Bon Appétit (September 2014)
Our Lives in Biscuits
Clay is eight. He notices for the first time that the two biscuit makers in his life -- his maternal grandfather and his paternal grandmother -- make very different sorts of biscuits. His grandfather's are thin, crispy affairs, and we pile on the gravy, sprinkling it with sugar before digging in. As if from another planet, his grandmother's biscuits are like little dinner rolls, fluffy and compact.
Later, his working mom often makes biscuits as the morning meal. Clay loves to be the one to crack open the can from which they come -- the signature "pop" as the tubing comes apart is simultaneously thrilling and terrifying.
Biscuits are butter and Smuckers and harried mornings before rushing off to school.
--------
Zach is twelve. His grandmother makes fluffy, luxurious biscuits, using a beautiful wooden biscuit cutter to make them perfectly round. He tells her that he loves her biscuits. She tells him her secret: it's the recipe from the side of the bag of White Lily flour.
Later, in his twenties, when Zach has started to cook more, his grandmother sends him a short stack of recipes. Most are hand-written, on recipe cards that bear her name. But one stands out: a perfect little recipe card, on which the clipped White Lily recipe has been affixed. It hangs on the side of our refrigerator.
--------
It's 2006. We've started living together in an apartment in D.C., and occasionally, we get a hankering to make biscuits. They're fine, but also a little flatter and a little crisper than we want. But then, two years later, Easter comes, and a Scott Peacock recipe in Gourmet teaches us how to make a proper, fluffy yet crispy biscuit.
We never look back.
--------
It's Labor Day 2014. We're at the beach with friends, and we've brought along the latest issue of Bon Appétit. It's filled with nice sounding recipes, but all we're really drawn to are the beautiful little biscuits featured from the kitchen at Del Posto. There's a small group of us. It's early. We're hungry, but ambitious. It's biscuit time. We make our dough, drop the biscuits onto baking sheets and pop them in the oven.
The biscuits don't come out nearly as golden as we'd like, but we pull them from the oven, afraid they'll crisp too much on bottom. We serve them very warm, alongside eggs, sausage, and jams. Everyone is eager for a biscuit, and after eating them, agree that they're unlike any biscuit they've had before. They're sweet -- nearly dessert sweet.
They're not our cup of tea at breakfast, but we can't help but look forward to making them for a dessert. Strawberry season is months away, but we can taste the shortcake already.
--------
It's later, years from now. We become the sort of old men who aren't nearly as carb-conscious (or perhaps science has taken care of that for us) and who can crank out a batch of biscuits with barely a thought. Friends drop by for brunch. Biscuits are made. We laugh and we eat and we enjoy a darn good biscuit.
Rosa’s Biscuits
Bon Appétit (September 2014), recipe by Rosa Pacheco, Del Posto, NYC
Subscribe to Bon Appétit
(this photo: Dustin Aksland for Bon Appétit)
Makes 24 biscuits
INGREDIENTS
2½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
2½ teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces; plus 6 Tbsp. (¾ stick), melted
¾ cup chilled buttermilk
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1½ tsp. salt in a large bowl. Add chilled butter and toss to coat. Work butter into flour mixture with your fingers until mixture resembles coarse meal with several pea-size pieces of butter remaining.
Using a fork, gently mix in buttermilk, then gently knead just until dough comes together (do not overmix).
Pinch off pieces of dough and gently roll into 1” balls; place on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 2” apart (you should have about 24). If butter softens too much while you are working, chill dough until firm before baking, 15–20 minutes.
Bake biscuits until golden brown, 25–30 minutes. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with more salt. Serve warm.
