1 Large Chicken (I prefer around 41/2-5 pounds)
3 cups self-rising flour
1/3 cup shortening
Milk

Boil the chicken in a large pot with celery leaves and
stalks (one or two),a carrot, and an onion....
this will give the broth a marvelous flavor.

Boil chicken 'til meat falls off the bone

Take chicken out of broth and set aside

Remove celery,carrot, and onion, then strain the broth.
I pour into a clean Dutch Oven...Pick the chicken meat off the bone and put into the broth.

Bring Broth to a boil.

While broth and chicken  is coming to a boil ...in a bowl measure out flour....cut the shortening into the flour with a fork or a pastry blender. Add milk until you have a sticky dough.

Generously flour a cutting board, countertop...whatever...and put sticky dough on it....play with it a little to just get the sticky out....then take a rolling pin.....covered in flour ....and roll out dough til very thin....this will make a big circle of dough bigger than a meatplatter...LOL....I mean thin too...like 1/4 inch
or less...then I rub flour all over the rolled out
dough...with a pizza cutter I cut the dumplins...first in strips then in squares....drop these dumpluns into the boiling water one at the time....when finished cut the stove down to medium or medium low (depending on your stove...mine is electric)...cook for 15 minutes COVERED...and do not peek!!!!
At the end of fifteen minutes take off lid...turn off dumplins....and break apart some of bigger dumplins with spoon....sprinkle generously with pepper..put
lid back on and let sit for about 30 minutes.....I tell ya....your family will go wild over this recipe!!!!! REAL Southern Goodness....*S*