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Between Friends

Bob Ann Breland

Most cooks now have their cornbread dressing prepared to eat with the turkey for Thanksgiving day. It may be made ahead of time and frozen or made on the day or the day before. It is a Thanksgiving Day staple.

Sometimes families also want another southern dish for the holiday — some call it chicken pie and others, chicken and dumplings.

Some cooks make it from scratch from a carefully calculated recipe. Others use frozen dumplings they buy at the supermarket. Some use flour tortillas, which are cut into pieces. They all work. Each will make a good chicken pie or chicken and dumplings, whichever you prefer.

As I was growing up, chicken pie was reserved for special occasions.  We had a few chickens and when time came for chicken pie, Mama would bravely catch a chicken, wring its neck and throw it under a down-turned washtub, where it flopped and flailed for a few minutes.

Then she plunged it into boiling water and scalded the creature, so the feathers would come off easily. She proceeded to pluck it, and then butcher it, which included all kinds of gross things I don’t care to remember.

Mama would take the plucked and thoroughly cleaned chicken, usually a mature hen or rooster, and boil it for a long time because it was usually tough. That flavor cannot be duplicated with the pale chicken carcasses of today. It takes aging to get that much flavor.

Practically nobody we knew owned a roasting pan. When one wanted to make that really big chicken pie for a family reunion or “Big Meeting,” at church, the biggest container for baking was a dishpan.

It wasn’t unusual. In fact, you could identify whose chicken pie you were eating by the dishpan. The pan was scrubbed to a fare-thee-well, scalded and then put on the stove holding the chicken, salt and enough water for boiling.

When the chicken was tender, the cook started dropping squares of thinly rolled dough into the boiling broth. Golden homemade butter was added as the dumplings simmered and lots of black pepper, milk or cream.

Never does a good cook stir the dumplings! Simply grab the side of the pan and give it a good shake to keep dumplings from sticking.

When they start to get firm, take the pan from the fire, roll out more dumplings and lay them on top. Brush melted butter on this “blanket” before the “pie” is placed in the oven and baked until the crust is golden brown.

I still get requests for this recipe. It is the one I use on the rare occasions when I still make this wonderful chicken dish.

CHICKEN PIE

1 large chicken, boiled tender and de-boned

At least 2 quarts chicken broth (saved from boiling chicken)

1 to 1 ½ sticks butter (or margarine)

1-pint milk or Half and Half

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

¼ cup vegetable shortening

1 egg

Extra milk

Place cooked and de-boned chicken in a large baking dish or pan. Mix flour, salt, ½ stick butter, shortening, egg and enough milk to make a soft pliable dough. (I usually break the egg into a measuring cup and add enough milk to make 1 cup.) You should be able to handle the dough without it sticking to your hands. If it is sticky, add a little more flour.

Divide dough into three equal parts. Roll out two parts (one part at a time) on floured surface until paper-thin. Cut into squares, using a knife or a pizza cutter. Drop dumplings one at a time into boiling broth, until all have been added. Don’t stir. Add black pepper as desired.

Shake pan gently every now and then to keep the dumplings moving and separate.  Boil gently until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes, or even a little more. (This will vary according to how thick or thin you roll the dumplings.) Dumplings should look cooked, not raw. Add the pint of Half and Half (or milk), adjust seasonings to taste. (Do not use evaporated milk. It makes the dumplings tough.) Sometimes I have to add a little more milk. It’s a judgment call.

Roll out the third part of the dough into a crust to cover the chicken pie. You can completely cover with one large crust, or cover with strips of the dough. Brush with butter and bake at 375 degrees until golden brown on top. Serves 8 to 10.

It may not be too late to make it for Thanksgiving! If your chicken pie never turns out right, try this one. It will be good – a baking dish will do and you won’t need a dishpan!