food. according to me.

Nostalgia and Biscuits

I have been experiencing a very high level of nostalgia lately. Luckily, it's the sort that makes you appreciate your past, but not want to return to it. This is due in no small part, I am sure, to the arrival of a good number of family heirlooms to my home, accompanied by memorabilia from my childhood: old school reports, handmade Father's Day cards, letters to the Easter Bunny and that sort of thing. Moving has also stirred up a good amount of items I had forgotten I owned, among them a very nondescript plastic recipe box (the kind that holds 3x5s), given to me at some point in the past by my Grandmother. She had already labeled some of the dividers with the usual sort of categories - "poultry," "appetizers," "soups," "breads" - and included some of her favorites in this "starter kit" of sorts. The first card in the box reads, Dear J, I am starting you out with some basic recipes - things your grandmother should pass on to you...I think you are going to be a good cook! Love, Grandma B. It just warms me so to read that now...

Included in her gift of recipes is one for Biscuits. According to her story, my great grandmother made these six mornings a week for the family - and on Sundays they had toast as a treat. Amazing how things change, huh?
Word for word, from the card:

500º oven. 5-10 min.

2 C sifted flour
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
5 Tbl. shortening
1 C buttermilk

Sift flour, measure, add dry ingredients, sift again 2 times. Add shortening, mix with your hands until lumps of shortening are no larger than a small pea. With a fork, add the buttermilk all at once and stir until all the flour is absorbed. Pat out on floured board to about 1/2" thickness. cut with a small biscuit cutter, re-rolling scraps to cut more. Have ready a shallow pizza pan or pie pan with oil on it. Put biscuits in, turn over so top is oiled. Pat down slightly. Bake in hot oven until golden.