Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: MillCreek on October 08, 2015, 08:21:07 PM
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/14/dining/best-biscuits-nyc.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region
Reading this article made me ponder: does anyone have a particularly good biscuit recipe?
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The crispy, floury kind are perfect for eating with sausage gravy.
The fluffy kind are good for eating with jam, honey, etc.
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Bisquick
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Bisquick
Bisquick is really nothing more than premixed bread flour and baking powder. Easy to do on your own, but not really worth the extra bag of flour sitting in the pantry.
Real trick to good bisquits is not to overmix. Too many people, myself included, grow up with the "gotta get stir out all the lumps" school of baking. Not so. Mix gently then walk away. The lumps will hydrate out. Alton Brown has an excellent segment on old-fashioned bisquits. Youtube it.
Brad
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Butter? ???
:facepalm:
Crisco is bad enough, but butter? Really?
The Best Biscuit in Richmond http://wric.com/2015/08/14/the-best-of-richmond-2015-the-best-biscuit-sandwich/ uses lard.
Then they go and screw it up will all sorts of tutsi-fruitsi stuff on top. Just stay with the ham or the sausage gravy.
stay safe.
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Real biscuits have lard damnit. That can have lard AND butter, but damnit they have lard. Buttermilk can be debated, lard can not!
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Butter? ???
:facepalm:
Crisco is bad enough, but butter? Really?
The Best Biscuit in Richmond http://wric.com/2015/08/14/the-best-of-richmond-2015-the-best-biscuit-sandwich/ uses lard.
Then they go and screw it up will all sorts of tutsi-fruitsi stuff on top. Just stay with the ham or the sausage gravy.
stay safe.
Try using ghee (clarified butter). Better flavor than lard, I think.
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Some of the best homemade biscuits I've ever had had mayonnaise in the mix. I was deer hunting in Kentucky and the owner of the property made biscuits and gravy for us one morning. I watched him make the biscuits and he put a glob of mayonnaise in to the bowl.
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Tangy, fatty, moisty. Makes sense. Sort of like using buttermilk.
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Butter? ???
:facepalm:
Crisco is bad enough, but butter? Really?
The Best Biscuit in Richmond http://wric.com/2015/08/14/the-best-of-richmond-2015-the-best-biscuit-sandwich/ uses lard.
Then they go and screw it up will all sorts of tutsi-fruitsi stuff on top. Just stay with the ham or the sausage gravy.
stay safe.
I would rather use butter than Crisco. Don't recall trying lard. Butter works fine.
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Bisquick is really nothing more than premixed bread flour and baking powder. Easy to do on your own, but not really worth the extra bag of flour sitting in the pantry.
Real trick to good bisquits is not to overmix. Too many people, myself included, grow up with the "gotta get stir out all the lumps" school of baking. Not so. Mix gently then walk away. The lumps will hydrate out. Alton Brown has an excellent segment on old-fashioned bisquits. Youtube it.
Brad
I haven't made them since, but my Mother was telling me to let the final dough sit for 10 or 15 minutes partly for that reason.
IMO, bicuit mixes are generally better than any canned biscuit, but fall short of just about any scratch made biscuits.
I have a milk and baking powder recipe I use which does okay. My mother uses a buttermilk recipe that I need to get. The only one I have used had yeast which I hate to mess with.
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I do mine with flour, a couple dashes of baking powder, dash of baking soda, a little sugar, a little brown sugar, couple of dashes of salt, lots of lard, and enough milk to get a probably more liquid than average consistency to the dough - almost closer to batter. I learned over time that what Brad said is key - no over-mixing or over-folding makes for fluffier biscuits.
The mayo sounds interesting.
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I'll see what I can come up with raiding the other halfs recipe box.
[ar15]
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I hate to think what a bunch of New York chefs would call a biscuit, but the article did talk about biscuits being highly personal and a product of what you were raised with. I think that is very true.
Similar to stuffing served with Thanksgiving turkey. I was raised with cornbread stuffing. I have tasted others before that I can't understand how anyone would eat it.
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I hate to think what a bunch of New York chefs would call a biscuit, but the article did talk about biscuits being highly personal and a product of what you were raised with. I think that is very true.
Similar to stuffing served with Thanksgiving turkey. I was raised with cornbread stuffing. I have tasted others before that I can't understand how anyone would eat it.
If it isn't cooked in the bird it is dressing not stuffing.
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I like to do Bisquick, but when you get to the last 3-4 minutes, I brush the tops with butter and let it melt in. If I"m doing savory food (like beef stew), I might sprinkle a little garlic salt on the butter.
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If it isn't cooked in the bird it is dressing not stuffing.
Whatever you want to call it, I don't care. I just know my Mother's cornbread "dressing" is as good or better than anything else I have tried. =D
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I used to be able to bake good biscuits from scratch, but enough years without practice and I lost the knack. I think I'm trying too hard now not to overwork the dough and it actually needs the gluten developed just a little. The last time I made biscuits that turned out okay, I froze a stick of butter and shredded it with a box grater and use that for the shortening.
Use soft wheat flour like White Lily if you can find it. Otherwise use self-rising flour because it's softer than all-purpose. Cake flour might be good...
Frozen biscuits are actually really good. (which is just insulting)
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Biscuits are primarily a southern thing. In the North we really don't have much of a biscuits from scratch culture. Ours is more yeast risen breads and rolls.
That said, I've really come to like biscuits. Cracker Barrel has excellent biscuits.
Mtnbkr has made biscuits using his Grandmother's recipe in the past. Self rising flour, buttermilk, and lots and lots of lard. Damned things are addictive. Hear that, Chris? It's time to make the biscuits!
Not to restart the cornbread wars, but again, that's not a northern thing, and it's certainly not a northern stuffing for turkey. Ours is yeast risen bread stuffing. In my family it's always been bread, sage, some other spices, maybe some hot sauce, copious amounts of black pepper, celery, and onions, all moistened with lots and lots of melted butter.
Since Mom got a bread machine, our stuffing has been made with homemade bread. It used to be white sandwich bread, which was.... ok, but it often got gummy. The coarser homemade bread, with about 1/3rd of it toasted and all of it well dried, gives a much better end texture.
I've had cornbread stuffing, and it just doesn't do it for me. It's good, but it's not what I'm used to, and it's not what I want.
There's also a difference in the gravy. Up north it's primarily a drippings and giblets gravy; the Southern touch seems to be boiled egg. Over the past few years I have adopted one southern touch -- using a roux to thicken it. My family almost always used to use a flour or corn starch and water slurry. It worked, but it took a LONG time to do it and to cook out the raw starch taste. Being precooked, roux thickens and leaves no starchy taste if you don't cook it long enough.
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I meant to come back to this a month ago and forgot...
Mtnbkr has made biscuits using his Grandmother's recipe in the past. Self rising flour, buttermilk, and lots and lots of lard. Damned things are addictive. Hear that, Chris? It's time to make the biscuits!
I found this article the other day and it inspired me to make biscuit this evening: http://gardenandgun.com/blog/beaten-biscuit-recipe
My grandmother's recipe is very similar except she adds baking powder and uses buttermilk instead of water. When I made them for dinner tonight, I used Crisco (no lard on hand), buttermilk, and left out the baking powder. The result was a dense, not very risen biscuit perfect for stuffing with meat or jam (I alternated with thinly sliced steak and fig preserves grown and canned by yours truly). Rather than beating the dough for 45min, I used the dough hook on our kitchen-aid mixer to work it for a good 5min or so. Next, I folded and rolled the dough several times before rolling it out a bit thinner than 1/2". The end result wasn't quite what my grandmother made, but still good and a perfect carrier for meat or jam, an ideal sammich biscuit. Using fig preserves made it all the more nostalgic (figs, being common in NC, were a common breakfast table item in preserve form).
While eating these biscuits for dinner, I told Thing 1 how my grandmother would fix similar biscuits for breakfast when the family would get together, but would work the dough by hand. When I went to college near my grandparents' house, they would frequently bring me a large cookie tin full of individually wrapped ham biscuits with her biscuits and local country ham. I think I'd commit murder for another batch of those. :(
Chris
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While eating these biscuits for dinner, I told Thing 1 how my grandmother would fix similar biscuits for breakfast when the family would get together, but would work the dough by hand. When I went to college near my grandparents' house, they would frequently bring me a large cookie tin full of individually wrapped ham biscuits with her biscuits and local country ham. I think I'd commit murder for another batch of those. :(
Chris
"Not guilty by reason of in ham itty."
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Lard, buttermilk*, salt** and King Arthur self rising flour. That's all you need.
* Make your own buttermilk for biscuits using milk and white vinegar, save the trouble of buying buttermilk and then having it go bad because it just sits there forever.
**Salt because the lard doesn't have any, unlike most butter unless you buy the unsalted.
Pro Tip*
To get a really nice distribution of lard in your biscuits take the amount you are going to use for the biscuits and put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Pull it out and grate it on a box grater and then mix into your flour. You won't have to work it as much to get a good even distribution of the lard.
=D
bob
eta: I see (bunchofletters)bob already mentioned freezing and using a box grater.
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.
=|
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There's also a difference in the gravy. Up north it's primarily a drippings and giblets gravy; the Southern touch seems to be boiled egg. Over the past few years I have adopted one southern touch -- using a roux to thicken it. My family almost always used to use a flour or corn starch and water slurry. It worked, but it took a LONG time to do it and to cook out the raw starch taste. Being precooked, roux thickens and leaves no starchy taste if you don't cook it long enough.
I don't do giblet gravy but when I make gravy other times it always starts out with a roux. Makes it quick and easy.
Man this thread is making me hungry. I feel like frying up some cube steak and making some biscuits and gravy to go along with it.
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* Make your own buttermilk for biscuits using milk and white vinegar, save the trouble of buying buttermilk and then having it go bad because it just sits there forever.
Never had that problem, just make pancakes the next day.
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this recipe works well at home, and if using a Dutch Oven on a camping trip
Buttermilk Biscuits Version III
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold lard, or cold Butter
1 Cup cold buttermilk
Mix the dry ingredients. Sift together three times
Chop the cold lard or butter into small chunks and use a fork to blend it into the flour.
Add the buttermilk, and mix well. Dough should have a moist consistency.
Place dough on a floured surface.
knead the dough a few times, then form it into a ball.
By hand, gently press into a thick slab, then fold over three times.
Roll gently, to get a thickness of 3/4 inch. Cut the biscuits with a biscuit cutter. Place on a sheet pan, with the biscuits touching Bake in a preheated 450F oven. About 8 minutes in, brush tops with buttermilk or butter.
Bake till golden brown..
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Never had that problem, just make pancakes the next day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8ZzPiBfOW0
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Buttermilk freezes very well, especially since it's going to be used for cooking.
I've often frozen it in ice cube trays.
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If buttermilk goes bad, how do you know?
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My anti-establishment rebellious streak mandates I post this...
BUTTERMILK CORNBREAD
1-1/2 c yellow corn meal
1/2 c flour (AP or bread)
1-1/2 c buttermilk
1/4 c vegetable oil
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1t sugar
1t salt
2 eggs
Heavy drizzle toasted sesame oil (about 1 t)
Preheat oven to 450 deg F. Mix all ingredients well and pour into a greased 8x8 baking pan. Bake 25 minutes or until GBD (golden brown and delicious).
Double all ingredients for 9x13 casserole pan.
The toasted sesame oil is an experiment I tried that turned out exceptionally well. It has a meaty, savory flavor which adds that final "yum!". Substitute bacon drippings for the vegetable oil and the the sesame oil is unnecessary.
Brad
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If buttermilk goes bad, how do you know?
In my experience it gets really, really bitter.
That said, it has a VERY long life because the lactobacillus cultures and resident acidity form a pretty effective deterrent against other bacteria.
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If buttermilk goes bad, how do you know?
Hopefully it isn't like this;
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F_t0NJvKaO1dI%2FSjXBGm0DCpI%2FAAAAAAAAD1M%2FISwdVEi7dt4%2Fs400%2Fpotatosalad.jpg&hash=c1b834c3fa9109e68113b852b7802e03770b8bb0)
bob
I couldn't help myself, it is the culture of the board.
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Pro tip.
Pop a cast iron skillet into the oven long enough to melt butter, enough to liberally (excuse the expression) coat the bottom of the a skillet. As you punch out the biscuits, drop them in the skillet, then flip them over and position them in the skillet to go back into the oven to bake. Gives a nice crust to both the top and bottom of the biscuits.
Your welcome.
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Came across this in my yahoo news feed a few minutes ago.
Nothing earthshaking here, but there are some tips that are good to remember, especially the "don't twist while cutting" reminder.
https://www.yahoo.com/food/how-to-bake-the-best-biscuits-130902874.html
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One cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
Add heavy cream to form dough
400F for 12 minutes or so.
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No other fat Nick?
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I've been invited to an after-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner, so I think I'm going to make those cheddar chive biscuits.
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http://www.sacopantry.com/buttermilk/ [ar15]. Use normal milk(ie, not water) as well. >:D
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Butter makes ANYTHING better.
butter=better
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Made the cheddar biscuits. Not bad.
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So I decided to make biscuits to go with my Amazon Lighting Deal haggis yesterday. I forgot I was out of milk, so I used a mixture of half half and half and half water. I think they came out better than when I use milk or even buttermilk.
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So I decided to make biscuits to go with my Amazon Lighting Deal haggis...
That's the strangest way to make biscuits I've ever heard of. Most people make them with flour, fat, leaven, and some kind of milk.
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That's the strangest way to make biscuits I've ever heard of. Most people make them with flour, fat, leaven, and some kind of milk.
https://youtu.be/KZSyGCIBDEs?t=22