Clara'S Chicken "N" Dumplings - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Young fat baking hen
3 cups flour
6 Tbsp. cooled melted butter
1 egg, beaten
12 Tbsp. water, cold

Preparation

Selecting the Chicken and the Kettle:
The first difference between great dumplings and mediocre dumplings is fresh ingredients.
Ideally, purchase a fresh \"young fat baking hen\" from your local butcher or from the grocer.
If you shop where they are not generally in stock, you can call ahead and they can order you one.
Using a frozen baking hen can be done, but absolutely do not use a \"fryer\" they are mostly bone and do not have the flavor of a young hen.
The size of the hen should be determined by the size of the kettle you will be boiling it in..it should be just big enough to fit the hen in breast up and at least 8 inches deep in a a soup kettle.
For a kettle which is about 12 inches wide, select an 8-10 pound hen.
The kettle should be of a heavy grade aluminum, iron, or stainless steel.
Using a thin kettle will result fast cooking which dries out the meat and dumplings sticking to the bottom or the sides and burning.