https://zoeycooks.com/pepper-belly-pete-chicken-and-dumplings-recipe/PEPPER BELLY PETE CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
This is pepper belly pete chicken and dumplings, the real one, not the one with fancy herbs and all that.
i have been cooking this for years. catered I, messed it up more times than i can count, so listen close.
Firstly, get a rotisserie chicken from the store. pete himself does it, pull all the meat off when you get home, use your hands, throw the skin and bones away, put the meat in a bowl and stick it in the fridge till you need it.
Now the rest
you need one stick of butter unsalted, if you only got salted just don’t add more salt later.
one gallon of chicken broth, low sodium, i keep saying low sodium because that rotisserie chicken is already salty and if you use regular broth your whole pot will taste like the ocean.
one big can of cream of chicken soup, the 22 ounce one, yes canned soup, i don’t care what the food snobs say. it works and it’s fast.
three small cans of buttermilk biscuits, the cheap ones, not the flaky layers kind. just regular.
like a cup or two of flour, just regular flour.
now vegetables, chop all this before you do anything else.
two cups celery, two cups carrots, two cups onion, chop them all the same size so they cook even.
four cloves garlic, smash and chop very well.
two cups green onion, both parts, the white and the green.
Seasoning,
- one tablespoon black pepper
- one tablespoon poultry seasoning
- one teaspoon seasoned salt, and a few sprigs of fresh thyme if you got it, if not dried is fine just use one teaspoon.
Cooking processes
get your biggest pot, medium heat, drop that butter in, let it melt.
throw in all the vegetables. the celery carrots onion garlic and green onions, stir it.
let this cook for like twenty minutes, stir every few minutes, you want them soft, not brown, if they start browning turn the heat down.
after twenty minutes pour in the whole gallon of broth, add the cream of chicken soup, stir till no white chunks left.
add all your seasonings. pepper poultry seasoning seasoned salt thyme. stir.
turn the heat up a little till you see little bubbles, not a rolling boil. just little bubbles.
now the dumplings, this is where everybody messes up including me for like two years straight.
open your biscuit cans, take one biscuit, flatten it with your hand. not too flat. just push it down a little. cut it into four strips. drop the strips into the flour bowl and coat every side. shake off the extra.
do that with all the biscuits. yes all of them. yes it takes a minute.
now drop each strip into the simmering broth one by one. don’t dump them. they’ll stick tpetether.
after theyre all in stir once. gently. just one time. then put the lid on.
and here it is. the hard part. leave it alone for thirty minutes. dont lift the lid. dont stir. dont peek. i know you want to. dont.
after thirty minutes take the lid off. dumplings should be floating and puffy. if they look like little pillows you did good. if they look like scraps you stirred too much or your broth was too hot.
now add your shredded chicken, stir slow.
turn off the heat. put the lid back on. wait ten minutes. this is not optional. the broth thickens in these ten minutes.
then serve, deep bowl.
now problems, because there’s always problems.
broth too thin? mix two tablespoons flour with quarter cup cold water. stir it smooth. pour it in after chicken but before resting. then rest ten minutes.
broth too thick? add more broth or water before you add the chicken.
If dumplings fell apart
There are two reasons why it was like that
one your broth was boiling too hard
two you didn’t use enough flour on the dumplings.
wanna make ahead, chop vegetables night before, shred chicken night before, don’t make dumplings ahead they get gummy, you can cook the whole stew without dumplings a day before, next day reheat then add fresh dumplings.
Leftovers, three days in fridge, reheat on stove low heat, add a splash of broth, don’t microwave, dumplings get rubbery.
Freezer, freeze without dumplings, make fresh ones when you thaw it.
what to serve, cornbread, maybe a salad with something sour, don’t serve bread and potatoes you already got dumplings that’s too much starch.
can you slow cooker? yes but you still have to cook vegetables on stove first, then everything except dumplings and chicken in slow cooker, low six hours or high three, add dumplings and chicken last hour on high.
can you add other vegetables? Sure, peas corn small potatoes, spinach at the end.
