Wanted: Chicken and Noodles 967

E Jones

I'll do my best...

First, a little editorial: Most of the other recipes, while no doubt good, all sort of seem to cut corners a bit. Just my opinion.

Next, a little context: This is the way my material grandmother made chicken and noodles. My mother never got the hang of it, but I think I did. Cannot ever be as good as my grandmother, but I try.

This is one of several dinners that were always a staple Sunday dinner. My grandparents were both born in the 1910's, and raised two kids on a small farm in the middle of the Depression. Out of necessity, they had to make do with what they could.

And also keep in mind, this is a high fat, high carbs dinner. Something people who did hard physical labor and needed something to stick to their ribs in tough times.

First up: Noodles.

Dead simple, but hard to get the knack of. Eggs, a little salt, and general purpose flour. That's it. The simple part. Now the hard part. You mix the flour and eggs and salt together in a bowl. Some people just sift the flour out on a clean table, and make a little bowl right out of the flour. Mix the goo together with a fork, incorporating a little flour at a time until you get just the right consistancy. Now, you start in with the hands, kneading the dough until it has a certain elasticity. When you get it just right--and it's hard to describe, but with experience you'll know it--dust the remaining flour on the table and roll out the dough.

It's a matter of taste how thick or thin you roll the dough. But don't make them too thin; they'll disintergrate while cooking and turn to mush.

When the dough is rolled out to your liking, let them dry. This can take awhile if it's humid or cool. But they should be dry enough to be brittle at the edges.

Then, cut with a sharp knife into sheets about 4 inches wide and as long as the sheet. Stack the sheets, and then cut into ribbons. Again: Personal taste as to how narrow you cut them. One grandmother made her's thick and narrow, almost like a fat Japanese noodle, the other made them a little thinner and not as narrow.

When cut, shake off the excess flour and set aside for cooking.

Next, the chicken. Also, dead simple, but hard to do. They don't make chickens as fat as they used to. There used to be something called a "stewing hen"; an older fatter chicken. On the farm, you used an old hen that just wasn't laying eggs well anymore. The older and fatter, the more flavor.

Today, all you can find in a store is something called a "fryer"; skinny, and mostly tasteless. If you're not lucky enough to own your own chickens, or live near an old-fashioned farm, look in the Kosher section of the frozen foods section and look for some chicken fat (rendered or not).

Clean the chicken and then in a large stock pot, boil the hell out of the chicken until it falls off the bone. You can season the water with salt, of course, or add veggies, but my grandmother never did. When done, take off the heat and remove the chicken to a platter for later serving. Depending upon taste, strain the little chicken bits out of the water (or not).

Put the pot back on the stove and bring it to a rolling boil. Slowly add the dried noodles. Stir a bit to make sure they don't stick together. No need for a roux or thicken with corn starch. The flour stuck to the noodles will serve as the thickener. Now, some people will think this makes the resulting "gravy" too "starchy" or "paste-y." I think it does too, if the chicken isn't flavorful enough or you don't cook the noodles long enough. And with enough chicken fat, you get some thickening from the fat and flour cooking together (a ready-made really blonde roux).

It's another "experiences teaches all" thing on exactly how many noodles to use. Some people like more noodles, less gravy, others the reverse (I'm a more gravy sort of guy myself).

Serve the noodles over mashed potatoes (make a "volcano" with a fork first and drop in a big pat of butter first!), or over freshly baked home-made biscuits, or over toast or even just a big thick slice of freshly baked home-made bread. Serve the chicken on the side.

Yes, I've seen that some have said that over mashed potatoes isn't the right way. But it's what my grandmother did, so in my book, it's the right way.

Leftovers are great. This is usually when we didn't have any potatoes left, and used toast or bread instead.

As a busy adult without the room or time to roll out the noodles myself, I've tried to make something similar with dried store-bought "plastic" noodles. You know the ones, in the clear cellophane bags. It's not the same. And I've even tried doing a roux, a cream sauce, or packaged chicken gravy (Knorr is a great mix). But again, not quite the same as I remember. I'm not sure if it's just a faulty memory as I get older, but a big part of me honestly believes that it's because it's just not Grandma's recipe.

Enjoy!