- 1 whole fryer chicken, cut into pieces
- 3 stalks celery, sliced (with leaves)
- 1 medium size onion, sliced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups Bisquick
- 2/3 cup milk
- Chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
- Thinly sliced carrot for garnish (optional)
- 1 tbsp. butter
Place the chicken pieces in a large pot with about 2 quarts of water or enough to cover. Bring the pot of chicken to a boil over medium heat and let boil uncovered for 45 minutes to an hour (longer if you need to add any water). Skim the top of the broth as necessary during the boiling process. If you reduce the heat before removing the chicken, you should be able to remove most of the fat by skimming the broth. Remove the chicken, when cooking is complete, with a slotted spoon and allow to cool. Turn off the heat temporarily and put the vegetables and seasonings into the broth.
When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones. I do this with a cleaver, however you can also use a fillet knife to get most of the meat separated from the bones. If necessary, cut the chicken meat into bite sized pieces and return to the broth. Next, turn on the heat to medium and bring the soup to a simmer.
While the soup is heating, prepare the dumplings as follows: Mix the Bisquick with the milk in a mixing bowl to make a dough. Once the soup is simmering, carefully drop a tablespoon of dough into the soup. The dough will rise with the heat and some of it will dissolve to thicken the broth. Continue adding tablespoons of dough until it is all used, forming dumplings in the process. After all of the dumplings have been added, simmer for 10 minutes and then add 1 tablespoon of butter. Cover and simmer an additional 10 minutes. The butter and covering seems to cause a reaction with the broth and dumplings that thicken and smooth the texture of the soup. Garnish and serve hot!
As a variation, add one thinly sliced carrot to the soup.
- Yields: 8 servings
- Preparation Time: 90 minutes