Delaware is a tiny, 95-mile-long coastal state situated on the eastern seaboard of the United
States. Considering the state is 35 miles wide at its thickest point, it's pretty wild that the
state's nearly $2 billion poultry industry supplies much of the region with its chickie
And I can almost guarantee that, unless you're from Delaware, you haven't tried dumplings like
this. Welcome back to Cooking the States, a series where we cook a famous dish from a different
state in every episode in an attempt to get to the bottom of the true identity of American food
Alright, so these dumplings are sorta kinda like noodles in chicken noodle soup, but we're
not gonna use any ag. To a large bowl, add 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 half teaspoon
of kosher salt, and this stuff. This modern marvel of food science is vegetable shortening
It's made by adding hydrogen to vegetable oils. It's odorless, it's flavorless, and often used to make pastry
Grab three tablespoons of it. Use your hands to mix in the salt, then pinch the shortening into the flour
This technique is very similar to making flour tortillas if you've ever done that. Make a small well in the middle of the bowl, then pour in half a cup of warm water
Use your hands to work the water into the flour mixture until it comes together, then plop the whole shididdley onto a clean surface
Knead the dough for a few minutes, just until it comes together and smooths out a bit
It's not going to ever come out to be super duper smooth at first, and it's gonna be quite tough, which is exactly why we're gonna rest it for at least 20 minutes
giving us a great opportunity to get working on our chicken soup. This is a three pound chickie
I've gone ahead and trimmed the skin up and made them look pretty for you. Plop the whole bird into a Dutch oven along with one peeled whole onion
My name is Wolverine Three carrots three sticks of celery and three cloves of garlic
This is a bouquet garni. It's just a fancy way of saying an herb sachet. I just tied some bay leaf, some thyme, some rosemary, and some parsley together
just so that it's easier to take out at the end. This is optional. You can leave them loosey-goosey all inside
It's going to be hard to sift them out later, but, you know, do you. Toss those herbs in, followed by a pinch of salt, a few cracks of BP
then pour enough stock or water to come up to the shoulders of the chickie, if you will
I used eight cups of chicken stock, then another four cups of water. Toss that all on the hob, covered, and simmer for 45 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked
Alright, it is now TTD. Time to dump-ling. Dust a clean surface with a little all-purpose flour, then set your dough on top
Roll the disk-o-dough out to about a quarter inch thickness or so. I warned you these aren't normal dumplings. They're much more closely related to noodles, but hey, I'm not from Delaware
So what do I know? Now using a long sharp knife pizza cutter or pasta roller as I've chosen
Slice out diamond shapes about two inches wide and three inches long the finished dumplings should look a little something like this
Inevitably, you're gonna have a couple missed shape in ones that may or may not look like the snowboarding brand that you wish
You were sponsored by as a little kid, but hey, they still taste good. Do not waste them
Onto a dusted sheet tray, those go. Cover them up and stash them in the fridge while we finish up the soup
By now the chicken should be cooked through so go ahead and remove that, pop it into a large bowl to cool down, get rid of those vegetables too
You can save them for later, chop them up and put them in the soup, or just get rid of them, they've done their job
Now is a fantastic time to clean the broth up a little bit. Go ahead and skim the scum off the top, it'll just make the soup taste a little cleaner and
not as gritty Once you left with just the broth go ahead and turn that heat up to a boil and let it reduce down a quarter This will take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes probably so don worry we going to do a few other things while that happens in the background
Now we're going to make what's called a slurry, which is just a mix of equal parts starch and water
That's one tablespoon each of cornstarch and H2O. Slurries allow the starch to evenly disperse into the soup without lumping up
They also thicken on contact, meaning the second the slurry touches the liquid that you intend to thicken, it will be at its maximum thickening power
Once the chicky has cooled down a bit, shred all the meat off the bones, and you can save those bones too and make stock down the road
They should still have plenty more flavor to give. Once your broth has reduced down a quarter or so, taste it and adjust seasoning with a little bit more salt and pepper
Then we're going to stir in that cornstarch slurry and add two tablespoons of unsalted butter and about a cup of the shredded chicken
At this point, the soup should be slightly thick, but still a bit runny, which is totally fine
The dumplings themselves and the flour stuck to them will only thicken the soup further
Drop in all of the dumplings, then cover and simmer on low for 15 minutes
Just enough time for the dump diddlies to cook through. When the dumplings are finished, they should be a very light yellow in color with a, you nailed it, slippery and almost shiny exterior
Just the right amount of light should pass through these little suckers, and if it doesn't, your dumplings might be a little too thick
The way I'm serving it here is not quite brothy and thin enough to be a soup, but these dumplings also are very far from the traditional southern style, so..
There are many variations on this dish. Some serve it like chicken noodle soup, others like a thick gravy with shredded chicken on top
I kind of went for something in the middle. Yeah, very unique thing here. What we're left with is a delicious, soul-cleansing, simple chicken and dumplings
Sorry chicken and slippery dumplings Quotes are on the dumplings I gotta try the broth first Oh yeah look at that
This is definitely like a crossbreed between gravy and soup. It's like kinda viscous, it is viscous
But it tastes like soup. Chickie's good of course. Let's go for a dump
Keep that. That's gorgeous. Got some flims to it, doesn't seem to want to crack in half, which is interesting
Mm. I can see why they're slippery, feel slippery. Not in a bad way though
Slippery is kind of a gnarly way to describe food. This is not very gnarly
Matter of fact, it's quite delicious. There's a lot of chicken noodle soup energy in here
but the difference being these aren't egg noodles. They're pretty much dumpling, right
It's dumpling dough. And the soup is a lot more viscous. Same flavors though, pretty much
but this is definitely its own thing. The chicken kind of sticks to the dumpling sometimes
I mean, I'm holding it with my fork, but there are like pieces on it too. Kind of see that there
There you have it, the first state's contribution to American food culture
chicken and slippery dippery dump diddles. Chicken and slippery dumplings. Remember if y'alls dug the episode
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If your home state is on the horizon, let me know what you think we should make. How would you like to see your home state represented
Let me know in the comments. Again, TY for watching, and I will see you next time