quote:

Originally posted by yumastepside:
Being Australian, to me a biscuit is something you eat with a cup of tea, what Americans call a cookie.......so what exactly is the " biscuit " we hear about in western movies and such?
Does someone have a recipe they would share so that I can make some for myself?

Roger

I lived in the US for over two years, never liked this funny thing they call "biscuits"!

Funny lot the Yanks are.

Could not speak the Queens English, and try to ruin food almost as much as the bloody Frogs!

I'll damn sure go along with the frogs part,although I must say that when I was in France in the 60's I developed a taste for escargo (snails).Oh + BTW,we are not nor have not been in the last 2.5 centuries dependent on the vernatilur of the "Queens English" although I must confess that I much prefer the former to some local yocal.But this is where I live.One eats what is local + they grew up on.That being said,I really like falafill.

A lot of childhood memories wrapped up in Biscuits & Gravy. In our house it was just called Sausage Gravy. The biscuits were never mentioned. That was just a given.

It was a treat. My mother didn't make it near enough, but when she did, the place would go crazy. She couldn't make enough to keep me, my brothers, and my sister from cleaning the bowl. (I ate so much of his sausage, that I grew-up believing I was related to Jimmy Dean.)

I saw Jimmy Dean at the Grand Ol Opery in Nashville in the early 60's when he was the headliner of the show as his song Big Bad John was the hit of the day. He had a young kid on the stage with him named Roy Clark.

I just sliced off some backstraps three inch long and pounded paper thin. Dusted them with sea salt and ground black pepper.

Seasoned up some White Lilly Flower , got the cuts nice and covered.

Fried them up in a cast iron skillet coated with melted butter and canola oil.

I used the pan drippings for the base added the left over flour. Once, I had it stirred into a roué. I whisked in the whole milk until nice and smooth,

My wife had the buttermilk biscuits coming out of the oven.

One Old Fashion, 3 biscuits, and six cutlets smothered in gravy later, I am a blessed man.

Except, the Wife got on to me for eating up the backstrap.

The only Roy Clark song I liked was “I never picked cotton.”

Sluuuuuurp........biscuits.

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
I just sliced fruit some backstraps three inch long and pounded paper thin. Dusted them with sea salt and ground black pepper.

Seasoned up some White Lilly Flower , got the cuts nice and covered.

Fried them up in a cast iron skillet coated with melted butter and canola oil.

I used the pan drippings for the base added the left over flour. Once, I had it stirred into a roué. I whisked in the whole milk until nice and smooth,

My wife had the buttermilk biscuits coming out of the oven.

One Old Fashion, 3 biscuits, and six cutlets smothered in gravy later, I am a blessed man.

Except, the Wife got on to me for eating up the backstrap.

The only Roy Clark song I liked was “I never picked cotton.”

Used to have a cafe here that did fryed chicken livers in a white cream gravy to dip (or smother).Several years ago when my boys were still young I took the family down to the roping arena where we were having a "fry" after all the local ranchers had been cutting calves + there were beaucoup ice chests full. Breaded in flour, cornmeal, salt + pepper + deep fried, was to die for. My youngest comes up to me + whispers "Dad, what are we eating?" I told him Mountain oysters. He gave a sigh of relief + said: "Good,Jake (his big brother) said they were bull nuts."

A Texas ranching families staple food is either a Biscuit or a Tortillo, its a toss up..

Branding days come twice a year and most of the food is cooked outdoors in iron pots and skillets..Venison backstrap fried and simmered in white gravy with hot buttered biscuits on the side, also covered with white gravy and the always hot pot of pinto beans, will feed a lot of hungry cowboys in the evening..Biscuits and gravy for breakfast with bacon, fried eggs, and sausage, again white gravey. Biscuits for every meal..chopped Hatch chili, goes in cream gravy of any kind..

They are an easy recipe, better give them a try mate...

carpetman1

When I read your first post it made me very nostalgic. My father was also an expert at making great biscuits. His father(my Grandfather) was equally as good. Like you I have tried for years, but have never been able to replicate them.

The recipe was dead simple. Just Flour, oil(or Fat), Buttermilk, and a touch of salt. The ratios are the key. Once mixed, he would spoon out a large lump and drop it onto a greased pan. We always called these "Drop" Biscuits. They would rise in the oven to a very uneven lumpy shape. Always lightly browned outside and soft inside.

Like any good biscuit they are excellent with Gravy, fried Venison cube steak, Salmon patties, Pork Sausage, a slice of melted extra sharp Chedder cheese, thick cut Bacon, ribbon cane syrup, Local Honey...and on and on...

Oddly enough, my Mother also made great biscuits but of a completely different type. Hers were rolled out on a counter top lightly dusted with flower and cut in an even circle with the rim of a drinking glass. Her biscuits were always more dense but very uniform after rising, like something out of a cooking magazine. They were just as good as Dads but in a different way. I can't explain why, but I enjoyed hers better as "Breakfast for dinner".

It's a real blessing to have Parents that took the time to cook us homemade meals and show us a few things along the way.

We all love our biscuits + gravy but I just seemed to recall an old military ditty, "The biscuits that they serve us they say is mighty fine, but one fell off the table + killed a friend of mine."

Norm,
You just dated yourself, I recall that little ryme was WW1,

quote:

Norm,
You just dated yourself, I recall that little ryme was WW1,

Hell Ray, just HOW OLD ARE YOU?!

I remember that the kids years ago would look at me kinda funny when I would sing "Katy ,beautiful Katy, she's the only girl th th th that I adore. Katy, beautiful Katy, she'll be waiting by the kkkk kitchen door."

"OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW BETTER" , NOW THAT DATES ME BACK FOR SURE!! I'LL NEVER SEE 84 AGAIN AND 85 IS TOSSING DISTANCE!!! AND STILL LOOKING DOWN AT THE DIRT!!

Time enough for the other, Ray

Like Kensco, biscuits and gravy bring back a lot of childhood memories. I swam in high school and college and had workouts at 5:30 every morning. In high school, my mother had breakfast when I got back from the workout before I had to get to school. It was either a 6 egg omelette or a half pan of homemade biscuits (from scratch) and gravy. She used dried beef rather than sausage. The thin-sliced salty stuff that comes in a little jar. Didn't have to worry about my weight in those days. Those breakfasts were probably 2000 calories.

True. We certainly didn't have to think about weight gain back then as we do now. I must confess that the thought of biscuits + gravy still makes me hungry.

I just put on a pound reading about it.

quote:

I must confess that the thought of biscuits + gravy still makes me hungry.

Amen!
Someone needs to start a national biscuits and gravy cook off/competition. They have BBQ cook offs, why not biscuits and gravy?

never had biscuits and gravy till my kids moved to the austin/san marcos area for college in the 90s. went to san marcos to visit once and son insisted i try biscuits and gravy at a buffet style breakfast place. i was immediately hooked and insisted we go back the next day until he told me i had just ate about 5000 calories for breakfast having ate 4 of em. i was like a kid at xmas that just saw his new bicycle get stolen. now i get em maybe 2-3 times a year but GOT DAMN theys good.
also...i admit i'm a west tx hick but what the hells a scone. i have read about em where some uppity brit or a california transplant in austin gets em but all i can figure out is they must be like a jelly donut as i have heard of a few diff descriptions of em.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
A Texas ranching families staple food is either a Biscuit or a Tortillo, its a toss up..

Branding days come twice a year and most of the food is cooked outdoors in iron pots and skillets..Venison backstrap fried and simmered in white gravy with hot buttered biscuits on the side, also covered with white gravy and the always hot pot of pinto beans, will feed a lot of hungry cowboys in the evening..Biscuits and gravy for breakfast with bacon, fried eggs, and sausage, again white gravey. Biscuits for every meal..

They are an easy recipe, better give them a try mate...

what the hells a TORTILLO??

John, don't be rude; you've been in Texas long enough to know what a tortilla is.FWIW, My minister has an idea that during the Spanish Inquisition in the 1600s that many people came to the "New World" among them jews escaping oppression. Under the eye of the Catholic church one needed to be careful. Long story short that when the jews hit Mexico, they developed the tortilla ( an unleavened bread product) that would be applicable to Hebrew Heritage. I'm not saying this is right, only something to ponder..... BTW!! can we get back on the subject of biscuits + gravy ?

sounds like another one of ur tall tales!

I use sausage but also use bacon grease but for both I use generous black pepper and fresh biscuits! If you want to go crazy, add grated cheddar to your biscuits or grated frozen butter for that extra POW!

John C,
Its a dervitive of the tortilla, a tortillo is the male of the species in Spanish!! Best I can come up with other than age is forgiven as the demensia kicks it..

I can't count how many times we left the house and hour before daylight, horses blowing steam out the nose and headed for the back pasture some 5 miles back, and this young cowboy had his jacket pockets filled cold biscuits with a slab of backstrap in each biscuitwhich!!Id like to do that one more time,and I might.