These are a few of my favorite things
I'm not going to officially sign up or anything, but I figured out what I want to do for the 100 things meme. Instead of focusing on just one subject and then branching out into generes, I'm going for Issa's Random List of Favorite Things. It might have soemthing to do with living here, it might have something to do with cooking or gardening or gaming or clothes or WHATEVER.
To start this meme off: Biscuits.
There's an idea that all Southern women know how to make buicuits from the womb. For me, at least, this is completely false. The closest to homemade that ever hit my childhood table were those that came straight from the canisters that popped when you peeled the label off. While those are incredibly good all on their own, there's something in straight from scratch biscuits that blows those out of the water. Unfortunately, Mom never got the hang of making them (tough tasting bread with brown burnt bottoms were the norm in Casa de Ramirez) and because of that, I never learned (or really wanted to know) how to make them.
Until now. I don't know what prompted me to do it, but it was my first time hosting Thanksgiving in my new apartment and "OMG EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE PERFECT" was pretty much my perfectionist motto. (the only people coming to the shindig were my parents, and I'm pretty sure they would have been happy with those frozen microwavable turkey and stuffing meals. They're not big on judging, just big on spending time together) Before moving out, I'd manned big holiday meals solo before, so that was no biggie. Yet for some odd reason, I really wanted to try and tackle that one side dish that had eluded our family. I did a quick lookup for a recipe (my rule is the simplier the better) and found one that I've stuck with for the past four years that is a guaranteed no-fail, anyone can make this sort.
2 cups All Purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 tbs butter, cut into chunks (very cold)
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Combine the first 5 ingredients in the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the mix looks like grainy peas. Add in the buttermilk, pulse until the dough comes together. Add more buttermilk if necessary, but this dough will be incredibly sticky.
Turn out onto a heavily floured surface and pat together (do not roll out with a rolling pin!) until if forms a disk. Fold over and pat again at least five more times, pushing out with your palms until it's a uniform thickness. Cut out biscuits and put on a cookie sheet with sides touching (for a softer, higher rising biscuit) or at least an inch apart (for a crispier edged yet flatter biscuit.) Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
I found that using a food processor makes for fluffier biscuits, probably because there's not a chance of overworking the dough and heating it up too much with your hands. Sticking the cut up butter in the freezer for a minute or two before adding it in also helps. I think it's something science-y involving the butter melting in the oven, creating pockets of steam and air to make a flaky, layery texture, but I can't quite remember at the moment.
The end result are at least ten (more if you use a smaller cutter) tender, light and flaky things of goodness right from the oven. Eating these plain is just as good as eating them with a pat of butter and some jam or having them topped with a good old fashioned sausage gravy for a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast. I like mine with a little drizzle of honey. You can even add things to the basic recipie. Add at least a 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of shredded cheese, add in a dash of Old Bay seasoning and brush a bit of melted butter on top and you have something that comes out almost like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits at a certain seafood restaurant. Add a bit of crumbled up bacon (and a little rendered out bacon fat from the skillet you cooked it in, nevermind those arteries!) for a tasty treat that'll have all the meat lovers in your family raving. The basic recipie is just that: basic. It's a sort of blank canvas for whatever you can think up.
If you can't bake at the time, these freeze well. Just mix, cut out and store in the freezer. When you're ready for fresh biscuits, take them out and put (still frozen) in the oven for about 20 minutes.
After that first batch (and I thought I had done everything wrong: the dough was too sticky, the smoke alarm had been set off from burning off whatever had dripped in my oven previously, I more than likely overworked the dough, etc.) came out of the oven looking golden brown and delicious despite all my worries, I knew I had a winner. I've made variations of these over the years for myself, my family, and my co-workers and every time I've come out with the same tasty results. I've gotten to the point where I've experimented with scone ingredients (and realized that I've been making biscuits of a sort for years and never known it) but found that the sweeter variations taste better as a scone. (chocolate chip scones are yummy, BTW) They've turned into one of my comfort foods to quickly whip up to go with a soup or a roast or pretty much anything you want.
So there we have it, my first favorite thing. Only 99 more to go!
To start this meme off: Biscuits.
There's an idea that all Southern women know how to make buicuits from the womb. For me, at least, this is completely false. The closest to homemade that ever hit my childhood table were those that came straight from the canisters that popped when you peeled the label off. While those are incredibly good all on their own, there's something in straight from scratch biscuits that blows those out of the water. Unfortunately, Mom never got the hang of making them (tough tasting bread with brown burnt bottoms were the norm in Casa de Ramirez) and because of that, I never learned (or really wanted to know) how to make them.
Until now. I don't know what prompted me to do it, but it was my first time hosting Thanksgiving in my new apartment and "OMG EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE PERFECT" was pretty much my perfectionist motto. (the only people coming to the shindig were my parents, and I'm pretty sure they would have been happy with those frozen microwavable turkey and stuffing meals. They're not big on judging, just big on spending time together) Before moving out, I'd manned big holiday meals solo before, so that was no biggie. Yet for some odd reason, I really wanted to try and tackle that one side dish that had eluded our family. I did a quick lookup for a recipe (my rule is the simplier the better) and found one that I've stuck with for the past four years that is a guaranteed no-fail, anyone can make this sort.
2 cups All Purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 tbs butter, cut into chunks (very cold)
1 cup buttermilk
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Combine the first 5 ingredients in the work bowl of your food processor. Pulse until the mix looks like grainy peas. Add in the buttermilk, pulse until the dough comes together. Add more buttermilk if necessary, but this dough will be incredibly sticky.
Turn out onto a heavily floured surface and pat together (do not roll out with a rolling pin!) until if forms a disk. Fold over and pat again at least five more times, pushing out with your palms until it's a uniform thickness. Cut out biscuits and put on a cookie sheet with sides touching (for a softer, higher rising biscuit) or at least an inch apart (for a crispier edged yet flatter biscuit.) Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
I found that using a food processor makes for fluffier biscuits, probably because there's not a chance of overworking the dough and heating it up too much with your hands. Sticking the cut up butter in the freezer for a minute or two before adding it in also helps. I think it's something science-y involving the butter melting in the oven, creating pockets of steam and air to make a flaky, layery texture, but I can't quite remember at the moment.
The end result are at least ten (more if you use a smaller cutter) tender, light and flaky things of goodness right from the oven. Eating these plain is just as good as eating them with a pat of butter and some jam or having them topped with a good old fashioned sausage gravy for a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast. I like mine with a little drizzle of honey. You can even add things to the basic recipie. Add at least a 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of shredded cheese, add in a dash of Old Bay seasoning and brush a bit of melted butter on top and you have something that comes out almost like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits at a certain seafood restaurant. Add a bit of crumbled up bacon (and a little rendered out bacon fat from the skillet you cooked it in, nevermind those arteries!) for a tasty treat that'll have all the meat lovers in your family raving. The basic recipie is just that: basic. It's a sort of blank canvas for whatever you can think up.
If you can't bake at the time, these freeze well. Just mix, cut out and store in the freezer. When you're ready for fresh biscuits, take them out and put (still frozen) in the oven for about 20 minutes.
After that first batch (and I thought I had done everything wrong: the dough was too sticky, the smoke alarm had been set off from burning off whatever had dripped in my oven previously, I more than likely overworked the dough, etc.) came out of the oven looking golden brown and delicious despite all my worries, I knew I had a winner. I've made variations of these over the years for myself, my family, and my co-workers and every time I've come out with the same tasty results. I've gotten to the point where I've experimented with scone ingredients (and realized that I've been making biscuits of a sort for years and never known it) but found that the sweeter variations taste better as a scone. (chocolate chip scones are yummy, BTW) They've turned into one of my comfort foods to quickly whip up to go with a soup or a roast or pretty much anything you want.
So there we have it, my first favorite thing. Only 99 more to go!