Authentic Biscuits

CMWinkler

Colonel
Retired Moderator
Joined
Oct 17, 2012
Location
Middle Tennessee
Biscuit.—Take one quart of flour, three teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, mixed well through the flour two tablespoonfuls of shortening, one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in warm water, of a sufficient quantity to mould the quart of flour. For large families the amount can be doubled.
Recipe from Confederate Receipt Book,
West & Johnson Publishers, Richmond, Virginia, 1863.
 
You must have some sausage gravy with those biscuits as we had for breakfast yesterday.
Now there's a hearty breakfast!!! One of my very favorite ways to start the day. MrsMRB makes sausage gravy occasionally for me and sometimes makes it with hamburg instead of sausage. Either recipe is utterly fantastic over good biscuits! My preference is a flaky buttermilk biscuit. YUM!
 
Now there's a hearty breakfast!!! One of my very favorite ways to start the day. MrsMRB makes sausage gravy occasionally for me and sometimes makes it with hamburg instead of sausage. Either recipe is utterly fantastic over good biscuits! My preference is a flaky buttermilk biscuit. YUM!
Sometimes Mrs.Nitrofd gets lazy when it's only her and me for breakfast and she will put a few frozen biscuits in the oven instead of scratch making them.we found a brand that WalMart carries called Mrs.B's that are really good,almost like homemade.I don't know if they are available up north or just in the South but they are worth buying for $2.29 for 20 biscuits and yes they are buttermilk biscuits and are very flakey.
 
Biscuit.—Take one quart of flour, three teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, mixed well through the flour two tablespoonfuls of shortening, one teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in warm water, of a sufficient quantity to mould the quart of flour. For large families the amount can be doubled.
Recipe from Confederate Receipt Book,
West & Johnson Publishers, Richmond, Virginia, 1863.
I'm actually going to try this.
 
Here's another recipe from the same source for biscuits:

Another Receipt.—Take two quarts of flour, two ounces of
butter, half pint of boiling water, one teaspoonful of salt, one
pint of cold milk, and half cup yeast. Mix well and set to
rise, then mix a teaspoonful of saleratus in a little water and
mix into dough, roll on a board an inch thick, cut into small
biscuits, and bake twenty minutes.
 
Lactose free.... Thank God.

Growing up in the Mississippi Delta, I was raised on Buttermilk "Cathead" biscuits. Step one involved putting a 1/4 cup of oil in the skillet and preheating it to 400 so that the bottom of the biscuit gets very crispy. And of course, they are called catheads because 4 or 6 of them will fill up an 8" skillet. They are as big as hamburger buns.

Edit: My great grandmother's recipe was very simple.

2 cups of self rising flour
Enough buttermilk to get the job done.
You are looking for the dough to be almost too sticky to work with, but the floured board is your saving grace.
Make the oil in your skillet about 1/8" deep and preheat it to 400
Once the skillet is hot, take your giant biscuits and place them in the hot oil, and then immediately flip them over.

note: handle or knead the dough as little as possible. the more you handle the dough, the tougher your biscuits will be.

Delta Cathead Biscuits are best served with fried squirrel, mashed potatoes and squirrel gravy.
be careful eating the squirrel, because Pawpaw King is not good at removing all the pellets.
 
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Delta Cathead Biscuits are best served with fried squirrel, mashed potatoes and squirrel gravy. be careful eating the squirrel, because Pawpaw King is not good at removing all the pellets.

Squirrel?! Now I know my dad ate groundhog growing up that his grandfather and he would hunt, but squirrel? Oh my...what does it taste like? As a born and raised city girl, food of this variety is very unfamiliar to me.
 
Squirrel?! Now I know my dad ate groundhog growing up that his grandfather and he would hunt, but squirrel? Oh my...what does it taste like? As a born and raised city girl, food of this variety is very unfamiliar to me.
Squirrel is a mild tasting meat,it used to be the mainstream item in Brunswick Stew,another southern classic.I have shot many a groundhog (woodchuck) and that is a meat that takes some getting used too.you have to clean them carefully or those musk glands wil, kill the taste of the meat.not one of my favorites.
 
Squirrel is a mild tasting meat,it used to be the mainstream item in Brunswick Stew,another southern classic.I have shot many a groundhog (woodchuck) and that is a meat that takes some getting used too.you have to clean them carefully or those musk glands wil, kill the taste of the meat.not one of my favorites.

I've heard of Brunswick Stew, never realized at one time it contained squirrel! If I see it on the menu, I'll always make sure to inquiry about the meat. Seems great-grandpa enjoyed the groundhog and my great-grandmother made it in a tomato based stew according to my dad. He enjoyed it, too and isn't a huge fan of wild game in general. It sounds like wild game is all about how its prepared and treated.
 
I've heard of Brunswick Stew, never realized at one time it contained squirrel! If I see it on the menu, I'll always make sure to inquiry about the meat. Seems great-grandpa enjoyed the groundhog and my great-grandmother made it in a tomato based stew according to my dad. He enjoyed it, too and isn't a huge fan of wild game in general. It sounds like wild game is all about how its prepared and treated.
In a restaurant today Brunswick Stew is only made with chicken as that is what modern health departments will allow.a good substitute that you can use is rabbit.and true with wild game preperation is the most important part.
 
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