Dumplin's or Matzah Balls... You decide!

Let's make a comparison and then you choose which one you like best...

My Mama used to make Chicken and Dumplin's for her Daddy every Sunday. It was his favorite dish. He died when I was 8 years old. Mama was devastated and refused to make chicken and dumplin's again. One year, close to Christmas, Mama finally decided to make chicken and dumplin's. I was about 16 at the time. She cut her hand with a chef knife while cutting up the chicken  and had to go to the hospital to get stitches.


Here's a very old recipe for Chicken and Dumplin's:

Stew a chicken. When tender, pick the meat from the bones. Put meat in a large pan with tight fitting lid and add 4 cups of broth. Bring to boil.

Dumplings:

1 1/2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 tablespoons shortening

3/4 cup milk

Sift together dry ingredients and cut in the shortening. Stir in enough milk, mixing only to moisten the dough thoroughly. Drop by teaspoonfuls into boiling chicken broth. Dip the spoon into the boiling liquid first so that the dough will slide off easily. Cover pan tightly and cook 15 minutes. Enough for 6 servings.


**Notice with these OLD recipes, there are very few references to time and temperature. These were cooks who knew how to cook by smell, touch and taste. Times or temperatures were often a suggestion to young cooks.

Even older still is a recipe for Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls (or Matzah, the spelling varies) sometimes referred to as "Jewish Penicillin".

3# chicken
6 cups water
2 medium onions-chopped
6 stalks of celery-chopped
4 large carrots-chopped
1 pinch or paprika
1 bunch of parsley-chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

Matzo Balls:

1 1/2 cup matzo flour
1 cup cold water
3 eggs

Immerse chicken in boiling water and simmer,covered for 1 hour. Add remaining ingredients and continue simmering for 45 minutes. Remove chicken and cool so you can handle. Remove bones and shred the meat.
Return as much meat as you like to the pot and refrigerate over night.

While chicken is cooking make kneidlach.

Knead all ingredients to a smooth dough. Cover and refrigerate over night.

The next day, bring 1 gallon of salted water to a boil, roll dough into balls the size of ping pong balls and cook in the boiling water... Skim off fat from cooked chicken and heat up to serving temperature, add kneidlach and serve....


Now it's your turn...
Tell me your choice, your memories, your story!