Delaware's Version Of Chicken And Dumplings Looks A Little Different

As far as quintessential comfort foods go, dumplings might be the most ubiquitous. A dumpling, which can loosely be defined as a portion of dough that is rolled or folded and then cooked, is sometimes served in soup and sometimes contains soup. There's xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, pleated dough pockets protecting a hot, brothy center. There's pierogi, unleavened dough, often folded over potatoes or cheese. There's gyoza, wonton wrappers curled around a filling and then sealed. Even ravioli, square-shaped pasta encasing meat or cheese and topped with a complimentary sauce, might be considered a dumpling. 

Regions all across the United States have their own iteration of the savory, doughy dish. Chicken and dumplings are the American South's entry in the great dumpling debate. Recipes for chicken and dumplings date back to as early as the 1870s and often feature dense, fluffy biscuits and tender shredded chicken soaking in an aromatic broth. Delaware's chicken and slick dumplings are similar. However, when it comes to the "dumplings" the preparation process deviates a little. Rather than forming the dumplings into round rolls, the dough is shaped into wide, flat strips.

Chicken and dumplings are one of those recipes that are easily personalized and passed down from generation to generation, meaning there are countless iterations. The dish's origins are a bit nebulous. The slick chicken and dumplings tradition thrives in Delaware — where the cuisine is visibly influenced by its proximity to the Southern states — and the Appalachian region. Cracker Barrel's menu even lists a version of the dish that features chewy noodle-like slicks. Chicken and slick dumplings also closely resemble Pennsylvania Dutch pot pie, known as "bott boi," with its square egg noodles in a chicken stew.

Chicken and slick dumplings, or chicken and slickers, favor a classic sick-day chicken noodle soup. Hearty strips of flour are submerged in a basic broth, sometimes dotted with sliced carrots and celery. Typically, the chicken used to flavor the stock is sliced or shredded and then returned to the final stew. The addition of heavily-floured slickers further thickens the broth, resulting in a creamy bowl of comfort.