Scratch Biscuits & Tea, Aunt Cassie’s antique teapot, Central Pennsylvania, November 2007, all photos © 2007-2008 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
Last November when I went home for Mom’s 70th birthday, she made Southern scratch biscuits. I’m heading home again next week, and I’ve been chatting with her on the phone, comparing notes on ancestral roots, drooling over all that good Southern cookin’ that lies in store. Hmmmmm. I hope the boiled peanuts at those little Georgia roadside stands are in season. And Liz wants to try the catfish stew.
As a precursor, I decided to post another family recipe, the nuts and bolts of Mom’s Southern scratch biscuits. Since I reconnected with my paternal aunts last summer (who had not seen me since I was about two), I’ve been trying to gather more tidbits from that side of the family. Mom told me she learned to bake scratch biscuits from my paternal grandmother, Estelle.
After I was born, Mom, then 16, and my father (17) lived with Estelle for a short time. Estelle taught her the secrets of buttermilk and lard, and the nuances of rolling out the dough, and flattening with the knuckles. Hand to hand to hand. It was all passed down.
Eventually, biscuit dough was manufactured and spit into a tube and many women stopped making scratch biscuits. Ever wonder when the canned refrigerator biscuit was invented? One source calls it — the path from accidental mess to Pillsbury Doughboy. Lively Willoughboy of Louisville, Kentucky invented refrigerator dough packed in cardboard tubes in 1930, with a patent issued in 1931. The product was acquired by Ballard & Ballard of Louisville which was acquired by Pillsbury Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1951.
But let’s not think about that right now! This is our Southern scratch biscuit recipe, the way Amelia learned to make biscuits from my Grandmother Estelle. I left Mom’s notes in, just the way she wrote them. The secret’s in the simplicity. It is basic and as close to home as you can get.
Southern Scratch Biscuits
2 cups self-rising flour
1/4 cup lard or shortening (I use Crisco)
1 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have, use sour milk)
Tip:
If you don’t have sour milk, put 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar and enough whole milk to make 1 cup, and let stand 5 minutes before using. Or 1 cup whole milk plus 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar (or 1 cup sour cream).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put the flour in a bowl. With your fingertips, work the shortening into the flour until well blended and evenly mixed. Pour in the buttermilk and mix until a dough is formed. Roll out the dough to about 1/2-inch thickness on a floured board: cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter or pluck off balls, roll, and flatten them with your knuckles. (I have used a glass as a cutter.)
Bake on a greased baking sheet for 10 to 12 minutes, or until brown. Makes 10 to 12 biscuits.
Tip:
When rolling out, do it on a floured board and use a floured rolling pin. If you don’t have a rolling pin, use a smooth glass. You can always find ways to make do. I have. When you make biscuits all the time, you can go by the way it feels. I kept a mixing bowl with flour in it and just took a little shortening with my fingers and mixed with the flour until it felt like the right consistency. But until then use the recipe!
Now I’m hungry for homemade biscuits so I guess I’ll have to go make some.
Love Ya,
Happy cooking,
MOM
For a real treat, check out The Rise of the Southern Biscuit by Maryann Byrd. Liz and I watched the PBS documentary last winter and came away so hungry, we had to run out to Cracker Barrel (the closest thing we have to a Southern restaurant in the Far North) for a fix of biscuits and sweet tea. You’ll learn all about the roots of the Southern biscuit tradition, from Beaten Biscuits (the first Southern biscuit) to the biscuit brake.
And if your local station doesn’t have the show in its immediate lineup, you can e-mail the Documentary Channel and request that they air it. Oh, by the way, Mom mentioned using a smooth glass to roll out the dough; at the last link, there’s a photograph of Miss Daisy King’s Angel biscuits and her mother’s glass rolling pin that she inherited when she was six years old. This documentary will make your mouth water. Don’t forget the popcorn with lots of real butter!
-posted on red Ravine, Monday, July 7th, 2008
-related to posts:
I was just getting ready to go to bed when I checked your site.
OMG…BISCUITS!!!
QM. I have given up most of my beloved foods for better health and weight…crispy bacon, thin pork chops really grilled good, mashies and brown gravy, eggs benedict, chocolate ice cream, lemon bars and onion rings with salsa…but…if there’s one thing I will won’t give up…it’s homemade BUSCUITS.
I will take this recipe, with tremendous thanks to your Mother, and deposit it into the hands of my sister, who can and will cook these for me. Tell your Mama I order the dog gone things everywhere I go… searching for the ultimate buscuit and I can’t wait to taste these babies. Whoohoo!
😉 H
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make that a double WHOOHOO!
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I’ll have to remember not to stop by here on the morning I’m fasting before an appointment with the doc.
I’m starving now. In fact, all this talk (and photos!) of biscuits has me almost drooling.
I’m looking forward to taste-testing this recipe. 🙂
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Oh the memories this brings back. Scratch biscuits were a staple at my grandma’s table. Add some apple butter and OMG!
My mom used to make a scratch biscuit using a can of beer. I need to call her and get that recipe . . .
Thanks for this!
B
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heather, I had no idea you loved biscuits so much! Your comment makes my mouth water! I’m craving pork chops with biscuits now! It’s so amazing how many of us have given up many of the foods we love from our childhoods for better health. I’ve got to admit, lately I’ve been indulging myself quite a bit. And I plan to eat all my favorites when we are in Georgia in a few weeks, and biscuits and red-eye gravy are on the list!
Robin, hope you made it to your appointment without indulging. It’s really hard not to eat anything before a medical appt. For some reason, it makes me hungrier just knowing I can’t eat anything!
brian, I remember something about beer biscuits. But I don’t know if Mom ever made them. I wonder where they originated (?). If your mom tells you, please let us know.
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Yum, QM, this is a scrumptious post. Thank you and Amelia (and Estelle) for passing this on to us. I will try these this weekend and let you know how it goes.
Hey, how do Southerners have their tea and biscuits? Is it a morning ritual or afternoon treat? I haven’t checked out the links, so maybe those will also have background on this.
Also, MOM makes it look so easy. I wonder how the idea that homemade breadstuffs are so hard to make have come about. Are they really hard, or have food manufactuers created that impression. When you look at foods like homemade tortillas or biscuits or even breads, they’re so basic. Pie crusts is another one. Yet, I don’t know about you, but in my mind these are some of the hardest things to make. Yet, they’re not really.
Oh, and what would MOM think about Bisquick? It’s a step up from the Pop-n biscuits, which taste horridly synthetic.
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ybonesy, I’m afraid I don’t know how a proper lady might enjoy her tea and biscuits. Or what the right time of day is for that. I love them anytime and remember having them often for breakfast, but also for dinner sometimes. I always order them when we go South, too. I wonder if Mom remembers anything from visiting with Aunt Cassie.
Biscuits can be dry if they aren’t made right. I do think there might be an art to it. Mom was trying to get across to me how it’s really about the “feel” of the dough under your hands, kind of intuitive. And not everyone has that ability to become one with the dough! I bet it’s the same for piecrusts.
I’m personally not much of a cook or a baker. But my sister (GritsInPA) has carried on many of Mom’s cooking traditions. And she is an excellent cook. Maybe she’ll weigh in on the baking of biscuits, too. 8)
My brothers also cook some of Mom’s recipes. I posted one of R3’s on the family banana pudding (LINK). I don’t know what happened to me and the cooking genes. (Do you think they really might be genes?)
I was telling Liz yesterday how we never had the canned biscuits when I was growing up, or hardly anything that was prepackaged. Mom cooked everything. But a neighbor lady (my best friend’s mother) when I was a real young kid used to work outside of the home (unusual for women in that era) and she would often have the canned biscuits leftovers. She’d leave them on the stove after she left for work. I used to sneak them when I’d visit my friend. Back then, they were kind of a treat to me.
I admit, I did recently have some canned Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits, the kind that are huge, light and fluffy. They weren’t too bad. They’ve made a lot of improvements. But they are nothing like Mom’s!
ybonesy, did your Mom make biscuits growing up? Just curious if you can get a good biscuit in New Mexico. Or if there is something more traditional there that people might order in place of a biscuit.
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QM, I love these recipe posts about Moms cooking. I have been fortunate to be able to enjoy her cooking over the years. She makes everything seem so simple & her food is always delicious! GritsinPa has picked up on all of the recipes over the years & is also an awesome cook!
Boiled peanuts! Love them & those little roadside stands.
But these bisquits have my mouth watering. Thanks to you & MOM I now have this recipe! D
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OK, I can’t help myself–I have never written about this but my Grandmother knew something about biscuits. Her name was Alice Pillsbury and she grew up in Minnesota (yup-that Pillsbury). She was at a dude ranch in 1910 in Colorado when she met my Grandfather who was riding a horse and overseeing some mining operation. They moved to California where they travelled with the early movie crowd. Touring cars, long scarves trailing in the wind and summer houses, Spring houses and Winter houses. The California branch of this gnarly family tree was not quite accepted by the Minnesota branch and I have never met the Minnesota people. The children of Alice went many wild ways further complicating and muddying the blue blood. Out of a Western self-sufficient attitude, we don’t eat Pillsbury biscuits, we do sometimes eat scratch biscuits from a recipe that my mother brought with her from her family in the South (oh no-she’s from the South!). That recipe is a lot like yours, QM.
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Franny, that’s unbelievable and FASCINATING! I can’t believe you are related to the Pillsburys! And that your grandmother was Alice Pillsbury. Wild 6 degrees of separation thing going on here. 8) The Pillsburys are, of course, huge here in Minnesota.
I didn’t know your roots were in the South either or that your mother’s from the South. It’s interesting how meeting people in other states and falling in love really takes us places in the family tree. I’d never be in Minnesota if it wasn’t for love. 8)
Fascinating about them travelling with the early movie crowd in California, too. Are you writing your memoir, Franny? And have you researched your whole family tree?
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diddy, thanks, and you are a great cook as well! Do you make your own biscuits? Hey, didn’t we get boiled peanuts that time you, me, Amelia, and GritsinPa went Down South together that time. (Am I missiing anyone that was along with us?) I remember Mom bought us those Garfield nightshirts and we stayed at Uncle B.’s hanger for a night. Crazy! What year was that anyway?
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Oh, Franny, in response to your comment#9 that you are related to the Pillsburys, it seemed like a good time to add this little tidbit about the Pillsbury Doughboy. I left it out of that section link about Lively Willoughboy and the Pillsbury Mills in the body of the piece (but now I have a good reason to add it!)
Remember their signature tag line, “Nothing says lovin’ like something from the oven,”…! Or am I dating myself here. 8)
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I tell you Franny, you have some fascinating family history to write about. I will pre-purchase your memoir, girlfriend. I was already sold just learning about your life, never mind your California Pillsbury branch. But now I’m doubly sold.
QM, that Poppin’ Fresh guy is so cute, isn’t he? I have to admit, during the school year, when I have approximately 15 minutes to figure out what to do for breakfast, and when my daughters need something to eat before shipping off to school, I have been known to get the crescent rolls in a can. Slice ’em open and then put in a piece of bacon. Tasty. 8) (OK, I withdraw my synthetic comment from earlier.)
My mom wasn’t a big biscuit maker. She might have made some out of Bisquick a few times, but her daily bread making (or 3x weekly, or thereabouts) was limited to two types of bread: tortillas and these little three-bun bread muffins that she made by rolling the dough into three palm-sized balls, then stuffing all three into a muffin tin. The base of the bun was shaped like the muffin tin, and then the three balls puffed up and spilled over the tin. Hot out of the oven, you could pull apart the three pieces, toss butter in the middle, and yum…
My stomach really is growling!
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QM, yes, we did get the peanuts that trip! I can get them at the Outer Banks, NC, but they are not the same! I want to say that trip was about 15 years ago. The t-shirts were a hoot! The first day at the hanger was rather Hitchcock like!
What a great time the 4 of us had!
And thanks for the compliment on my cooking skills! D
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Oh, & btw, I use the frozen Pillsbury buttermilk bisquits. D
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Great photos and remembrances. In my family it was the dumpling recipe (the soup/stew variety, not Asian) that was passed down. Must be the geographical difference.
I’m going to bookmark this and try it next winter, when it is cold enough outside to use my oven without tempting heat stroke.
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diddy – 15 years?! Can it possibly be? Yes, you’ll be at the Outer Banks on the tail end of Mom and I heading back to Georgia. We’ll have to look at a map next week to get some bearings. Fun!
ybonesy, those three-bun bread muffins your Mom made sound really good and easy. Do you make those for your kids? If you dipped them in sugar and cinnamon, they would be a lot like this thing you can get at the MN State Fair. Yum.
BTW, your comment about the crescent rolls in a can, how you “Slice ‘em open and then put in a piece of bacon” reminds me of of the South, the way they dipped the inside of the biscuit with red-eye gravy and then would slide in a slice of ham. Same idea — buttery dough & pork. Hmmmm. 8)
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Stevo, yeah, I wonder what it is about the dumplings in different parts of the world. Good point. Curious. I love Mom’s dumplings, too. We did actually use the oven the other day to make those Pillsbury buttermilk biscuits. The AC was working OT, too. I can see why people Bar-B-Que outside in the Summer. It’s just too darned hot.
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Hi everyone,
I don’t cook much anymore. No one to eat except me for so long and that makes me fat. I can’t resist my cooking because I cook my favorites. I use the flaky buttermilk canned biscuits a lot. They are especially good wrapped around Vienna sausages, or warmed over with slices of cheese melted on them in the broiler.
I also use Bisquick mix to make pancakes now, the special recipe on the box is great. My sister-in-law started me doing that. They have improved so many mixes now that with a little extras they are good. You just have to watch out for the salt in so many boxed and canned foods!!!
I’ve never made beer biscuits but the beer would act like yeast and they are probably very good and light. I suppose you could substitute beer for milk and add a spoonful of sugar to the recipe.
Have fun experimenting and enjoy cooking. Sometimes the mistakes are the best tasting, maybe not the best looking but the best tasting.
Love you all,
MOM
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MOM, thanks for the recipe. I totally agree, the mistakes are some of the best tasting. Happy accidents — it’s true in all kinds of things. I’m grateful for what you have passed down to us. And am always appreciative of your comments on red Ravine.
I hadn’t thought of it but I bet you used to make the pancakes from scratch, too. We’ve used the Bisquick for our waffles. That reminds me, I haven’t had waffles on the home waffle grill for a while. I remember your pancakes. And how you’d make a full breakfast almost every morning back then. Lots of work!
We’ll have to try the biscuits again when I’m home next week. Big hug! I’m so looking forward to seeing the family again.
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Oh, and Mom, I forgot to ask, if you have any tidbits about the history of that little teapot of Aunt Cassie’s or the sifter, let me know. Or I can ask you again next week!
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QM, your post is really a hit, has a lot of people salivating, including me. My Southern mother made those light, fluffy biscuits too, seemingly without effort. I know she used Crisco, but try as I did, I could never equal hers. Same with pie crusts…I finally gave up and cheated with refrigerated ones. Of course, it didn’t help when I married into a dairy family.
Crisco was a no-no. Butter was all that was allowed. I did master the art of yeast breads, thanks to the Betty Crocker Cook-book I got for a wedding present, with its illustrated step-by-step directions.
YB, the best Sopapillas I ever ate were at a restaurant in Albuquerque’s Old Town! Another favorite bread…Beignets in New Orleans’ Cafe Du Monde.
QM, BTW, yesterday, I mailed an issue of Gourmet magazine to Liz, for the two of you. The whole issue is on Southern cooking, with lots of recipes and some good writing, as well! If it gets there in time, I could imagine you reading it out loud to each other as you drive through the South…hope you enjoy it.
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I’m glad you asked the question about the teapot, QM, because I was struck by its simplicity (like the biscuit recipe) and gorgeous green color. What a wonderful shade that is. Did your aunt pass this on to you? How have you managed to keep it in one piece?
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oliverowl, that is so sweet and thoughtful that you mailed the issue of Gourmet magazine on Southern cooking. I am so appreciative! Thank you. That will be really fun to check out when we are driving from place to place. I’m looking forward to taking some of the backroads and really seeing some of the country down there again. I haven’t done that in a while. And it’s even more exciting that we’re heading to some of the places where our ancestors settled. I know Liz is excited, too.
BTW, I love sopapillas. Strangely, the first time I had them I think was in 8th grade. At the end of the school year, my favorite teacher (English, of course), Mrs. Juarez, had a little graduation party and made them homemade for us. The whole meal was centered around New Mexico cuisine. I think her first husband was from New Mexico. Fond memories!
You know, I never thought about being in a dairy family meaning not using Crisco! Only butter, of course. The culture is so different in North Dakota, too. Even different from Minnesota, its neighbor. I love how every state has its own personality. It’s kind of like noticing the flowers in the latest Writing Topic!
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ybonesy, I don’t know the history of that little teapot. Or maybe Mom told me last time I was home and I’ve forgotten already. I’ll make sure to ask her again. I’d like to know about the sifter, too. I know she’s got an old set of pots and pans (I think I posted a photograph in the dumpling post) that she’s had since her teens or early twenties.
Has your Mom held on to any traditional cookware or kitchen items? I really enjoy when women hold on to and pass down traditional objects like that. (Kind of like the glass rolling pin of Miss Daisy King.) The teapot is an unusual color green. And very simple. I’ll find out more about it.
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QM, I collect green wooden handled cooking utensils that are the same color of green as Moms teapot. I should know approximately when that color was popular. I think it was popular in the 1930’s, but don’t know for certain. I’m anxious to know more about the age of the teapot.
I still use the same rolling pin that my paternal Grandmother used for years. The handles on it are a dull yellow. It was passed onto me after her death. I have great memories of her & she was an amazing cook. Everything was homemade & because I grew up in PA most of the meals I grew up on were PA Dutch or Hungarian.
Interesting how everything varies from state to state! D
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diddy, maybe you can show those green utensils to me when I’m there next week. A 1930’s green – amazing to think about. It’s different than that lime green that resurfaced in the 70’s. But then, everything does come around again.
I love it that you have your Grandmother’s rolling pin. I’ll have to get a photo of that when I’m there. And the PA Dutch cooking, yum. I definitely noticed that influence when we moved North.
Yes, everything does vary so much state to state. And country to country. It’s amazing how much a simple borderline of a river or mountain can make such a difference in the way people talk, eat, dress, and live. And whole wars are fought over the differences.
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Qm, yes I will share my collection with you & would be thrilled if you took photos of the rolling pin & a few other items in my collection!
Funny about accents. The name of my hometown is also the name of a very well know name of a city in Germany & when I first moved to central PA many people noticed the difference. D
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diddy, I’d be happy to take the photographs. And maybe you’d even want to write a piece about that rolling pin — and your Grandmother who is so dear to you in memory. And maybe even submit it here (hint, hint). Just an idea. I bet some amazing things would come out about her (and about you).
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QM this was so touching…including the birthday story!
I am from the south too and all of us learned to make biscuits from scratch. I have a recipe now for whole wheat biscuits which are supposed to healthier..but I confess, not as delicious!
My Grandmother (the 101 year old again) always used a glass bottle that was her mother’s. Due to poor eye sight she doesn’t cook anymore. One of my other cousins has the bottle now.
My Grandmother made her biscuits with her hands too. We grew up hearing the story of her Mother making biscuits and how the biscuits were very small because she had tiny little hands. My Grandmother does not..so we had large biscuits!
I miss my Grandmother’s cooking…my cousin is the one that cooks the most like her now.
I will always feel a connection to my Grandmother when I eat those dishes. Everything was from “scratch”….one of my favorite things was a white layer cake with what she called chocolate boiled icing. I can taste it now!!
Thank you for sharing your world with us. It always feels like going home when I visit here.
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QM, I did some research & yes the green utensils are from the 1930’s. I thought I knew but wasn’t certain. I forgot to add that I have a green handled dough cutter (not sure what they are really called) that was also my Grandmothers. Another item that I still use. I can’t wait to share these items with you! Looking forward to your visit. And perhaps Mom will cook us a good old Southern meal! (hint, hint Mom!) D
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Suz, I always appreciate your rich comments. I like hearing about your grandmother’s cooking and her glass rolling pin (#30). And that’s such a great detail, how the smaller or larger the women’s hands were who were making the biscuits, the smaller or larger the biscuit would be!
And you bring up all the homemade cakes! Ah, I used to love my mother’s homemade cakes and pies. I remember them warming in the windows when I was growing up. Nothing like that smell wafting through the house. Even in summer when it was hot and all the berries were getting ripe, we’d have baking pies. It didn’t matter. We just opened the windows and turned on all the fans (we didn’t have central air back then, only a loud ceiling fan in the hallway!). My sister still makes some of the cakes that Mom made.
diddy, I hope we can talk Mom (and maybe GritsInPa) into making a homecooked Southern meal next week before we head South. And I’m looking forward to seeing your utensils. So they are from the 1930’s? Where did you research them?
Yeah, I remember those dough cutters. I think Mom used to have a red handled one. I confess, I used to like looking at all of Mom’s wooden handled cooking utensils more than I liked to cook or bake. I love objects, their form, the way they look and function. I find beauty in them. I guess I always was a strange kid! Looking forward to the visit.
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QM, I did the good old Google search on green handled utensils. It took me quite awhile to get the dates! And I have a few I will quiz you on! You can take your best guess at the purpose for their uses! I also tried researching the teapot, but we will find out from Mom! D
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diddy, ah good, I love a good “object” quiz. I haven’t talked to Mom since earlier in the week. We’ll have to find out about the teapot. I’m so glad it’s Friday but aware that there’s only a few days left before I leave for PA. Egads! So much to do.
It’s 92 degrees here today with a heat index of 100, humidity at 51, dewpoint at 72. I’m melting, I’m melting! Liz told me at lunch that the weather was about the same in Georgia today. I guess we’ll be used to it!
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oliverowl, we received the Gourmet magazine on Southern cooking in the mail today! (Comment #22) And Liz loves the Daughters Are Special plaque. And the little postcard with the two green frogs (yes I noticed the little frogs!). Thank you so much! I put the magazine in my suitcase that’s collecting things I need to pack for the trip. Again, thank you for your thougtfulness. We’re a little stressed with everything we need to get done before we go. But very excited for the trip!
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diddy, I asked Mom about Aunt Cassie’s green antique teapot when we were driving from the airport Wednesday and she said Aunt Cassie used it in the late ’30’s and ’40’s, or that was her memory. So I wonder if it’s even along the same vein of green that your green 1930’s utensils follow?
She said Aunt Cassie would drop loose leaf tea into the (the word is escaping me now, I have to ask her) in the center and make the hot tea. Then she would let it steep, pour it over glasses of ice for iced tea. Of course, we drank sweet tea in the South so each person would add their sugar to taste as they liked it. Hmmm. I’ve had a little sweet tea since I’ve been here!
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I just made these biscuts just happened to have kitchen stove top lard that I use to make Gumbo. I love to cook and went to New Orleans to learn how to make the Gumbo not from anyone fancy just learnt by watching. My mother was a fabulous cook and I think I took a lot with me. So, my husband asked me this morning if we had any canned biscuits left and I thouht to myself no but I think I can make them let me go on the web. I came here I had Soho dried buttermilk and Self-rising flour believe me I have self-rising, unbleached, rye you name it I even make my own yeast in the garage anyway I went ahead and made this and it tasted just like your mother would make. I although had two promblems a little very little dry and should I use egg whites to brown the top of the biscuits? Thanx for a wonderful easy receipt.
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debbie, thanks for writing. And I’m so glad you liked the Southern scratch biscuits. I think it’s so great that you actually had lard on your stovetop from making Gumbo. My mother always had a little jar of it next to the stove, too, when we were growing up. Lard makes things taste so much better, but you sure don’t often see it around next to the stove today in our health conscious world.
I’ll have to ask my mom about the dryness that you experienced and see if she knows what might have caused that. I’ll also ask her if she knows about the egg whites. BTW, my mother learned this recipe from my Grandmother Estelle (on my blood father’s side) and I bet she’d be so pleased that you tried her biscuits! She’s probably smiling down from heaven.
I went back and connected with my Aunt Annette (her daughter) in Georgia a few summers ago after not seeing her since I was 2 years old. It was a wonderful reunion. Sadly, my Grandmother Estelle had passed away within the last few years and I never got to see her again. She’d love that Mom still uses her scratch biscuit recipe. And now she’s passed it on to you. 8)
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debbie, finally had a chance to ask Mom about your questions of: (1) what might cause dry biscuits and (2) using egg whites to brown the top of the biscuits.
Here’s what she said:
1) mixing the dough or kneading too much or too long can make the biscuits dry or tough
2) not sifting the flour or using too much flour can make the biscuits dry
3) some people do use egg whites brushed on the biscuits to make the tops brown (she doesn’t and thinks it’s a waste of egg whites!)
4) she mentioned another tip, for baking in general, about using Crisco or butter. Using Crisco or lard tends to make baked goods crisper. Using butter makes things softer.
Hope this helps! I’m hungry for Mom’s biscuits now. 8)
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Thank you so much for the recipe. Just made a batch with some white gravy, delicious!
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Good, I’m sure QM will be happy to hear that they worked out for you. Thanks for letting us know!
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I really am greatfull for such an easy WONDERFUL recipe! Thank you very much! I have quite a few recipes for biscuits and they ask for so many other ingredients and having a family of six it definitely makes it so much easier! And its delish!
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nicole, thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to comment on Mom’s Southern Scratch Biscuit recipe. I’m so glad you liked it! Keeping it simple seems like the best route sometimes. And keeps passing the biscuit making tradition down the line. Thanks again!
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With the wind blowing 20-30 mph and a windchill below zero in the double digits, I have decided to spend the day inside. I bought buttermilk with the intention of making biscuits this week. Today looks like the perfect day for some. Wish I had thought enough to buy regular milk and some sausage for biscuits and gravy.
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I have discovered how to make self-rising flour courtesy of the Gold Medal Flour hotline. Who knew that not all flour as self-rising? So I now know how to make self-rising flour. You add 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp of salt for every cup of flour used.
I mixed, being careful not to handle too much. Got a nice ball of dough and rolled it out using a highball glass. Then I used a glass to cut out the biscuits. Made my 12 put them on a greased sheet and into the oven where they are currently browing.
With the leftover dough I made a cinnamon sugar pastry of sorts.
In a few short minutes I will be back to tell you how they taste. The house smells so good.
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I have finished two hot biscuits with butter and am ready to take a nap. Wonderful biscuits. Reminded me of the ones my grandmother would make in the ovens of her wood burning stove. Simple, quick, easy and good. Please give your mom my thanks for this recipe.
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Bob, I just love that you tried Amelia’s Southern Scratch Biscuits today. It makes me all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. The highball glass is a nice touch. 8) The self-rising flour — what a great tip. I’ll be sure to tell Mom you tried them. I think she checks in every now and then.
I love coming back to this post. The photographs remind me of that day in Mom’s kitchen. It seems so long ago now. And that’s my Aunt Cassie’s antique teapot. Doesn’t tea sound great tonight?
I just got home from work. It’s -9 with the windchill in Minnesota tonight and dipping fast. We’re in blizzard conditions. The State highways have been closed in some areas. It’s that bad. I’m safe at home. Liz is on the way with something hot to eat and a RedBox movie. I’m warming up the house.
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Oh, that’s a really good tip about self-rising flour. Sometimes when I see some modifier on a recipe, such as “self-rising flour” or “pastry flour,” I think, ah, it’s probably OK if I just use regular flour. I see now that leaving out the baking powder and salt would likely result in some not-so-yummy biscuits.
Hmmm, I’ll need to look up a Gluten-free flour recipe so that Jim can also enjoy some homemade biscuits. Would love to have some before winter is done.
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Forgot to mention that the Gold Medal hotline is answered in Minneapolis. The operator and i discussed the winter weather and she told me a story about the trouble she had getting to work. She sounded like a mom in how she guided me through the creation of “self-rising” flour.
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Bob, I totally forgot that you had put the Gold Medal Self-Rising Flour Substitute in a comment last year. I was on the phone and Liz started making biscuits. She found this substitute online, so that’s what we’re trying. It’s slightly different than yours. Hope it works! The biscuits are in the oven! Will let you know how they come out.
Self-Rising Flour Substitute (found online)
One cup self-rising flour equals:
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder, plus
1/8 teaspoons salt.
Gold Medal Flour Hotline Tip on Self-Rising Flour Substitute (USE THIS ONE):
One cup self-rising flour equals:
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, plus
1/2 teaspoons salt.
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Bob, the biscuits just came out of the oven and are delicious! We may have rolled the dough a little too thin ’cause they didn’t rise as high as I remember them. Or maybe it’s the 1/4 difference in the baking powder between the Gold Medal Tip and the other we found online.
At any rate, these biscuits are great, dripping with butter and jam. We watched this show on biscuit making once and there is a fine art to making biscuits. As Mom mentions in this post, I think it’s a lot of doing it over and over, on how the dough feels. Fun though, since I have not had them in a while. Time for soup!
Oh, wanted to mention one other thing. I called my Aunts Annette & Brenda in South Carolina this afternoon to wish them a Merry Christmas. I told them that Liz was making biscuits using this recipe, the one their mother (my Grandmother Estelle) taught my mother to use in the early 1950’s. It was so cool to be able to say that the recipe was being passed down, generation to generation. 8)
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These biscuits would go great with the black-eyed peas! We are cooking up a pot of rice to go with ours. A healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year to our readers!
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Great recipe my son loves biscuits… He said outstanding.
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Thank you for leaving the comment, Lili! And glad that your son liked my mother’s recipe for her Southern scratch biscuits. Makes me want to make a batch this weekend.
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