Biscuits.
One of my close Canadian friends married a gentleman from South Carolina. While some people will bring a bottle of wine or a pie for a fancy dinner party or a bottle of beer or maybe some iced cream to a grilling party, he considers it an insult if he does not bring biscuits as a gift to the host.
Whether or not this very traditionally a South Carolina thing or something quite unique to his family, I couldn't say. However, biscuits are a marvelous addition to a meal. I personally enjoy the biscuts made by popular chicken/seafood restaurant chain "Popeye's Chicken" and have spent awhile looking for a recipie that closely follows theirs.
So, I've found one I like a great deal and it doesn't involve any fancy maneuvers...and it also involves cheese. So there's your talk, and thus I shall share it.
Cheddar Biscuits:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can easily make some by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk and letting it stand five minutes)
1. Shred the cheddar cheese: I would reccomend choosing to shred your cheese with a vegetable peeler as opposed to a cheese grater to create longer, thicker strips of cheese. Not every one might choose this method, but I find it creates a very nice texture in the biscuit.
2. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne to a large bowl, then cut in pieces of the butter. Add the cheese and buttermilk and stir in one direction only until the mixture becomes dough.
3. Flour a baking surface and knead out the dough onto the surface. There is no need to roll it, merely kneed it out with your fingers to a thickness of approximatly 1 inch.
4. Use a round cookie cutter (or hell, I've used something as crude as the lid to a can of pam cooking spray once while at University.) to cut out circles. Repeat process until the dough is depleted.
5. Cook on an ungreased baking sheet at a temperature of 425 degrees C. for 15-18 minutes.
I've seen a wide variety of nice variations on this recipie. Cinnamon and apples, or even apples and chese ala apple pie with a slice of cheese, taco-seasoning and cornmeal. The defining feature of this particular version of a base recipie is the cheddar, but feel free to mess around as needed.
Whether or not this very traditionally a South Carolina thing or something quite unique to his family, I couldn't say. However, biscuits are a marvelous addition to a meal. I personally enjoy the biscuts made by popular chicken/seafood restaurant chain "Popeye's Chicken" and have spent awhile looking for a recipie that closely follows theirs.
So, I've found one I like a great deal and it doesn't involve any fancy maneuvers...and it also involves cheese. So there's your talk, and thus I shall share it.
Cheddar Biscuits:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup buttermilk (if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can easily make some by adding a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk and letting it stand five minutes)
1. Shred the cheddar cheese: I would reccomend choosing to shred your cheese with a vegetable peeler as opposed to a cheese grater to create longer, thicker strips of cheese. Not every one might choose this method, but I find it creates a very nice texture in the biscuit.
2. Add flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne to a large bowl, then cut in pieces of the butter. Add the cheese and buttermilk and stir in one direction only until the mixture becomes dough.
3. Flour a baking surface and knead out the dough onto the surface. There is no need to roll it, merely kneed it out with your fingers to a thickness of approximatly 1 inch.
4. Use a round cookie cutter (or hell, I've used something as crude as the lid to a can of pam cooking spray once while at University.) to cut out circles. Repeat process until the dough is depleted.
5. Cook on an ungreased baking sheet at a temperature of 425 degrees C. for 15-18 minutes.
I've seen a wide variety of nice variations on this recipie. Cinnamon and apples, or even apples and chese ala apple pie with a slice of cheese, taco-seasoning and cornmeal. The defining feature of this particular version of a base recipie is the cheddar, but feel free to mess around as needed.