Place chicken in a heavy pot with enough water to cover the pieces well. Add salt, peppercorns, onion, carrot, bay leaf, and celery. Heat to boiling, lower heat to simmering, cover and cook 2 to 3 hours (much shorter time if you use a broiler fryer) or until meat is tender enough to fall from bones. Cool chicken in stock, then remove bones if you like, and strain stock. Chill it so that you can remove the fat from the surface. Thicken the stock for gravy by measuring a tablespoon of flour for each cup of broth, blending it smooth with some of the broth, then cooking with all of it until thickened. If you wish to add other vegetables, cook separately 3 quartered potatoes, 2 sliced carrots, and 1 cup peas and then add to chicken. Drop the dumplings on the boiling stew, cover tight and don't peek for 15 minutes.
DUMPLINGS: Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder. Add 1 tablespoon chicken fat or oil to 2/3 cup milk and stir into dry mixture to make a soft dough. A tablespoon of minced parsley may be added for parsley dumplings. Drop batter from a tablespoon into the stew.
