Grandmas Chicken Gumbo
Make a dark roux with 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of oil.
(You can buy ready made roux but homemade is the best)(If you don't know how to make a dark roux Alton Brown has instructions on his show A Bowl of Bayou.)
1-1/2 gallons water
1 large hen (an old hen makes the best gumbo)
6 chicken bullion cubes
2 pounds of good smoked sausage (Cut into bite size pieces)
1 large onion (Chopped)
1 bell pepper
2 tablespoons liquid smoke (leave this out if using smoked meat)
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 bunch parsley (chopped)
1 bunch green onions (chopped)
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut the chicken in half and place it in a large stockpot with the water and the rest of the ingredients. Simmer uncovered for about three hours or until chicken is tender and falling off the bone, remove the chicken from the pot place it in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator to cool. Turn the fire off under the pot, allow to sit while chicken is cooling, all the fat will rise to the top.
With a large spoon skim fat off the top of the gumbo.
Pick the chicken off the bone and add it back to the pot and heat it through; season with salt and pepper to taste.
You can substitute just about anything for the chicken. Wild game works very well, squirrels, ducks, geese, rabbits, turkey, quail, pheasant. Just make sure to simmer it long enough to get it tender.
Serve over rice in soup bowls.
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Southern Living CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
Makes 8 servings
Top-Rated Recipe, November 2001
Southern Living On-Line
1 (3 1/2-pound) whole chicken, cut up
2 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided
3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
3 cups self-rising flour (I just use all-purpose flour and add 3 tsp. baking powder)
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/3 cup shortening
2 teaspoons bacon drippings
1 cup milk
COVER chicken with water, and bring to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and next 3 ingredients; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 hour for a grocery store hen or at least 3 hours for an old hen. Remove chicken, reserving broth in Dutch oven; cool chicken. Skim fat from broth; bring to a simmer.
SKIN, bone, and coarsely chop chicken. Add chicken, bouillon, and remaining salt and pepper to broth. Return to simmer.
COMBINE flour and poultry seasoning in a bowl. Cut in shortening and bacon drippings with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Add milk, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened.
TURN dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1/8-inch thickness; cut into 1-inch pieces.
BRING broth mixture to a boil. Drop dumplings, a few at a time, into boiling broth, stirring gently. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer, stirring often, for 25 minutes. Prep: 30 min.; Cook: 1 hr., 30 min.
