point out that I was close and the dumplings were tasty, but apparently still not like the ones Jason's Maw Maw makes.  Looks like I'm going to have to try again... and the Great Dumpling Debate Lives on.