Grandma's Chicken n' Dumplings

A reunion with family and the opportunity to travel to the area where my Scotch-Irish ancestors settled during the 1800's always makes me think of my grandmothers recipe for Chicken n' dumplings...



















Will anyone really know where recipes originally come from, as they are passed down ingredients and things have changed? I know the history of this dish in our family goes as far back as my great-great grandfather, John Akin, who traveled from Tennessee to Texas to make his fortune; where food like this founds its way on to our tables. His wife made them, and taught their daughter-in-law; then it was passed down to my grandmother, and then to her son's wife, my own mother. Chalked full of chicken and yummy handmade dumplings or pinched biscuit dough; they clearly have not changed my memories.
























My friend's husband and man of the house this past week (in Texas), Randy had asked if I could make some good ole chicken n' dumplings. My grandmother had made them so many times they had become a symbol in my mind of hospitality and love…how could I refuse. There are many recipes for this dish, but I decided to try rolling out my dumplings over her biscuit version. This dish is hearty, was, and is an inexpensive way to feed large families, and since we were expecting a large crowd...chicken and dumplings it was.


















A mention of today’s modern home style Texas cooking brings to mind greasy enchiladas, home grown tomatoes, chicken fried steaks with milk gravy, and a long neck beer or tall glass of sweet iced tea to wash them down. Chili, BBQ, and Tex-Mex are classic Texas food groups, but there is also a strong traditional style of cooking with its roots in Southern cuisine but with a uniquely Texas flavor. Many of these dishes were brought over by immigrants and slaves.





















Texas cooking also has a style all its own, influenced by its proximity to Mexico, Native Americans, cowboys, and a frontier spirit. In its beginnings hundreds of years ago original dishes were influenced by settlers from all over the world. Mainly German and Austrian cultures that brought us dishes like dumplings and veal cutlets smothered in gravy.

Those who came to the Lone Star state to seek their fortune, but left more of their culinary mark. The simplicity of seasonings and ingredients clearly represent region of Eastern Europe, and many of these settlements are still standing strong around our great state.

Also popular in the mid-west and southern regions, but also found in many Pennsylvania Dutch kitchens as noodles in a rich chicken stews.


























The popularity of this dish spread to the Pioneers and Cowboys who traveled long hot trails. The food had to be just as rugged with things such as flour, sugar, beans, beef jerky, sometimes corn, and they picked up fresh water and lard for cornbread, tortillas, rabbit stew, and any other varmint they might happen to shoot along the way.

Vegetables and seasonings were often a luxury, and might be why stews and other dishes like this one were barely flavored by the bones of the chicken. On many occasions it was one pot cooking; unless they came across someone or place that was willing to trade a thing or two. If they were invited into a home, or ate at a local eatery that served this dish, well, they were probably more than happy with its meager ingredients.


One Pot Chicken n' Parsley Dumplings

1 large hen, about 5 lbs.
1 onion -- quartered
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper -- to taste
2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 egg -- beaten slightly
1 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter -- additional
1/3 cup parsley leaves -- very finely minced
1/3 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons butter -- additional

Disjoint the hen as though it were a frying chicken. Place it in a large pot with the onion, bay leaf, water to cover by 2 inches and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil; reduce heat immediately to low and simmer until the bird is tender. Remove chicken. Cut the meat from the bones in large pieces and reserve. Strain the broth and return 6 cups to the pot.

Now sift flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and baking powder together into a bowl. Combine egg, melted butter and milk, adding parsley as well; beat together and add to dry ingredients. Work to a good dough like consistency, turn out on a floured board and roll to somewhat less than 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into strips 2 x 3 inches.

Bring broth to a good simmering heat; do not boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons flour rubbed with 2 tablespoons extra butter. Cook, stirring, until smooth and thickened. Add the dumplings a few at a time, sliding them down into the hot broth. Continue until all are in. Cover tightly and cook 20 minutes without lifting the lid. Arrange the cut-up chicken on a deep platter, spoon on the dumplings and cover with as much of the delectable sauce as you desire.

A little bit of history: Many upper class back when had considered this dish a 'poor' mans country food, and did not want to see it on menus of higher standard eateries in cities. The meal was messy and slurping of the stew was considered just plain bad manners.

My feelings...this is a great comfort food, and who cares how or what we eat, as long as mom's and grandmas continue to keep us warm, well feed, healthy, and embedded with lots of these kinds of memories...

Dublin,Texas?

As a kid I remember the joys of getting that ice cold drink at the country market on the way to our favorite, well my dad's favorite...fishing hole...and. if you were really lucky it was not just a 'coke', my dad's favorite...










(my 'friend's cute grandson)







You got a 'Dr. Pepper Float' once you arrived home...and believe me, I love my root beer floats, but something about this that brings back even more memories...


















On my visit, I was reminded that the original and oldest Dr. Pepper plant was still producing the original Pure Cane Sugar Dr. Pepper recipe bottles...and how many Texans still love this old nostalgia treat!

I also used a bottle to marinate some beef ribs overnight in the fridge...



















...pour a little into your 'bake bean' recipe instead of brown sugar...



















...after being on the grill I added some Dean Fearing's Mop Sauce that had a 'Molasses' base, and we decided I should have left them just as they were (made it too sweet), or used a spicy 'hot' based BBQ sauce to the 'sweet' Dublin Dr. Pepper base marinade...they were still tender, and juicy!



















HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO EVERYONE!!!


Dublin Dr. Pepper History:

In 1885 Waco, Texas was a wild frontier town, nicknamed “six-shooter junction.” Wade Morrison’s Old Corner Drug Store was a prominent business and popular meeting place in downtown Waco. People came in for everything from flea powder to stationery, from cigars to fountain drinks.

One of Morrison’s employees, pharmacist Charles Alderton, noticed how customers loved the smell of the soda fountain with its many fruit, spice and berry aromas. He wanted to invent a drink that tasted the wonderful way the soda fountain smelled. After much experimentation he finally felt he had hit on “something different.” Patrons at the drug store agreed.

Soon other soda fountains were buying the syrup from Morrison and serving it. People loved the new unnamed drink and would order it by simply calling out “shoot me a Waco!” But Morrison named it Dr Pepper, after the father of a girl he had loved back in his home state of Virginia.

In 1891 Morrison and new partner Robert Lazenby organized the Artesian Manufacturing and Bottling Company in order to bottle and sell Dr Pepper as well as other soft drinks. That same year, while visiting Waco, a Texas businessman by the name of Sam Houston Prim tasted the new fountain drink and knew he wanted to sell it in his bottling plant in Dublin, Texas, 80 miles to the west.

Under the direction of Mr. Lazenby, Dr Pepper enjoyed steady growth in sales and began to spread in popularity across the country. But it wasn’t until 1904 that Dr Pepper gained real national exposure. Along with other soon to be favorites like ice cream cones and hamburgers, Dr Pepper was introduced to the rest of the U. S. and the entire world at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis.

Since then Dr Pepper’s popularity has grown consistently over the years to become one of the top 3 soft drinks in the United States and the No. 1 non-cola. And over that time Dr Pepper Corporate Headquarters have remained here in Texas. That’s why Dr Pepper can truly claim the title of “Texas Original.”

The Story of “Mr. Dr Pepper”*

Bill Kloster never studied marketing. The words goals, objectives, strategies and tactics weren't part of his vocabulary.

He didn’t promote his product from a textbook; he promoted it from his heart — a concept that would have left marketing gurus cringing. Except that it worked.

Bill Kloster operated on instinct that was so on target that his tiny three-county Dublin Dr Pepper franchise is continuously among the top 10 producers in per capita consumption.

Bill knew his business. He started at the bottling plant when he was 14 years old — a job necessitated by the death of his father and his need to help support his mother and four siblings. For the next 67 years, including the day he died, he put in long, hands-on hours, focusing on quality control, community involvement and his own unique style of sometimes blustery, sometimes covert public relations.

Bill started as a bottle sorter for 10 cents an hour. He got his first painful lesson in economics when he dropped a pallet of glass bottles. After the damages were deducted from his paycheck, he took home mere pennies — his first paycheck. Before long, plant owner Sam Houston Prim took the young man under his wing, becoming a surrogate father as he watched Bill grow into manhood and into a self-styled promoter of Dublin Dr Pepper.

From the bottle sorting chores, Bill worked his way up to production manager. After a tour of duty in Europe during World War II, he returned to become general manager of the plant which was then operated by Prim’s daughter, Grace Prim Lyon.

Mrs. Lyon died in 1991 on the dawn of the plant’s 100th birthday celebration, leaving the Dublin plant in Bill’s capable hands.

As the owner, Bill continued to emphasize those same values he had learned as a young man. He held on to the original drink formula, the antiquated bottling equipment, and a massive assortment of Dr Pepper collectibles which became his passion. Through the years, he used those elements to develop a successful enterprise and a popular tourist attraction. And most important, he built a fiercely loyal following for Dublin Dr Pepper around the world. The media were drawn to him like bees to honey and dubbed him “Mr. Dr Pepper.”

When bottom line indicated the tiny Dublin plant should give up Imperial Pure Cane Sugar in exchange for less expensive corn sweeteners, Bill balked. He continued to subscribe to the country theory of “dancin’ with who brung ya,” refusing to change the recipe which has always given the local product its unique taste. Bill Kloster, the Dublin bottling plant, and Dublin Dr Pepper remained true to themselves.

The story was widely told that when his wife Iona told Bill he was drinking too much sugar and should switch to the sugar-free variety, he secretly had the regular Dr Pepper put into diet bottles which he stocked in his home refrigerator.

Residents of the community and the region enthusiastically support what they consider “their” Dr Pepper. But Bill was no less enthusiastic about giving back. Seldom does a community event take place without Dr Pepper, usually provided as a donation to a worthy cause. Most of the major projects in the area had a Dr Pepper signature somewhere, even though many of Bill’s contributions were done inconspicuously and, by his choosing, without fanfare.

Bill always spent long hours at the Dr Pepper plant. But following the death in 1995 of Iona Kloster, his beloved wife of 54 years, he dedicated himself to the expansion of the museum collection and the promotion of Old Doc’s Soda Shop.

The years took no apparent toll on Bill mentally, but he deeply resented the physical limitations caused by arthritis. He wore out the knees he came with, and several replacement knees as well. He rarely fussed about the pain, but he fussed often about the inconvenience, particularly when he had to take time out for surgery and rehabilitation. In the summer of 1999, he underwent his last knee surgery. As he began the therapy which would put him back on his feet, he suffered a severe heart attack, followed by several more. His doctors were not optimistic about his survival, much less his recovery.

But miraculously, Bill survived and returned to work, leaping headlong into the development of the commemorative 2000 calendar. He wanted this millennium calendar to be a tribute to the four young ladies who have worn the title of Pretty Peggy Pepper, his favorite advertising icon.

Bill died suddenly on Sept. 27, 1999 after a full day at the bottling plant where he had spent the day approving designs for this 2000 calendar. He is gone only in the physical sense; the echo of his chuckle and the shadow of the wide grin that accompanied his favorite Dr Pepper stories will always be felt in the oldest Dr Pepper plant in the world.

Bill Kloster was a man of conviction. When small bottlers have been gobbled up by conglomerates, the tiny, independent Dublin Dr Pepper plant remains. Its signature product is produced just like it was more than 100 years ago. Bill wasn’t afraid of bucking marketing trends because he believed in the unique quality of his product.

No, it wasn’t the textbook way of doing things.

But it was Bill Kloster’s way.

*Text from the 2000 Dublin Dr Pepper calendar