Chicken and Dumplings

On the subject of dumplings, Tom's enthusiasm is boundless. "Here's the controversy," he explains: "Is a dumpling a scoop or a strip? For traditionalists like my kids great grandmother, if she gets a dough scoop, its not chicken and dumplings. She insists on strips. For her, chicken and dumplings begins with broth and all. white meat. Bring it to a slow boil and then lay your dough strips on top. That part is a science, because if you don't have the right amount of flour in the strip, it wont hold up as intended. It takes a lot of time to make the ribbons right. The scoop is easier because you don't have to roll it out. However, with scoops, you run the risk of dumplings that are gooey I'll sit there with my wife and her mother and her mother's mother, three generations and they'll argue about how to make those dumplings. "The secret of good dumplings is to have stock at a slow boil, not a fast one. Too fast and you end up with a gooey ball inside."