As I watched a woman making biscuits, I was reminded of my mother. She made wonderful biscuits. She taught me, but I did not think I was very good at biscuit making. The woman in the video was making drop biscuits. She petted them more than I did. I just dropped the dough onto the pan.
Mama said Daddy did not like her tall biscuits. He wanted thin biscuits like his mother made, less than 1/2 tall. I thought about that. His mother had twelve children. I can imagine making biscuits for that many hungry children was a challenge. Other than needing lots of biscuits, I have a theory about why she made them thin.
Children do not know the theory of conservation. One large cookie may not equate 4 small cookies even if there is more mass in the larger cookie than the smaller cookies. Children go for the numbers, not the actual amount to eat. Then they eventually learn 'conservation.'
So, his mother made many small/short biscuits to keep children happy. That one, tall, beautiful biscuit could be four or five equally small biscuits. Many biscuits made children happy. Well, that is my theory of why she made such short biscuits.
I made small cookies for small hands. But, the number of cookies I gave my children made them very happy. One large cookie made them sad. Remember those days?
I have not made biscuits that were rolled and cut in years and years. I rarely made drop biscuits. What I have made was with a big spoon of dough, rolled in flour and shaped by hand. What I had rather make is whack biscuits. Making biscuits was not fun! Since these are hand formed and not rolled and cut, I could do that on a tray in my lap.
Stores sell big plastic bags of frozen biscuits loose in the bag. Every time that I have decided to buy them, I am not going right home, so they would thaw.
I liked biscuits with lots of butter, scrambled eggs inside. Of course, I liked them with just butter, with homemade jam or jelly, honey or sugar/cinnamon sprinkled on the butter. Mostly, we ate biscuits with butter. Biscuits with gravy was always good.
Bisquik biscuits are okay but not like my mother made.
Tommy said his grandmother made 'cat head' biscuits. His paternal grandmother made them for Sunday dinner when the family was there. Once, when his maternal grandmother from Kentucky was visiting, she did not know what 'cat head' biscuits were.
As the name suggests 'cat head' biscuits were as large as a cat's head and originated in the South.
Now, I am in the mood to make biscuits but not on my lap. The rolling pin my mother gave me, one of hers, was lost with my house. I know how to substitute something else. I also know how to pat the dough to right thickness. I would rather pat than roll!
Below is a page full of history:
cat head biscuits origin - Search (bing.com)
Do you like biscuits? What kind?
What kind do you make?
Do you make drop biscuits?
Who in your family made biscuits?
Biscuit stories or memories?
My Dad loved to slice the top off the cornbread as thin as he could and eat that, so I understand your Dad wanting 1/2 inch biscuits. :)
ReplyDeleteBelinda,
DeleteHe was adamant that short biscuits were the way to make biscuits. Thankfully, she made much taller ones. Funny habit your father had.
I love biscuits. I have made drop kind, but not in a long time. My grandma was the biscuit maker and my favorite meal of hers was chicken and dumplings with the biscuits on top.
ReplyDeleteOne,
DeleteNow, I want chicken and dumplings! But, Mama never put biscuits on top. I can smell chicken and dumplings and biscuits now.
Mother made drop biscuits with Bisquick, always over a casserole of ground beef, tomato soup, and canned green beans/peas. It was a hearty, filling family favorite that was very easy for a 12-year-old to make for dinner when I got home off the school bus.
ReplyDeleteShe never made biscuits over a chicken casserole, which would have been delicious, too. I have no idea why, other than my mother really did not enjoy cooking and did not experiment.
I like butter biscuit dough that is minimally folded and cut into circles. Even better is dough patted into a pan and then cut into squares and baked separately. Re-rolled biscuit dough never rises as high as the first cut ones, so that's why I prefer squares over circles--no re-rolling needed.
Hmm. Now I want biscuits, hot from the oven. Or do I want cornbread gems more? Decisions, decisions...
Mama never made casseroles at all, so I rarely do. I have never put biscuits on a casserole. Not sure why.
DeleteI don't even put biscuits in a pan to make them square. I just cut them on the flour and take them and put them on a pan.
I definitely want hot biscuits.
When I worked offshore, I would watch the cook make biscuits. His measuring cup was an old can, he added other ingredients by "feel", and after rolling them out, used the same can to cut the biscuits before baking. They were always perfect, light and made breakfast much better. If I tried that, the biscuit's best use would be as a hocky puck.
ReplyDeleteJess,
DeleteMany good cooks use strange methods for measuring, including not measuring. The longer I cook, the better I am at not measuring. I have seen people using a glass or anything round to cut biscuits, but never a can. I will never be a good biscuit maker! Thanks for coming by.
My mom always had biscuits for breakfast every day. Her's weren't tall, but not thin either. For chicken and dumplings, she would roll the dough really thin, cut them into strips then drop them in the simmering broth. I never was any good at baking biscuits, even the drop ones lol. I just buy the frozen ones.
ReplyDeleteNana10,
DeleteI love biscuits cut like that for chicken and dumplings!!! Like you, I will just buy biscuits. I have never bought frozen, though. Next time I go into the store, I will. Tommy might buy the wrong thing.
If you like a good biscuit those frozen ones are a sorry substitute. When I make biscuits I do at least four dozen and put them in the freezer. They heat up well in the air fryer and we love the convenience.
ReplyDeleteLana,
DeleteI fear you are correct! It sounds like you have a good method going. I am getting hungrier by the minute for biscuits.
My grandmother made biscuits with every meal. She kept a large, shallow wooden bowl on the shelf of a lower cabinet. It always had flour in it. She bought flour in 25 lb. sacks and used lard and buttermilk. I would stand next to her and watch her as she mixed and patted everything into a log shape. She would pinch a piece off and roll it with her hands, then put it on the baking sheet and gently pat it down with the back of her hand, leaing four finger shaped dents on top of the biscuits. I have never perfected her method and not from lack of trying! Oh, to have one of her biscuits dripping with butter! The lard came from the hog slaughtered in the fall, the butter and buttermilk came from the cow she milked every day.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
DeleteWow! That was some home-grown production. She needed a bowl and flour and the farm provided the rest. It was probably a bowl made by someone on the farm. Pinching off biscuits is something I remember well.
I did not grow up with biscuits (worse luck!). Someone who is a sort of southerner, tells me biscuits were ubitiqious in his family - and a woman was measured by the quality of her bisquits.
ReplyDeleteUrspo,
DeleteLOL. I made passable biscuits.
I make really good biscuits when I make them. I just don't do it often. We are much more of a cornbread family.
ReplyDeleteAnne,
DeleteMy biscuits are probably better than I think. They just don't measure up to my mother's. I do make excellent cornbread! When I first met Tommy, I discovered he loved cornbread, so I made it every week and let him have the rest to take home. Then, I discovered he was diabetic.