Paul, thanks so much for this post. Reading the story, and looking at the photos brought me back home to our family farm when I was a little girl. I remember I used to love hanging out in the barn during milking, and squirting a little milk to one of the barn cats who always seemed to show up for the event. The things that entertain you when you're a kid! :laugh:
My grandma taught me to mix and roll the dough, and cut the squares for dumplings. It was
her grandma's recipe, and I still use the same one today. They never do come out exactly the same when I make them, though, because grandma's recipe was so old, I guess it was before she ever had actual measuring cups. The recipe called for "scoops" rather than cups, and she only had one size scoop. She'd always put in so many scoops, and then add "maybe a little more" if the dough seemed too wet depending on current humidity, I guess. Anyway, trying to equate "cups" to "scoops" has been a challenge. I still don't know what the actual measurement would be, so I find myself adding "maybe a little more" just the way she used to. They always come out great. :thumb:
Donnie's comments about the flour smudges on Sharon's hands struck a note with me, too. Looks just like grandma's and mine when we made the dough. My daddy always said you knew you were cheatin' while making the dumplings if you walked away from the kitchen counter without "flour on yer belly". :becky: Isn't that the sweetest expression? Still not real sure exactly what he meant, but there hasn't been a time when I've made them that I didn't manage to get flour on my belly, on my arms, on my face.... lol. Making dumplings was never the neatest job in the kitchen.
When you made mention of the coffee can with bacon grease in it, I never gave it a thought. Mine isn't in a coffee can or on the stove, but I've always had a mason jar full of "drippin's" in the fridge. Guess that's not the common place most other folks keep theirs, but my mama always had me putting it there when I was young, and just never did anything else. Takes a few seconds longer when I put it in the skillet, but still tastes just fine. :grin:
Chicken and dumplings was the first chicken meal I ever learned to make, and was what my grandma called "a teachin' dish" because it showed me how to cut up a whole chicken so that every single part of the chicken got used, and nothing went to waste. She didn't believe in buying "parts" at a market because they'd charge so much. "Besides", she used to say, "yer gittin' gyped out of yer bones and yer fat if'n ya don't git the whole thing. How're ya gonna make yer fixin's without the good stuff? Hmmm?"
Grandma showed me how one chicken would make several meals, and stretch the family budget. My dad was the youngest of nine kids, and was born in 1928, so his earliest memories are of the depression. My parents and grandparents were all about stretching the family budget, and passed that on to me and my four brothers. I remember they were always resistant to using paper towels because they felt it was a horrible waste of trees and paper. My mom and dad do use paper towels in their kitchen now, but you'll always see at least one or two damp paper towels drying on the counter to be used a second time in their kitchen... and in mine. Old habits die hard. :wink:
Grandma taught me to cut the chicken into pieces. She'd say, "You use them breasts for yer fancy meal when yer beau comes a courtin'." lol Legs and thighs were for batter dipped fried chicken dinners. Backs, butts, necks and wings with the skin left on were for stewing to make soup. She showed me how to skim the fat off to be used for the rue when starting the dumpling gravy. The bones were saved to make the stock for soup and the dumpling gravy. Not a single thing went to waste. She taught me well.
Thanks, grandma! Not a day goes by I don't think of you, and miss you. And thanks, Paul and Donnie, for the nudge to reminisce about all of it again. What a pleasant post this has been! :hug:
