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As I got older, I realized how much talent you really do have to have to be a cook for 11 people on a daily basis! I don’t know how Granny did it. Anyway, I got curious on a few of Granny’s tried and true recipes that I had lived on for years and wanted to know how I could make a few at home. One day I asked Momma how she made them. It’s one of the classic responses that you get when asking for a family recipe, “Well, I don’t really know how much she used of this or that, but we can guess.”. Momma did a very good job showing me, here at my home, and my first batch turned out pretty good! Even Daddy liked them! I made sure I had Strawberry Jelly on hand for my Dad Momma makes them often too, so she was the perfect person to ask.

Before we started Momma gave me the facts she did know and the technique of forming the biscuits. Really, they HAVE no form. They are what you call ‘drop biscuits’ and you pretty much drop them in the pan and that’s the shape you get! But, Granny had a special way of dropping the fairly wet dough onto a pile of flour, picking it up, and then sort of tossing it from one hand into the other, from above. I’ve gotten pretty good at that and I think it’s so much fun! Who says you can’t “play” with your food? The trick is that you can’t leave it in your hand so long that it wants to ooze back into liquid form before you get it to the pan. They spread out very quickly, so you have to work fast. The more you can get side by side, the taller your biscuits will be. Momma said Freda, my Aunt, makes one smooth top biscuit! She’s got that technique down pat.

As I stood at my baking counter, watching Momma, it took me back to watching Granny make the very same biscuits. The only difference now is that I didn’t have to stand tip-toe to watch Momma as I did with Granny. The curiosity and wonderment were still there though. It was lovely! We stood, side by side, forming the biscuits. I’d say “How big?” she’d respond “Well, what’s in the spoon looks about right, but add a little more.” We went on and made a large tray of these lovely babies. Thanks, Momma!

Of course, no one’s biscuits turn out quite like Granny’s, but they are all made with the same special Martin Family ingredient…Orneriness!. We’d be damned if we were going to fail at making biscuits!! You can’t bring a Martin down, easily. Now, I make my biscuits in the same bowl that Momma used to showed me how. Yet another form of tradition. I do a few things differently, like using Olive Oil instead of Vegetable Oil, and I don’t use a lot of self-rising flour, so I make my own when I need to. Granny always used White Lily Self-Rising flour, but I don’t. I use half All Purpose Organic flour and half 00 Italian flour and it makes for a very light biscuit. I guess, really, I “Italian’d” mine up a bit!.

Ok. I’ve totally gone around my initial point! So, on this particular day, I was in the mood for some homestyle comfort food. Buttermilk Biscuits are the ultimate for me. Instead of a plate of heavy gravy to smother my pretty butter-top biscuits, I decided to just have them slathered in butter and honey. Can you say YUMMMM?? Plus, it was so easy. I have made them quite a few times now, and it’s just second nature.
There is no real recipe, so you just make however many you think you want and it’s very easy to adjust the quantity as you go. Need more flour, add more flour. Need more buttermilk, add more. It’s really that easy. In total, there are 3 ingredients (5 if you make the flour self-rising). None of them have an absolute amount. But, once you get the feel for it, you never forget.

Something else I like about homemade biscuits, as opposed to restaurant biscuits, you don’t get that nasty “Grease Teeth” feeling after these. Nothing but clean flavour. So many times in “big chain country cookin’ restaurants” I’ve had the saddest biscuits I’ve ever tasted. How some restaurants can call what they make food is beyond me!! I always prefer to eat at home whenever possible. Yes. I am a food snob!

Back to the biscuits… There is a debate on the oven temperature. I usually do 425 F, but sometimes I do 400F. As long as you watch them, it really doesn’t matter. I would stay at least at 400 F though, otherwise they get gummy and bouncy when you bite into them. Generally, they need 15 to 20 minutes to cook.

Earlier that week, I had made yet another Martin Classic ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ and I can’t tell you how friggin’ good they were!! Of course, I made them in a cast iron skillet Granny would be so proud. I sat and ate my non-greasy tomatoes with ketchup (weird, ay? ketchup on TOMATOES??) and could just see my Dad in his t-shirt at the dinner table. I just love when food evokes such memories. But, the tomatoes were from my parent’s garden. They came up for my birthday and brought a bounty with them. I’m gradually cooking the tomatoes where I can. Thanks guys!

Even though all of my grandparent’s are gone now, I can remember them through their gastronomic lineage…or fond foodal memories When I think Vegetable soup, I think Mimi. When I think Buttermilk Biscuits, I think Granny. They were both such amazing cooks, and they are still teaching me today. They always will. “Lord-a-Mercy!!”

Much Love,

Christa Belle