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1.
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Place 5 cups of cold water in a large pot.
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Gently place the chicken half in the water, skin side up.
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Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning.
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Cover and bring to a boil.
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Reduce heat to medium and boil for 40 minutes.
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Remove the chicken from the pot with tongs and place on a baking sheet to cool.
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2.
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Add 1 cup milk to the broth and bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
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3.
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While the liquid is heating, mix together the dumplings.
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In a medium sized bowl add the shortening to the flour.
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Using your hands, gently crumble the shortening into the flour until you reach the size of peas.
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Slowly stream in the remaining 1 cup milk while stirring with your hand.
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The mixture should be sticky but not runny.
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4.
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Once the broth liquid comes to a simmer, add tablespoon size balls of dumpling batter into the pot.
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DO NOT STIR!
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Leave the dumplings to gently cook in the liquid for 10 minutes.
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5.
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While the dumplings cook, remove the skin from the cooled chicken and begin to shred the chicken from the bones.
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Place the shredded chicken into a bowl until the dumplings are finished.
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6.
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Right before serving, gently stir the pot of dumplings.
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At this point, you have to be very careful or your dumplings will fall apart.
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7.
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To serve, place some of the dumplings in a bowl and top with shredded chicken.
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If you want to serve family style, as my Nana did, simply stir the chicken into the large pot and let everyone get their own.
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Note: I like to serve mine with extra black pepper.
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You will need to adjust salt and pepper to your taste as my family is not a fan of a lot of salt.
