Here’s the recipe for chicken noodles that launched a 78-year tradition in Wichita

One of Wichita’s longest-running and most beloved church dinners was started 78 years ago by a well-known “country lawyer” named Lester Wilkinson.

Wilkinson, the story goes, had three old, fat hens that he wanted to sell, but no one wanted to pay more than 10 cents apiece for them.

So he decided to stop trying to sell them and start trying to cook them. Using a recipe his wife, Gladys, had inherited from her mother, he served to the men of the church a meal of chicken and homemade noodles, gravy and mashed potatoes.

The men loved the dinner so much that they decided to turn it into an annual fundraiser for the men’s group. They put on their first public dinner in 1946 and sold tickets for 75 cents apiece. To the menu, they added homemade coleslaw, white bread and butter, and pies baked by their wives.

This weekend, the St. Paul’s United Methodist Chicken Noodle Dinner will return for its 78th installment. It will happen from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday at the church, 1356 N. Broadway. For the fourth consecutive year, the dinner will be served only to drive-through customers.

Those who patronize the dinner will pay $12 and drive away with a container full of food made by members of St. Paul’s congregation. And it will contain roughly the same items the very first attendees of the dinner got: chicken and noodles, coleslaw, mashed potatoes and gravy and a dessert.

A look back through the Eagle’s archives shows that the dinner is one of the most consistent traditions in Wichita. In addition to the menu, the way the congregation bands together to prepare the meal is the same as it was in the 1940s. Volunteer cooks still spend weeks making noodles and deboning poultry, employing the processes and recipes passed down from their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

A few aspects of the dinner have changed, though. For the first 40 years of its existence, the event was called the Men’s Chicken Noodle Dinner. According to a 1957 story printed in The Wichita Beacon, “Colorful aprons and chef’s caps make the occasion a gay one for the men as they go about the somewhat unaccustomed task of preparing, serving and cleaning up after the affair.”

Even in 1957, though, the men of the group were careful to give credit to their wives. That same Wichita Beacon article said that the men “point out that their wives help a great deal in the kitchen, though the men do most of the work. The women also supply the recipes.”

Year after year, the local media would publish stories and photos about the St. Paul’s congregation preparing and serving the dinner, which drew crowds of 500 in the early days then grew to 2,000 as its popularity surged. And 2,000 is still how many people the church plans to feed each year.

This year, said dinner organizer Robert Scott, the congregation’s volunteer cooks used 3,360 eggs and 850 pounds of flour to make more than 1,000 pounds of homemade noodles. They also plan to make 15 gallons of coleslaw dressing to mix with 850 pounds of cabbage.

Throughout the years, the congregation at St. Paul’s has shrunk, organizers say, and the dinner’s core volunteers have aged. About 10 years ago, there was occasional talk of the dinner coming to an end. But the church members have demonstrated a fierce dedication to continuing the event, which raises money to help the church operate. Much of the proceeds also are donated to charity.

Of the many stories about the dinner that have run in the Wichita papers over the years, one includes the original recipe that Gladys Wilkinson provided for the first dinner. You can see it below.

The organizers of this year’s dinner want people to be aware that navigating their way to the church can be tricky. Last year, traffic was backed up on eastbound 13th Street at Broadway as people tried to make their way to the church, which sits on the busy southeast corner of 13th and Broadway.

That can be avoided if drivers remember to enter the parking lot from Topeka — and not from 13th or Broadway, organizers say.

Items also will be sold a la carte.

1957 recipe for St. Paul’s Chicken and Noodles

Provided by Gladys Wilkinson

Boil one plump hen slowly in plenty of water to which 1 tablespoon of salt has been added. This usually takes 4 or 5 hours until the hen is tender.

Cool quickly and remove the meat from the bones and cut into pieces about 1 inch.

If the broth has boiled down, add more water and bring to a boil. Add the dried noodles to the boiling broth and sir. Cook until noodles are tender, about 30 minutes.

Add the cut up chicken pieces and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of “chicken base” (chicken bouillon or granules in today’s vernacular) and stir in just before removing from heat. This is not necessary, but will give the dish added flavor and tang.

The recipe for homemade noodles is:

2 egg yolks or 1 egg, slightly beaten

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream

Flour to make very stiff dough

Add salt to the egg yolks or egg. Stir in the cream. Stir in all the flour this mixture will absorb. Knead until smooth. If mixture is too stiff to roll out easily, let stand in a covered bowl for 30 minutes. Roll as thin as possible — almost as thin as paper. Cover with a clean towel and let stand 30 minutes to dry. Dust lightly with flour then roll up and cut crosswise into ⅛ inch slices. Shake out slices if long noodles are desired or cut the slice in half before shaking out for short noodles. These may be dried and kept for some time before using. Add to boiling liquid, stirring so noodles won’t stick together. Cook until tender, usually about half an hour.

One hen can flavor noodles made from 1 egg up to 6 eggs, depending on how large a proportion of chicken to the noodles is desired.

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