Posted on 02/13/2020 4:27:29 PM PST by RoosterRedux
For 25 years in Georgia, I watched my mom make the same batch of six light, fluffy biscuits for breakfast almost every Sunday. Then I moved to New York, never to see a light, fluffy biscuit again. I arrived in the city in 2011, just in time for southern food to get trendy outside its region, and for three years, I bit into a series of artisanal hockey pucks, all advertised on menus as authentic southern buttermilk biscuits.
With every dense, dry, flat, scone-adjacent clump of carbohydrates, I became more distressed. I didn’t even realize biscuits could be bad, given how abundant good ones were in the South. Even my mom, a reluctant-at-best cook, made them every week without batting an eyelash. The recipe she used had been on my dad’s side of the family for at least three generations.
The more bad biscuits I ordered in New York, the clearer it became that there was only one way out of this problem if I ever wanted to have a decent Sunday breakfast again: I had to make the biscuits for myself. I did not anticipate the hurdles of chemistry and the American food-distribution system that stood in my way.
I asked my mom to email me the recipe, and it was three ingredients (self-rising flour, shortening, and buttermilk), mashed together with a fork. I’m not an accomplished baker, but I cook frequently, and this was the kind of recipe that had long been used by people without a lot of money, advanced kitchen tools, or fancy ingredients. Confident that I could pull it off, I marched right out and bought the ingredients. The result: biscuits that were just as terrible as all the other ones in New York. Not to be dramatic, but my failure destabilized my identity a little bit. What kind of southerner can’t make biscuits?
In subsequent attempts, I tried everything I could think of to get it right. I worried about buttermilk quality, so I bought an expensive bottle at the farmers’ market, which did nothing. I tried different fat sources, including butter and lard, which made small differences in flavor and texture but still resulted in a shape and density better suited for a hockey rink than a plate. I made sure all of my ingredients were ice-cold when I started mixing, which is a good tip in general, but did not fix my problem. I kneaded the dough more or less, made it wetter or drier. The only thing left was the flour, but I figured it couldn’t be that—wasn’t self-rising flour the same everywhere? We had just used regular grocery-store flour back home.
Out of ideas, I did what any self-respecting Millennial would do: I Googled it, and then I called my mom, and then I placed an Amazon order.
The one ingredient I took for granted had indeed been the key all along, says Robert Dixon Phillips, a retired professor of food science at the University of Georgia.
(Excerpt) Read more at getpocket.com ...
I have an aunt by marriage who makes some first-rate ones. As much as I love bread products, I’m super picky about biscuits.
They are all gone at any family gathering.
I’d put them against anybody else’s.
Butter and garlic where applicable.
White Lily flour may be as good as was stated; but my dear friends in Dixie made it clear to me that the best flour for biscuits is Dixie Lily. And the very best grits are Dixie Lily, too.
awesome, thank you!
I resorted to using a baking mix last weekend. They turned out pretty good but I don’t like ‘cheating’. Especially since baking mixes are not in my prepping supplies, I will need to learn how to make them from scratch. I think a good biscuit can make the whole TSHTF experience tolerable. Even without butter...
I know many folks who struggle with making a fluffy biscuit.
But my grandma always said: “add a little too much buttermilk and ALWAYS use White Lilly”.
My biscuits are legendary. They rise to 3 o4 4 times their original height and melt in your mouth.
Yep, a good cake flour will suffice.
But add just a little too much buttermilk.
The best restaurant biscuits are as a rule found at barbecue joints that offer breakfast. Huge “cat’s paw” biscuits with pork tenderloin, country ham, bacon and egg, hot sage sausage, really good. There’s a chain specializing in nothing but biscuits called Biscuitville that’s a close second. Bojangles is decent, they’re not hard or chewy and have a good flavor because they brush them all with melted butter before baking. Hardee’s aren’t awful, if you can find a clean, well-run location. They’ve slipped considerably in my observation.
Amanda Mull, the secret ingredient is love. Love for those you are making the biscuits for and loving serving them. I’m not from the south, but my biscuits have a second life after a pop in the toaster the second or third day!
I love my family, I love making them food they enjoy, and I love watching them enjoy it. Love is the secret. It what makes the biscuits the best!
Their chicken is actually good if you catch it when they’ve just made a batch. The downside is, they cook a big batch and put it on a serving line under a heat lamp. Get the tail end of a batch and it’s honestly sort of desiccated and tough from sitting under that heat lamp. You don’t want that at all, and a well-managed location won’t serve it. They’re not all well-managed.
Of course, Bojangles is one of the few places that still sometimes carry Patio soda, which Wikipedia claims doesn’t exist anymore. It sure does, but I’ve not seen it except at Bojangles and on Mad Men. Now, I just have to find a source for Canada Dry Jamaica Cola.
“However things like prosciutto are great. I am from Wisconsin and it is true country ham is impossible to find.”
It’s almost a criminal retardation or neglect.
Wisconsin eats a LOT of pork.
But it all goes in the Brats.
I think maybe that tradition didn’t develop in the North because their cured meats would freeze in the smokehouse.
And the worst, if not only injury you can do to a well cured ham is to freeze it.
It’s just fine hanging in a smoke house in summer at 96 deg and 95% humidity. Hell, they’ll last 50 years that way.
And be better for it.
“Do you use white cornmeal or yellow cornmeal???”
By definition, cornbread required medium yellow corn meal.
And sugar. And a little too much fat.
Me on the other hand, I figure, if I don't burn down the house, the food is great. (That's a nice way of saying, I SUCK @ COOKING.)
Biscuits time... Yum.
God’s Country.
I’ve discovered a biscuit cheat. Flour, salt and whole cream. Makes for light and flaky biscuit.
That was one of my father’s favorite “snacks”! He also did it with buttermilk. The good old days...
Yellow cornmeal.
Biscuitville is outstanding and would be and explosive growth franchise if the owners would let it off the leash.
They keep a tight reign on their territory which seems to be a radius of a two hour drive from their distribution center.
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