So, since I share recipes sometimes, here's my recipe for biscuits and gravy. This sort of thing causes fights among Southern cooks, as it is a matter of great pride to do it right, usually meaning -- as indeed I do mean -- "the way my grandmother taught me." Any of you who are Southerners whose family recipe differs are not hereby declared wrong; I have room for a diversity of opinions (and please leave your own version in the comments). This one is from the mountains of Tennessee, as you'll intuit from the brand recommendations: White Lily is located in Knoxville, and Tennessee Pride is from Nashville (their 'farmboy' character has appeared on the Grand Ol' Opry).
Southern Biscuits
2 cups White Lily Self-Rising flour (or White Lily regular flour plus baking soda and powder, if you prefer; but White Lily for certain because they are the only flour that produces soft enough biscuits because they use 100% soft winter red wheat, which will make tender biscuits).
1/4 cup bacon grease, reserved from the last time you made bacon (my grandmother made biscuits and bacon every morning)
3/4 cup buttermilk or sour milk (i.e. whole milk plus a bit of lemon juice, wait five minutes after combining before mixing)
Combine until moist. On a well-floured surface knead not more than five-seven times, fewer if you can mange it. (Kneading produces gluten, the protein that makes bread stiff; biscuits are meant to be soft and tender.) I like to press the dough out into a layer, fold a quarter of it onto itself from each end, and then fold the two parts at the middle of the dough so it looks like you're closing a book; this will create layers. Cut into biscuits with a knife or biscuit cutter. Bake at 450 until they are golden brown on the top; remove and brush with melted butter (or I often use a refrigerated stick of butter, as they will be hot enough to melt it).
Gravy
First, make a pound of sausage (Tennessee Pride Hot is the family favorite here). In the grease thereof, make a roux; typically I mix two tablespoons of flour (all purpose is fine for this) with about a half a cup of cold water, then add it to the grease and mix. Thin with whole milk (not sour or buttermilk) and then cook until it thickens again. Salt and black pepper to taste.
5 comments:
Biscuits and gravy were not in the maternal cookbook. Mom's family were and are cornbread folks. Biscuits were a treat for the two or three times a year they "ate out," usually on the way to the fishing lake or (later) the hunting camp that my grandfather managed. The Texas Gulf Coast and being workin' folk conspired against biscuits.
Dad's family did biscuits, but no family recipes survived all the moves, deaths, remarriages, and so on.
I discovered that my hands are too hot for good biscuits. I've made beaten biscuits, and I can do yeast breads, and quick breads, but the classic Southern Biscuit remains an unattainable miracle of bread-dom.
LittleRed1
One of the things I'm enjoying about being back in the South is the fact that I can find White Lily flour!
WRT the above recipe, my family "way" is slightly different. While the ingredients remain the same, the process differs thusly:
We don't fold, spindle or mutilate the biscuit dough. It's mixed just until it forms a fairly wet dough, then formed quickly in the hand using as little flour as possible to keep the dough from sticking to your hands: pinch off a small ball of dough, lightly pat it flat, then, using your thumb and a finger in a semi-circular shape, round out the dough, and place into a lightly greased pan. (Btw, I still use the original biscuit pan handed down from my great-grandmother, and the biscuit bowl that my great-grandfather made out of an old lunchbox to make any bread of dough of any kind. There's magic in them that can't be duplicated.) Bake at 450 until GBD (golden brown and delicious).
As for the gravy, we also vary in methods, if not ingredients. Our gravy starts as a grease/butter and flour roux that is cooked until the flour has cooked out, and it turns a deep, nutty brown. Stir in salt and pepper, then slowly add milk and stir constantly to keep out any lumps. Add milk and bring to a boil. Lower heat and continue cooking until it has reduced to the desired consistency.
However, no respectable Southern breakfast is complete without eggs fried over easy so the yolk can mix with the gravy for that perfect bite.
Wishing a very merry and blessed Christmas day and season to one and all of the Hall.
I should add, since I opened with a Dutch oven cookbook, that Dutch ovens are great for biscuits. I usually bake them on a pan like you, Sly, but if you use a Dutch oven they’ll pop more. This is because the Dutch oven contains them from expanding out, so they expand up (until the proteins set; that’s why 460-500 degrees is best, so you get the fluffiest biscuits; at a lower temperature they wouldn’t expand as much from the steam before the proteins set up).
If using a camp Dutch oven outside, make sure you have plenty of hot hardwood coals, then stand the oven amongst them and pile twice as many on the lid as underneath. Make sure you have a way of lifting the hot iron lid off so you can check them to know when they’re golden.
In a house oven, put the Dutch oven in your preheat while the oven is preheating. One has to take a little care not to burn one’s self, but the result is fantastic.
Thanks for your recipes, Sly.
*450-500. Good and spanking hot, in any case; if you have a pizza oven that gets hotter yet, I imagine that would work well.
Agreed on the Dutch oven cookery; the biscuit pan I use is not typical of today's baking sheets. Mine is a 12" round pan with 2" sides and a pair of handles that have actually survived over 75 years of moving. It's actually more akin to today's pan pizza-style pans than a baking sheet.
You're most welcome for the recipes, Grim. I have always enjoy experimenting with that which you share with us, I figured it was time to reciprocate. 0>;~}
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