Chef Houser’s Favorite Recipe

Bobo’s Chicken-N-Dumplings
Chicken
- 1 Whole chicken (3 pounds)
- 2t Salt
- 4 qt. Water
- 1 Yellow Onion, chopped
- 2 Jumbo Carrots, chopped
- 2 Celery Ribs, sliced
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 4 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
Dumplings
- 2 C Flour
- 2 T Baking Powder
- ½ t Baking Soda
- salt and sugar to taste (I change it depending on the meal)
- ½ lb. Unsalted Butter
- 2 C Buttermilk
Place the chicken, salt, water, vinegar, onion, carrots and celery in a large stockpot, adding more water, if necessary, to cover chicken. Bring to boil.Reduce heat; cover and simmer until meat nearly falls from the bones. Remove chicken from broth; allow to cool. Remove meat from bones; discard skin and bones. Cut meat into bite-size pieces and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients in food processor with butter. The consistency should be small beads, very course with no large chunks of butter. Place in a bowl and mix in buttermilk by hand. They can be pretty moist. Just add more flour to make them easy to handle.
Bring broth to boil (you should have about 4 quarts). Drop dumpling into boiling broth. Reduce heat to a slow simmer; cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover; cook until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean.
Return meat to broth and simmer for 5 more minutes.