One of the things I find interesting about the American biscuit is that it’s name tends to change depending on the leavener that’s being used to raise it. Look through just about any really old cookbook (written before, say, 1860 or so) and you’ll find all kinds of recipes for “soda biscuits” or “baking soda […]
READ ONSo yeah, we get you, you say. Baking powder is a critical component of American (or more properly Southern American) biscuits. So how come there are only three ingredients in this week’s biscuit recipe and not one of them is baking powder? Aha…because the baking powder is already in the flour, or I should say, […]
READ ONThe main thing that differentiates a biscuit from a cracker is its ability to rise. And of course that doesn’t happen by itself. It takes a little chemical mojo, and in our case that mojo comes from baking powder. As I mentioned in one of last week’s posts, baking powder was the invention of one […]
READ ON…that Peach Melba is named for the very same Melba and was also invented by Escoffier? Almost spooky how these things are connected.
READ ONDid you know that Melba toast was invented by none other than Auguste Escoffier? Who’da thunk it?
READ ONThen again, with a bit of distance on the subject, you can kind of see where the Brits are coming from on this whole naming thing. Take a small, disk-shaped piece of flour-and-water dough, bake it, and you have a cracker. Add a little fat and leavening and it’s a biscuit (an American biscuit, that […]
READ ONIt can of course be argued that cookies and biscuits are pretty much the same thing. To a Brit, the word biscuit actually means “cookie”, but then it also means “cracker” and also, on occasion, even “biscuit”. Why do they use one word to denote all those different things? Who knows? It’s not like the […]
READ ONI went on a history bender this last weekend, getting deep into two extremely worthwhile books: David McCullough’s excellent 1776, and Joseph Stevens’ 1863: Rebirth of a Nation. Ruminating on old New England got me in the mood for some good old-fashioned: Hermit Cookies …while thinking on the South made me realize last week’s threat […]
READ ONThe ‘big meeting’ was cancelled, so I headed home early…got in around 10:00 last night. The long drive home gave me plenty of time to think on this week’s recipes. I shall post them shortly.
READ ONI’m headed up to Chicago for a few days on a mixture of business and more business, so the posting will be light (maybe nonexistent) until Tuesday or so. Until then, please amuse yourselves by rummaging around in the archives, there are some 150 posts there and every last one of them is gold baby. […]
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