O Biscuit My Love

          How can a Yankee be so obsessed with the Biscuit? Is it the ineffable texture? Light & rich, flaky & moist, crunchy & tender. Biscuit is a dough of contradictions. Flour whiter and more tender than the fairest Southern Belle Debutante. Pure gratuitous fat from rendered pig, or better yet, the royal duck. Perky acidic dairy like our favorite farm girl, buttermilk. Strong and reliable leavener. Baking Powder. A pinch of salt and maybe when no-one's looking, a spoonful of illicit sugar.

Simple yes. Easy? Not on your life. Biscuit makin' fingers hold secrets passed down through generations of tight lipped, competitive smiling clans. What amount of moisture will the flour absorb before becoming gummy and ruined. Flour enrobed fat or fat rimmmed flour like a single needle tattoo, you decide. How do the hands know when  just enough dairy has bound the delicate mixture, fragile and precarious? And then the push of dough merging with dough. We know we can't over handle, Biscuit dough is not playin. Overwork and what comes out of the oven will shame you for life.

Biscuit Portraiture. A study of some Royal subjects here are from the new Elite Cafe, re-done by the no-nonsense Joanna Karlinsky of Meeting House fame. Wipe you're brow and say thanks, she's brought the biscuits with her. Praise Jesus. Throw you're hands in the air.

And then get your Yankee, Southern, or just plain foreign ass down to Fillmore Street. Ain't no joke. These biscuits are worth their weight in poetic gold.

I can say Goddamn.

 

Comments

[maura]

I've baked biscuits personally and professionally, but I'd yet to exclaim "Hot DAMN, those are fine looking biscuits" until this morning.

P.S. I confess I've been loving your writing since day one, but I'm bashful with notes- the biscuits made me do it!

[Kudzu]

Stop it! I haven't even had breakfast yet! How can this cup of restorative coffee satisfy me when those images are in front of me?

You're right, of course, about "the light hand" with which some are blessed for turning out beauties.

But there were armies of women who had to turn out bread every day, maybe three times a day. One of them once swore she was going to have a biscuit carved on her tombstone in gratitude for not having the bake them for her husband anymore.

We don't have to, so we can appreciate what the Elite has done and what we can aspire to in our own kitchens. Thank you, honey.

[Bill]

At last, a real kindred spirit! I've been chasing the elusive biscuit for ten years, at least. Sometimes I've been close. Sometimes I give up. Thanks for the inspiration to hang in there. I check your blog every morning!

[haddock]

I love me some biscuits also. If only the rest of my meal at the Elite was as good as the biscuit. If it were it would be the best restaurant on the West Coast.

[King Foodie]

"Overwork and what comes out of the oven will shame you for life."

You should have seen what I did with the Thanksgiving biscuits. It's a moment my loved ones won't let me forget. That recipe will forever be dubbed 'Kat's Special Sweet Potato Hockey Puck Biscuits'.

*Sigh*

[Melissa]

Oh boy....those look SO light, I can almost smell them from here!
Happy Blog Birthday!
Melissa

[Elise]

Am hungry.... now....

Damn those look good.

[maura]

Thank you for the nice note, I don't think we've met. I wasn't the pastry chef- thank god, they went through four in a year and a half! I'm curious to know who you met.
After juicing the lemons, slice 'em up, pith and all. The sugar is measured in volume, so if you have a fluid cup of juice, add (EEK-MISPRINT! Checks and balances) an EQUAL volume measure of sugar. 1 c juice = 1 c sugar. I don't know where I pulled 1 3/4 from.

[R. F. Duncan]

There was also an article about the biscuits in Sunday's paper.
Is there a recipe available for Meetinghouse biscuits? Or, a biscuit similar to it?

[shuna fish lydon]

Hello R.F. Duncan,

I have a sneaking suspicion that because The Meetinghouse biscuits can be bought frozen or be shipped that Ms. Karlinsky might not let go of the recipe. All biscuits made with butter and a light touch would be similar.

When I began my journey with biscuit making I started with recipes from the Deep South. I still think this is the best place to start as they have the best biscuit sensibilities.

Check in with us to keep us updated on your findings! Biscuit making is challenging but worth it!

[joanna karlinsky]

hey there...thanks for the nice thoughts about my meetinghouse biscuits way back when...... I have just launched my website for internet sales....I ship all over the country & hand deliver in the bay area....... if you'd ever like to talk...call me. I'd love to know what it's like doing a blog..... I am thinking of adding a little "blog" corner to my boring website...... my rant of the day, etc...... anyway.....I am sending your quotes about meetinghouse biscuits to "chef's catalogue" - they are distributing them this fall...if they calll & ask for permission to use your words....don't be surprised....BTW...I am no longer at The Elite,.....my partner was kind of jerk (big surprise in this biz eh?)..and I am doing the baking & menu consulting at JOVINO, new coffee & wine bar with better than expected food on UNion st....... thanks again joanna