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Partridge with Old Fashioned Dumplings

If the last recipe I posted was a tribute to my Grandmother's cooking, then this one is a tribute to my own Mothers cooking. I remember Mom making us eat lots horrible stuff growing up ... stuff like beats, peas and green beans ... and we weren't allowed to get up until our plate was clean. I hated peas and still do ... a lot of times I'd end up just hiding my peas around the house, in a window seal or under a place mat, needless to say ... I got in trouble a lot. My parents had bought an expensive dining room set when they were stationed in Germany. The table was wooden, with a dark stain, I remember the fancy, decorative cravings it had. The chairs were also made of wood, with a green felt like material over the seats that was fastened to the chair with hammered metal push pins. Underneath the chairs, were drilled holes, so the foam in the seats could breathe and compress when you sat in it. Those holes ... . were just big enough to fit peas in. I liked to sit in different chairs on nights we had peas, ones I knew weren't already stuffed with old peas.

While Mom did sometimes make us eat stuff we didn't like, there rnothing better then moms cooking. My mom actually cooked for us, it wasn't just TV dinners or things heated up from a package. She didn't always have the convenience of a microwave. With my brother and sisters, that was six mouths to feed. Mom did a good job of mixing things up too, it wasn't always the same thing every night of the week. To this day, if I go over to my Mom's house, the first thing she does is offer to cook something for me.

One of the meals she didn't have to force us to eat was her homemade Chicken and Dumplings. No holidays or family gathering is complete until mom makes this for us. It wasn't until recently that I even asked her for the recipe. Of course, she was like, I don't have a recipe and then tried her best to describe her method for making this. I took some notes, then tried to use them to create this Wild Partridge with Old Fashion Dumplings. It turned out really good and its pretty simple to make ... all the credit goes to my mom. I think any type of small game bird will work well in this recipe as long as you can get about 60-80 ounces of breast meat from them, but Pheasant, Partridge, Grouse or Chukar would be an excellent choice.

Ingredients

Partridge Stock

For Dumplings

Instructions

Step #1 Roughly chop Carrots, Celery, Onion.

Step #2 Season Partridge generously with Salt and Pepper.

Step #3 Place Partridge in bottom of stock pot.

Step #4 Add chopped Vegetables, Garlic and Bay Leaves to stock pot. Fill stock pot with 10 cups of water.

Step #5 Add Salt, thyme and dash of poultry seasoning to stock then bring to a boil.

Step #6 Reduce to simmer and cook for roughly 20 minutes or until Partridges are done, about 155-160 degrees.

Step #7 Remove Partridges from simmering stock and allow to cool, but allow stock to continue cooking.

Step #8 When birds are cool to the touch, peel breast meat from birds' carcasses and set meat aside.

Step #9 Optionally - If you want to instill even more flavor in your stock, consider adding bird carcasses back to stock pot and let simmer for another 1 or 2 hours covered. Occasionally skim the fat off the top of the stock.

Step #10 After simmering stock, put another empty stock pot in sink and set a colander over top of it. Pour stock mixture through colander, so the bird carcasses and vegetables are captured by colander. You can discard everything the colander captures.

Step #11 Consider restraining through another colander lined with paper towels to remove small particles.

Step #12 You should be left with a brownish liquid stock, with no large chunks or debris floating in it.

Step #13 Set your sauce pot back on the stove and allow it to slowly come up to a boil on low medium heat.

Step #14 While it's heating up, start making your dumplings.

Step #15 Combine Flour, baking powder and salt.

Step #16 Cut butter into dry mixture with pastry blenders.

Step #17 Add milk, mixing with spatula.

Step #18 If dough seems too loose, add a little more flour until you get a good consistency.

Step #19 Once milk and flour are combined, dump out onto well-floured surface.

Step #20 Flour a rolling pin and roll dough so it's flat and a little thicker than a pie crust.

Step #21 Using a floured pizza cutter or knife, cut dough into even strips about 1 inch thick, they should look like really thick pasta noodles.

Step #22 Take your long, 1-inch thick strips and cut those into sections about 2" long, you should end up with dumplings roughly 1" x 2", it doesn't matter if they aren't perfect.

Step #23 Make sure stock is boiling and drop dumplings into stock 1 or 2 dumplings at a time, stirring the whole time.

Step #24 Cook for 30 minutes or until dumplings are not doughy any longer.

Step #25 Turn off heat and add cooked partridges back.

Step #26 Sprinkle in Thyme and salt to taste then serve with fresh chopped parsley.

Recipe Card

Partridge with Old Fashioned Dumplings

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 20 min - Cook Time: 45 min

Ingredients

Partridge Stock

5-6 Partridge, Chukar of other small game bird

3 Whole Carrots

3 Celery Stalks

1 Yellow Onion

3 clove(s) Garlic

2 Bay leaves

10 cup(s) Water

1 tsp Poultry seasoning

Fresh Thyme

Salt

Pepper

1 bunch Bunch Fresh Parsley, Chopped

For Dumplings

2 cup(s) All Purpose Flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup(s) Milk

2 tbsp Butter

Instructions

Step #1 - Roughly chop Carrots, Celery, Onion.

Step #2 - Season Partridge generously with Salt and Pepper.

Step #3 - Place Partridge in bottom of stock pot.

Step #4 - Add chopped Vegetables, Garlic and Bay Leaves to stock pot. Fill stock pot with 10 cups of water.

Step #5 - Add Salt, thyme and dash of poultry seasoning to stock then bring to a boil.

Step #6 - Reduce to simmer and cook for roughly 20 minutes or until Partridges are done, about 155-160 degrees.

Step #7 - Remove Partridges from simmering stock and allow to cool, but allow stock to continue cooking.

Step #8 - When birds are cool to the touch, peel breast meat from birds' carcasses and set meat aside.

Step #9 - Optionally - If you want to instill even more flavor in your stock, consider adding bird carcasses back to stock pot and let simmer for another 1 or 2 hours covered. Occasionally skim the fat off the top of the stock.

Step #10 - After simmering stock, put another empty stock pot in sink and set a colander over top of it. Pour stock mixture through colander, so the bird carcasses and vegetables are captured by colander. You can discard everything the colander captures.

Step #11 - Consider restraining through another colander lined with paper towels to remove small particles.

Step #12 - You should be left with a brownish liquid stock, with no large chunks or debris floating in it.

Step #13 - Set your sauce pot back on the stove and allow it to slowly come up to a boil on low medium heat.

Step #14 - While it's heating up, start making your dumplings.

Step #15 - Combine Flour, baking powder and salt.

Step #16 - Cut butter into dry mixture with pastry blenders.

Step #17 - Add milk, mixing with spatula.

Step #18 - If dough seems too loose, add a little more flour until you get a good consistency.

Step #19 - Once milk and flour are combined, dump out onto well-floured surface.

Step #20 - Flour a rolling pin and roll dough so it's flat and a little thicker than a pie crust.

Step #21 - Using a floured pizza cutter or knife, cut dough into even strips about 1 inch thick, they should look like really thick pasta noodles.

Step #22 - Take your long, 1-inch thick strips and cut those into sections about 2" long, you should end up with dumplings roughly 1" x 2", it doesn't matter if they aren't perfect.

Step #23 - Make sure stock is boiling and drop dumplings into stock 1 or 2 dumplings at a time, stirring the whole time.

Step #24 - Cook for 30 minutes or until dumplings are not doughy any longer.

Step #25 - Turn off heat and add cooked partridges back.

Step #26 - Sprinkle in Thyme and salt to taste then serve with fresh chopped parsley.

About the Author

Jeff Davis

You may think cooking and recipes don’t have much to do with a website dedicated to hunting dogs ... but really, why do we hunt? Sure, we enjoy watching our dogs work in the field and being outdoors, but ultimately, hunting is about survival and feeding our families. We might as well try to do it well. I'm not a chef and definitely no food authority ... but I do like to eat and enjoy cooking. After searching for people willing to share their recipes on Gundog Central, without much success, I decided to try to do a few on my own, with my wife Tami's help. The recipes I share here are things I like to eat and have made here at home. I've tried to include step-by-step instructions with each meal describing exactly how I did it, but my method may not be best, if you decide to try a recipe posted here, please use whatever technique you think works best, I'm simply sharing how I did it. You'll see a lot of recipes where I've tried to make things from starch, when I could have just used store bought ingredients, simply because I wanted to learn how something was done. My goal is to continually update these recipes as I learn new things and techniques. These are my attempts at creating good, home cooked food, that I would like to eat! If I'm sharing it here, my family and I enjoyed it and I believe you will too.