"Mother
could cook the best biscuits. She did not roll 'em out, she would pinch em'
all in a big 'ol bread tray."
"The
preserves stayed on the table all the time, 'cause Mama made biscuits all the
time."
"We
baked biscuits early in the morning."
Many women recall that their introduction into
the world of baking came through the preparation of biscuits, almost as a
rite of passage. Mothers and grandmothers taught young girls how to mix and
prepare biscuits, measuring by "pinches" or throuhg the "feel"
of the dough.
"Well,
we baked biscuits early in the morning before we set to school. And my mom started
teaching me how to make biscuits when I was too small to stand on the floor.
She had to put me up in a chair."
Biscuits have long been a staple of the southern
diet. Families baked biscuits for breakfast and ate them with butter, sorghum
syrup, gravy, or jellies. Children and those who worked away from home during
the day typically ate the leftover biscuits with meat or butter for the noon-time
meal.
"[In]
Minnesota and up in that area, they made a 'hard' flour. And, for southern baking,
you need to use this 'soft' flour. The hard flour is made from wheat grown in
the Midwest. And the wheat they grow in this area, I know the soft flour is
made from it."
While some families grew their own wheat on
the farm and had it ground at the local grist mill, most women bought plain
flour at the general store. White Lily and Martha White, both produced in
the South, continue to rank among the most popular flours. On the farm, cooks
used lard (from hogs), which produces a flakier texture. In more recent times,
Cristco shortening has functioned as a more readily available substitute for
lard. Women have traditionally used buttermilk for biscuits, which they churned
at home or purchased from the store. Before self-rising flour gained popularity,
baking soda served as a primary leavening agent.
Two hands molding batter over a mixing bowl.
A woman placing molded dough onto a baking
pan.
A woman putting a pan of biscuits into the
oven.
Many Southerners still enjoy biscuits or cornbread
with a plate of vegetables.
"I
love them with butter and honey or with gravies."
"Usually
[school] lunches consisted of ham or sausage, a biscuit filled with syrup, a
baked potato, and occasionally a teacake."
A
southern meal with biscuits.
Cheese biscuits are a popular variation of
traditional biscuits.
"It
was always a treat to visit the dining hall. For years, the food was cooked
on big black iron stove that burned wood. Bob Jackson...was an excellent cook
and a fine person. He would split hot biscuits and fill them with butter and
sugar for us or he would offer us teacakes."
"We
always had sorghum syrup on the stove, and put butter in it...and cook it down
to like it was kind of candy. And it was so good over the biscuits."
A
small plate with a biscuit and selly on the side, along with a fork and a mug
filled with a beverage.
