For The Love Of Biscuit

I don't know if any one has noticed but I like to cook and do a lot of it. For years I have tried to make good southern style biscuits with no luck. After many attempts and recipes, I finally have it down, all it took was one episode of Alton Browns show. Man, good biscuits! If I use buttermilk, which is proper for a true southern biscuit, they are tangy and chewy but not hard. And they don't fall apart either. They rise to about 2 or 2 and a half inches and are great for making a sandwich too. I substitute regular milk if I don't have buttermilk and they come out just fine. I don't even have to put anything on them. Just grab a biscuit and a glass of milk or in my case, water, and eat it. Good stuff. For a real treat I cover them with some spicy sausage gravy they are even better. As a matter of fact you can't hardly beat a breakfast of homemade biscuits and gravy. For those of you who are biscuitly challenged, I'll post the recipe here.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons shortening
1 cup buttermilk or milk of your choice

In a large bowel combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Using you hands cut in the butter and shortening until the mix looks like small crumbs. Do this quickly so the fat doesn't melt and goo up the mix. Make a well in the center and add the cup of milk.
Stir enough to bring it together into a sticky dough. Turn the dough out on a floured surface and dust the top with flour. Do not knead the dough but fold it 5-6 times. pat the dough into a one inch thick "pattie" and using your biscuit cutter of  choice cut out the biscuits and place them on the baking sheet or stone. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes until tall and golden on top.

Using an "on the rocks" glass I only get 5 out of this mix and one of them is a put together Frankenstein. But they are of a pretty good size too.

A big slab of sausage and an egg on one of these is a taste of heaven!

I think I'll make a batch and take 'em to work Saturday. A bottle of honey, and a couple different preserves sound pretty good.

GOOD STUFF

I made the best biscuits I've ever made. Add some spicy sausage gravy and you have a breakfast fit for a king. Too much of it and he'll be a portly king. It was really good. Some times I out do my self.
 A few months ago I found a brand of sausage that I really like. Made by Tennessee Pride, it is tasty and has a little more fat than most sausage has nowadays. And their spicy sausage is actually spicy. Anyhow, I'm a happy boy.

I'm amazed at how many people I've met or know of that don't know what this is. Or like my wife, will not eat it. More for me I guess.
   Coming back from the Knob Creek machine gun shoot one time, my son and I stopped at a restaurant in Indianna I believe. Those folks were serving something they called biscuits and gravy. It did not deserve the title at all. Nasty stuff. Some cultures just don't get it I guess.