Chicken Paprika

Sauce procedure:
1) Cut whole chicken into it's constituent parts (breasts, thigh,
back, etc.) and remove skin. Remove skin from thighs.

2) Trim fat deposits and rinse all chicken
thoroughly

3) This step is critical. Cut all chicken pieces in half. I use a
cleaver . This exposes the crucial bone marrow. The more marrow you
expose, the better the sauce. I chop the wings into 4 or five pieces.
Do not add giblets and neck.

4) In large pot, combine chicken, salt, Paprika, chicken base, and
enough water to just cover the chicken pieces. Cook, partially
covered, at such temperature that a simmer to very gentle boil is
achieved. You want just a bit of bubbling. Do so until the chicken is
thoroughly cooked and easily removed from the bone--About 1.5 hrs. (I
cook the chicken until it is on the verge of falling off the bone.
This extracts maximum flavor from the chicken.)

5) Strain mixture to separate broth and chicken. Place chicken into
a warm serving dish. Return broth to pot and place on medium heat.

6) In a mixing bowl, combine enough milk to sour cream to render a
mixture that is pourable. The consistency is roughly that of very
thick pancake batter and requires a sour cream / milk ratio of about
2:1. If you use a pint of sour cream, you'll use about 1/2 pint milk,
maybe a bit more.

7) Vigorously mix sour cream and milk mixture into broth. I use a
whisk for this. Carefully bring the sauce to a boil and remove
immediately from heat (see note at end). Failure to remove promptly
will result in very messy boiling over! Set burner to it's lowest
setting and return pot to the burner to keep sauce hot.
The sauce is basically finished at this point. You may wish to
fine tune by adding more salt, sour cream, Paprika, and/or chicken
base. I sometimes add a 1/2 cup or so of heavy cream for added
richness. You may also want to skim most of the liquid fat from the
sauce surface.

Noodles procedure:
1) Combine flour, salt, and eggs in a hemispherical bowl large enough
to accommodate mixing.

2) Add about 1/2 cup water and proceed to blend ingredients with a
fork until well blended. The consistency you're striving for is such
that the dough is clearly wet, adheres to the bowl, and is loose
enough to slowly spread out when a dollop is applied to the cutting
board. Add enough water to achieve this. I've never measured how much
water I use, but think it's about 1/2 cup plus some.
Actually, the consistency is not critical. I'm guessing you've
made noodles (or dumplings) like this, and that additional,
excruciating explanation is not necessary.

3) Set a dutch oven (good size pot) 2/3 full of water to boil.

4) At this point, obviously the dough goes into the water. I place a
good size dollop on a small cutting board and use a gently curved,
sharp knife to cut perhaps 3/4 size blobs which are then vigorously
swept off the board into the boiling water. They are done when they
float to the surface. A perforated spoon is used to remove the noodles
from the water which are placed in a warm serving bowl. I cut perhaps
3-4 dozen noodles, let them cook (very quick), remove, and proceed to
add the next 3-4 dozen until all of the dough is consumed. If it looks
like boiling over is about to occur, add some cold water.

Finally:
At this point you should have a pot of wonderful sauce, a bowl full
of chicken pieces, and a bowl of noodles. For serving, place a good
serving of noodles and half (maybe less) as much chicken into a flat
bowl. Apply enough sauce to almost cover noodles and chicken. You may
want to salt to taste. My wife likes pepper on it. I do not. In any
case, Viola!

That's it. I really want you to try this, as everyone on both
sides of our family loves it. My instructions are laborious because
attention paid to various details will produce a superb dish, while an
average effort with average ingredients produce a result that is only
very good.

Sam
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Note: You may want to only add a portion of the sour cream / milk at
a time, testing as you go for taste. We tend to like a lot of sour
cream flavor, but you may desire less. In any case, the resultant
should be rich and satisfying, but not overwhelmed with sour cream.
Also, there may be some question about bringing the sauce to a
boil. It is not necessary, but imparts more complexity to the sauce.
Most premium sour cream brands will not separate, but if some
separation occurs, no matter--just whisk it back together and it will
be fine.
Finally, I hope the apparent complexity of this dish doesn't scare
you off. It's one of those dishes that is made with the gut, and is
therefore difficult to quantify in a way that permits precise
description in recipe form.