The Perfect Biscuit According to Eula Mae Dore

Thanks to Eula Mae Dore, a great Southern cook from Avery Plantation, La., I’ve learned to make the best Buttermilk Biscuits I’ve ever had.

Eula Mae says a good biscuit is one of the best things to have on hand for quick meals. She uses them in emergencies to make simple sandwiches filled with scraps of ham or cheese and serves them with pickles and a small salad. For dessert, she warms a biscuit or two and makes a shortcake with fresh fruits or berries. She has convinced me that you can’t have too many biscuits on hand.

Eula Mae learned to cook and bake from her grandmother, not from cookbooks, and the artfulness of her preparation was a joy to watch. Here are some of her biscuit-making tips:

* First go out and replace your baking powder, unless you bought it within the last four months. More baking flops occur from old, tired baking powder than from any other cause. And don’t rely on the old test of checking the freshness of baking powder by putting a spoonful in a glass of water to see if it fizzes. Baking powder, like a carbonated drink, can fizz a little and still be almost flat. Buying new baking powder costs very little when you consider the cost of baking failures.

* Next, Eula Mae insists that sifting the dry ingredients four times is the reason her biscuits are perfect. I tested the recipe sifting and not sifting and, indeed, sifting does make a slightly higher, more tender biscuit.

* After you cut the biscuit dough, put the pieces on a baking sheet upside down. This ensures a taller, lighter biscuit by making sure any edges crimped by the pressure of the cutting don’t interfere with the rise. (The French use the same trick when making puff pastry.)

* The tip that helped me the most was using less flour than usual. Eula Mae’s dough was soft and sticky. She handled it gently, dusting her hands and the dough with only enough flour to make the dough manageable. The result was a lighter biscuit.

Great Southern home cooks such as Eula Mae keep traditional regional food alive. As the late Bill Neal noted in the introduction to his book “Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie”:

“Today, Southerners are more and more aware of their traditional foods as the rest of their culture blends into that of the nation as a whole. Certain dishes give identity to entire communities. Yearly, thousands of people flock to small towns all over the South for festivals in honor of such lowly foodstuffs as chitlins, ramps and collards.

“A few years ago, most Southerners wouldn’t admit to still eating these foods. Now we see bumper stickers directing us to ‘Eat more possum.’ It isn’t just a joke. We know we are Southerners because we do eat possum and grits and okra. When we no longer eat these foods, we no longer will be Southerners. Our diet reflects the history of the region and its people: Native Americans, Europeans and Africans. Our food tells us where we came from and who we have become.”

One morning Eula Mae served a bubbling hot casserole of Baked Grits and Cheese and some andouille sausage, which was made complete with Buttermilk Biscuits and fig preserves on the side. The Baked Grits and Cheese Casserole would also be very good with some sliced tomatoes.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

1/2 cup shortening

2 1/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Place shortening in small plastic food bag. Flatten shortening between plastic sheets so it is thin and return to freezer. This allows shortening to become hard enough to break into tiny pieces when added to dry ingredients.

Tear 2 pieces wax paper about 15 inches long and place on counter. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt onto wax paper. Place empty sifter on top of bare sheet of wax paper, lift sheet of wax paper holding sifted dry ingredients by sides and pour through sifter, sifting onto bare wax paper. Sift back and forth 3 times, then sift once more into large mixing bowl.

Remove shortening from freezer. Cut into small bits, about 1/4-inch square. Drop shortening bits into bowl of dry ingredients and, using fingertips, lightly rub shortening and flour together, occasionally tossing flour mixture so you touch all particles of shortening with flour. When mixture has bits of flour-covered shortening throughout, begin adding buttermilk. Using fork, add buttermilk, lightly stirring to mix with dry ingredients.

Cover board or surface with dusting of flour. Gather sticky mass of dough and place on floured surface. Dust hands with flour and gently knead dough, adding enough flour only to make dough manageable. Pat dough with hands or roll with floured rolling pin into round 1/2-inch thick. Using 2-inch cutter, cut out biscuits and place touching each other in 3 rows in center of greased baking sheet. Place on middle rack of 425-degree oven and bake 12 minutes, or until lightly golden. Remove from oven and serve hot or warm. Makes 19 (2-inch round) biscuits.

Each serving contains about:

111 calories; 135 mg sodium; 1 mg cholesterol; 6 grams fat; 13 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams protein; 0.04 gram fiber.

BAKED GRITS AND CHEESE

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup quick-cooking grits

3/4 cup milk

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded

Combine water and salt in large pot and bring to boil. Slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat to simmer and cover pot. Cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Butter 2-quart, shallow baking dish. Add milk, eggs and butter and stir briskly to mix well. Add cheese and mix thoroughly. Bake at 350 degrees 25 to 30 minutes or until grits are hot and cheese has melted. Serve hot. Makes 4 generous servings.

Each serving contains about:

439 calories; 952 mg sodium; 223 mg cholesterol; 26 grams fat; 34 grams carbohydrates; 17 grams protein; 0.20 gram fiber.

Edna Lewis, a truly great Southern cook, says of this dish: “Hominy was as common on the table when I was growing up as rice is today. It is not used too much any longer, but it is still readily available in some regions, particularly in the South. You can buy it in cans or loose, sold in bulk, and sometimes you can find it in health-food stores. Hominy is dried, hulled whole kernels of corn; grits are finely ground hominy. Usually hominy is boiled and served hot for breakfast, plain or with gravy. Because I think it is a little like tiny dumplings, I like to cook it with sauteed chicken so that the juices from the chicken and the vegetables can mingle with the hominy.”

SAUTEED CHICKEN WITH HOMINY CASSEROLE

3 tablespoons butter

1 (2 1/2-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces

3 cups hominy (if using canned hominy, rinse several times with cold water to remove taste of soaking liquid)

1 medium onion, chopped

1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced

1 small carrot, thinly sliced

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dash dried thyme leaves

1/4 cup white wine, not too dry

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream, optional

Heat butter in skillet until foaming, then quickly saute chicken pieces, turning so they cook on both sides but do not brown. Drain chicken on paper towels.

Place hominy in 2-quart casserole with lid. Place chicken pieces on top and cover with even layers of onion, sliced mushrooms and carrot. Add bay leaf and sprinkle pepper and dried thyme over vegetables. Add wine and cover casserole.

Bake at 325 degrees 45 minutes. About 5 minutes before casserole has finished cooking, add salt and parsley. Remove from oven and remove bay leaf. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add cream. Makes 4 servings.

Each serving contains about:

599 calories; 774 mg sodium; 163 mg cholesterol; 38 grams fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 38 grams protein; 1.13 grams fiber.

Georgia chef Scott Peacock’s Lemon Chess Pie is lovely in summer with berries and as a winter dessert with softly whipped cream. He says mixing wet ingredients singly into dry ingredients makes a smoother mixture. He also turns the oven off and opens the oven door when the pie is done so it cools very slowly, which also gives the custard a silkier mixture.

LEMON CHESS PIE

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon white cornmeal

1 tablespoon flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon zest

1/3 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Lightly whipped cream, slightly sweetened

Combine sugar, cornmeal, flour and salt in large bowl. Stir with fork to mix well.

Beat eggs in separate bowl. Stir into dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and mix well. Add butter and mix. Stir in lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Pour mixture into crust.

Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes or until top is golden brown and custard is set. (There is some free butter at this point, but it will be absorbed as pie cools). Cool pie slowly. Serve with whipped cream. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

459 calories; 269 mg sodium; 126 mg cholesterol; 23 grams fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams protein; 0.08 gram fiber.