My favorite teacher--biscuit baker supreme

Hands down, my favorite teacher was my Paternal Grandma. I have never had a better biscuit, than those that came from her hands. Her biscuits were magical. As a young girl, I was only interested in the transfer of the warm biscuit from her loving hands into my eager ones. As a young woman, I paid more attention and tried to duplicate her techniques. She did not measure everything precisely and she did not flour the counter and roll the dough and cut it. She did it all by feel. I was awed by how the dry ingredients were dumped into a mixing bowl and the wet ingredients were added after she made a dry well in the center. She would shape the dough into biscuits with her hands. She did this every morning and in no time at all, hot biscuits were on the table, with golden, beautiful crusts and no big mess to clean up either. I am sad to say I was not a very good student in biscuit making. I know that you can ruin the finished product if you handle the dough too much. I miss my Grandma and her biscuits. Who is your favorite teacher in the kitchen? I would love to know, along with what you learned.
As for biscuits today, I have a second favorite teacher and that is the crew over at America's Test Kitchen. They have perfected Drop Biscuits and I saw a demo yesterday, that made me sit up and take notes, and even happier this morning, when I duplicated it and served the light soft pillows with a golden brown exterior. Still not my Grandma's biscuit, but a very good, easy one to make and no messy kitchen.

Best Drop Biscuits
from the Episode: Holiday Ham and Biscuits America's Test Kitchen

If buttermilk isn't available, powdered buttermilk added according to package instructions or clabbered milk can be used instead. To make clabbered milk, mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let stand 10 minutes. A 1/4-cup (#16) portion scoop can be used to portion the batter. To refresh day-old biscuits, heat them in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes.

Makes 12 Biscuits
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk (cold)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits


1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps.

2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Note:
When you stir slightly cooled melted butter into cold buttermilk, the butter will clump. Although this might look like a mistake, it's one of the secrets to this recipe. The clumps of butter are similar to the small bits of cold butter in biscuits prepared according to the traditional method and help guarantee a light and fluffy interior.

A greased 1/4-cup measure is a great tool for scooping dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

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It Is So Unfair And Wrong---French Pork Stew

Unfair to have to wait for this to finish cooking and wrong for anything to taste this good! Just thinking about it this morning and picking out the photos to share made me hungry all over again. Another unfairness is that I haven't finished going through last year's Cooks' Illustrated Soups and Stews edition and now I have this year's to explore! How cruel.  As you can see by the last photo, Gene proclaimed it was worth the wait.

                                       FRENCH PORK STEW (Cook's Illustrated Winter 2009 Soups and Stews)

      1   (3 1/2-4-pound) boneless pork butt roast, cut into 1-1/2 inch cubes

          Salt and ground black pepper

      1/4   cup Vegetable Oil

       1   large leek, white and light green parts, halved lengthwise and cleaned, sliced 1/4 inch                    thick, about 1 cup

        1  Tablespoon minced garlic cloves

        3  Tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

        1  Cup brandy (don't skimp on quantity)

        3  cups low sodium chicken broth

        2  bay leaves

        1  large fennel bulb, about 1 lb., trimmed of stalks,fronds, cored and cut into 1/2 inch strips

        1  pound carrots,(6 medium), peeled and sliced 1 inch thick

        1  cup heavy cream (I omitted and we did not miss)

        1  cup pitted prunes. halved

        2  tablespoons minced fresh tarragon leaves

        2  tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves (optional)

        1  tablespoon juice from one lemon  

Preheat oven 325, pat pork dry with paper towels.  Salt and pepper the cubes.  Heat 2 tblsp. oil in Dutch oven over high heat until just smoking.  Add half the pork, cook until well browned, 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove browned pork to a bowl and add another tblsp.oil if needed (I didn't need to, since the pork rendered additional fat),  brown the second batch of cubes.  Remove second batch cubes to bowl.  Add remaining tblsp. oil to pan and return to medium heat until shimmering.  Add leek and 1 teaspoon salt, cook, stirring often, until wilted and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes.  Stir in garlic, cook about 30 seconds, until fragrant.  Stir in flour, cook, stirring constantly until golden, about 1 minute. Slowly whisk in brandy, scraping up any browned bits.  Gradually whisk in broth until smooth and bring to simmer.

Stir in browned pork and bay leaves and bring back to simmer.  Cover, place pot into oven and cook for 1 hour.

Remove from oven, stir in fennel and carrots, cover and return to oven, finish cooking, about 1 hour, or until the pork is tender.

Remove bay leaves, adjust seasonings, add cream and prunes, cover, and let sit for 5 minutes.  Stir in tarragon, parsley, and lemon juice just before serving.  Serves 6-8. Serve with wide egg noodles 

         

      

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