While chicken is today among the less expensive meats found in your local grocery store, though none of them is cheap, there was a time when yard bird appeared on the family table only for special occasions. Chicken was normally served only for holidays, a birthday, Sunday dinner with the preacher in attendance (hence the title of this chapter), or a visit from a family member who had not been seen for some time. The lyrics which state “we’ll kill the old red rooster when she comes” and “we’ll all have chicken and dumplings when she comes” are suggestive in that regard, as is the wording of thankful remembrance written by the legendary singer/songwriter/storyteller Tom T. Hall and sung by Bobby Bare and numerous other country musicians, “Chicken every Sunday, Lord, chicken every Sunday.”
—Celebrating Southern Appalachian Food Recipes & Stories from Mountain Kitchens
Jim and I are counting down the days till our new cookbook is available for purchase directly from us or at various bookstores across the country.
Chapter 5 is all about chicken which is fondly called preacher bird for the tradition of serving chicken at Sunday dinners where the preacher was a guest.
There are 7 chicken recipes. I made one of them yesterday for supper: chicken and dumplings.
I love chicken and dumplings spooned over a piece of hot cornbread with some green beans on the side. That’s enough for me, but if you want to push the meal over the top the addition of mashed potatoes and pickled beets will do just that.
Jim and I have added a few more events to our list of book signings.
Here’s the updated list:
Mast General Store Book Signing Events
- May 6, 12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. – Waynesville, NC,
- May 13, 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. – Hendersonville, NC
- May 27, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Knoxville, TN
- June 10, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Roanoke, VA
- June 17, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. – Boone, NC
- June 17, 3:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. – Sugar Grove, NC
Other events
- June 1, 6:30 p.m. Swain County Genealogical & Historical Society – Bryson City, NC
- July 1, 3:00 p.m. City Lights Bookstore – Sylva, NC
Once I have cookbooks in hand I’ll share details of how to purchase one directly from me. Jim and I would love to meet you if you can make it to one of our events!
Last night’s video: Filling Raised Beds, Covering Cabbage, & Finding Monkeys in Appalachia.
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I have been watching your Celebrating Appalachia videos for nearly a year. It’s one of my favorites. My paternal grandparents were from the Appalachians I have been delivering groceries for BiLo and Food Lion for the last 44 years in the mountains I spend a lot of time in the mountains. I live in the country outside of Simpsonville/Fountain Inn SC. I enjoy your App phrases. I end with “well, you inses go with us.” Jerry Adams
Oh Tipper I am so excited for your new cookbook and hopefully I can make it to your visit in Knoxville, TN!
First of all congratulations on the new cookbook, I hope I can surprise Robbie Lynn with your new book, but knowing her she’s probably gonna go ahead and order one herself lol
As far as chicken goes, when we were growing up, we ate chicken quite often Preacher or no preacher lol and now that I am a preacher, I hear all the preacher/chicken jokes and phrases hurled my way. But I always reply by saying you can’t offend me because I loved to eat chicken ANYWAY you could fix it as a young boy and I still love that ole yard bird/ preacher bird today. Lol So the next time we get to visit y’all on the ole goat bluff I’m gonna be expecting some preacher bird lol
Hi Tipper, Do you have any idea when your cookbook will be available on the West coast of Canada? Please reply when you have time
Lois-I hope to sell the book outside of the US but you can also purchase it on Amazon. They are taking pre orders now 🙂 Thank you for your interest!!
I already have a spot of my bookshelf for your book, though I’m sure it’ll be in my kitchen often!
Congratulations on your cookbook!
I once heard a rather heafty preacher say his belt was a leather fence around a chicken graveyard.
Just suddenly wondered, have you ever used “liable to” personally, hear it used commonly, or had it in one of your vocabulary tests?
Congratulations on your book, look forward to getting a copy.
My dad would order 100 biddies at the time, they’d come thru the mail. We raise them up, keep some for layers, sell some and have a chicken killing for the rest and put them in the freezer.
We had alotta fried chicken, chicken and dumplings (boiled with biscuits), chicken and pastry( boiled with thin strips of dough) and chicken stew( boiled with vegetables.
The only chicken I’ve tried that I didn’t like was baked chicken that had so many spices on it I couldn’t taste the chicken.
This post reminds me of a book I read a while back. I believe it was “whistling woman” by CC Tillery. If not it was definitely one of their other books. There’s a chapter about an old woman who lived in the community and was very poor, I think it took place in the 1800s or early 1900s. Anyway, the old woman had a pet hen that she dearly loved and back in those days the folks of the community took turns having the traveling preacher over for Sunday dinner. When the old woman’s turn came she had nothing to feed him and had to sacrifice her beloved hen rather than admit she had nothing to feed him. Makes me tear up a little. I guess if it had been me preacher man would have eating fried dandelions! If you haven’t read CC Tillery’s books you should check them out. Congratulations on the new cookbook, I’m gonna try to make it to y’alls Waynesville event!
Speaking of pickled beets, I love them. I used to buy Aunt Nellie’s whole baby beets and eat them right out of the jar. Then came the day when I couldn’t get the jar open. I had to use a big pair of channel locks to get into it. I closed it back and had the same problem the next time I tried to open it. I bought a new jar and the results were the same. The next jar also.
Finally I contacted customer service and tried to explain that younger people don’t eat pickled beets and if older folks can’t get them open then who is going to buy them. They apologized and offered to send me some free stuff. I told them no thanks as I wouldn’t be able to get it open either.
Why can’t food processers put their products in a standard mason jar with a ring and a cap? That way I could open the jar, eat the beets and reuse the jar. It’s crazy!
Puncture the lid and release the vacuum; you should be able to unscrew the top easily
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I’ve done that but then I ain’t got no way to seal it back and have to eat the whole jar. That makes my tummy hurt.
I don’t have much use for my thumbs any more. Thumbs are what separates us from other animals. If my hands don’t straighten up I’ll end up eating out of a trough.
Ed, I have an intact lid from a previous jar. If I puncture a lid to get it off, I replace it with the intact lid…
Because we live in the Pacific Northwest we never have book signings from the East. I do plan on buying one of your books though. love your blogs and videos. By the way, I love chicken and both styles of dumplings.
Chicken was truly a Sunday dinner (not supper) meal when I was coming along. It was mostly fried, but occasionally mama would bake a hen.
Sometime before me one of my older brothers decided that chicken and dumplings, aka chicken pastry, should be called ‘chicken slick’ due to the effect of cooking the dough in chicken broth. I was well grown before I knew it was called anything else.
Yesterday’s video was great. I think you and Matt should make a video in the woods of birds and their calls. I reckon y’uns have seen more rattlesnakes there than I have in Texas.
Quite to the contrary chicken was the common food in my upbringing. We raised chickens to produce eggs for the hatchery. There was always culls to be disposed of. Off breeds, cocky roosters and aggressive hens all received invitations to the dinner table. Not only for dinner but breakfast and supper too. Either sex caught eating eggs got the same treatment. Chickens are bad to do that.
We raised a pig every year to supplement our chicken diet. Pork was the special meal. Beef was practically unknown. I don’t remember ever eating beef before I was in my teens. We had dairy cattle but never slaughtered any of them.
Preachers didn’t come to our house for Sunday dinner. Not just for dinner and not just the preacher. Tom Pilky brought his redheaded wife and all his redheaded kids. Eight of us and eight of them necessitated the dispatch of more than one bird.
Martin Cable ran a revival at Hightower ever year for a while. He didn’t come for dinner either. He came to stay. He was living over around Asheville somewhere so had to find housing for the week. He always stayed with us for at least a few days, once for the whole week as I remember. He must have enjoyed the hospitality because he kept coming back.
Chicken and dumplings with cornbread? That don’t seem right. That’s like biscuits and cornbread together. Dumplings after all are nothing but biscuits boiled in chicken broth rather than baked in an oven, at least the dumplings I like.
I had often wondered why you can only find a handful of chicken recipes in old cookbooks! Thank you for this post! I love chicken and dumplings, too. My Mom always served it over mashed or boiled potatoes, usually with green beans as the side. I am looking forward to your cookbook debut! This is so exciting!
Donna. : )
I’m looking forward to your cookbook!
So happy for you! I know you and Jim are so excited and the book cover is beautiful!!
Congratulations on the publication of your cookbook AND the ongoing celebration of Appalachia. So appreciate your work and the attention to the many positive and unique things that are found in the larger region. Enjoy the tour and meeting new people.
Just pre ordered your cookbook from Amazon. I hope to meet you at one of your signings!
I just pre ordered your cookbook from Amazon. So excited for you and this new adventure. Hope to meet you at one of your signings!
Tipper, We’re thrilled & tickled for you & Mr. Casasdas book. I do look forward to getting to one of the signings,will be such a treat! if I can’t get to the one closest to us ,told my husband going to make it an overnight outing!
I’m hoping to get to one of the book signings to meet you and Corie, but if for some reason I’m not able to get to one, I will be buying a cookbook.
Chicken n’ dumplins … my all time favorites! Everyone has their own idea of what a proper dumpling should be, but the ones that Cracker Barrel serves are so close to what my Granny made that it’s the only thing I order at Cracker Barrel. I’d like to order something else, but I just can’t. 🙂 I don’t eat there more than once a year or so because the one closest to me is not close enough. I don’t even need the beans and cornbread. I learned how to make them, but since I live alone I don’t often do it. I’m going to an all day Sacred Harp singing with dinner on the grounds on April 29th. Maybe I’ll take a crockpot full of my Granny’s chicken n’ dumplins.
How exciting for you all! Like Sadie Belle Ledbetter, I can hear some crowing, mostly from us because we are glad for you. I don’t even live there (wish I did) but I’m confident the NE TN folks (along with Rena) would give you all a warm welcome if you can make it there. You are going to have a full summer and I expect one result will be a lot more virtual friends on BP&A. Life being as it is there likely will be rough patches but us friends wish you will wind up the summer greatly blessed.
If you decide to come to KY, the folks will remember you from your visit to accept the Appalachian Blogger award. You earned a star status here and your book signing would be a sell-out event. Store bought chicken doesn’t make chicken and dumplings taste anything like what mom made when she killed a chicken from the yard for our special dinner. Chicken and dumplings should never be served without a big chunk of cornbread.
Congratulations on your book, Miss Tipper. I know I cannot wait to get my paws on it! Congrats again! Have a blessed week all!!
My wife would have loved your cookbook and we would have came to one of your book signings -Hendersonville. I am a Southern Baptist and we are always joking or teasing about our Baptist preachers loving fried chicken. One of my friends that is a Baptist preacher jokes about feeling like he was being called to preach and asking for a sign, he said his feelings was confirmed on the night he dreamed about a plate full of fried chicken. When this same boy was 4 years old, he was the ring bearer in my wedding, when asked what he was going to do in the wedding he couldn’t remember ring bearer, he said he said he was going to be a pall bear in the wedding. I have joked and told him he was a lot smarter than people thought he was at that age. I have now ask him to be a preacher at my funeral. It would be a joy to meet you at one of you at one of the book signings.
Tipper, all I can say is “bock bock and cocka doodle do!!!” I’m a yard bird loving somebody and a chapter devoted to chicken is a fantastic idea. I mean entire books should be filled with chicken recipes and pictures of chickens and their eggs! I see you’ll be in Roanoke and I’d love to meet you there. It’s about 100 miles from me, but it is the star city in decline. When I was a teen, going to a Roanoke mall was a big deal. Now not too much of anything is there. (I haven’t been there since 2017 when I bought my truck.) You’re going to be busy, but I bet you’ll thrive meeting and greeting folks cause you are the Appalachian ambassador. I wish you safe travels and wonderful signings. You do know I think you’re the bee’s knees!!! You’re the a absolute best!
God bless your cook book Tipper, sounds yummy!
My grandmother made the best chicken and dumplings that I’ve ever eaten. A big plate of that with cornbread and green beans does sound wonderful. I’ll bet that your new cookbook will be a great success.
As the old saying goes, I am ‘chomping at the bit’ to purchase your book. I check every day to see your post as to how to do that. I am sure that preordering, etc will work, but I would rather get it directly from you. Watching your video about filling your raised beds kinda makes me sad as there is no place close to me to purchase either compost nor soil for raised beds. I am not sure what happened. Probably with more and more people doing the same thing with prices being what they are. However, I will still continue to learn and try to increase my planting. Have a wonderful week as we charge on to plant and grow.
SO exciting! Love the book cover!
Bring that book tour over to northeast Tennessee! I’ll put you up in my attached apartment! (or pay for a local hotel, if you’d prefer.) I’m in Jonesborough and my friend (a former culinary instructor) LOVES your recipe videos. I plan to buy your book for him. Needless to say, I like your videos, too.
Jonesborough, TN to Sugar Grove, NC is only about 39 miles as the crow flies. The curves in the road makes it a little bit farther in a car.