If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the course of writing this little column, it’s that many of you perk up when I drop a new biscuit recipe. Not that I wouldn’t mind being your go-to biscuit boy. It’s just that there’s quite a number of biscuit boys already out there in these vast Southern ponds. I’d be just a minnow among the catfish. Nevertheless, whenever I’m down, out comes the White Lily.
Between constantly sewing or bending over a pattern and the weekly rhythms of getting newspapers ready to mail, I stressed out my Achilles heel. Which, I thought, only Achilles had a problem with. When my grandfather tore his ACL, I thought that had something to do with his knee. Apparently, I need a refresher on human anatomy. At least, I’m not a doctor writing about all this.
As I was coming out of my umpteenth hot bath, I felt like having some cheesy biscuits. Time and again, my family would grab a box of Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit mix and proceed as directed. In fact, any other cheese biscuit recipe I’ve encountered just about is some form of drop biscuit. In the biscuit world, a drop biscuit is equivalent to a dump cake in the baking world: almost too easy.
Now I do make something that I call cheese “biscuits”. Yes, you have to do the air quotes around biscuits when you serve these. Essentially, it’s a pound of aged cheddar cheese, a half a pound of butter, some red pepper flakes, and enough flour to hold it all together. What results is a cheesy shortbread of sorts and something no one is going to have a problem with. Every time I’ve served these, they disappear. You can imagine why.
Still, these biscuits I made on a whim are one of those things that are hard to translate. I took some store-bought pimiento cheese in our fridge, some lard, some self-rising flour, a little extra baking powder, and cut it all together. Make a well, add some buttermilk to moisten it and drop them on a greased baking pan with an ice cream scoop. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or so and you have these impossibly pillowy creations. Sure, they’re not as herbaceous as what you’d get at Red Lobster, but you can throw that in there. I’m almost positive it’s just parsley and garlic powder.
If you must know, I had these biscuits with a bowl of chili, my guilty pleasure whenever autumn rears its breezy head. Y’all can hush, I know it hasn’t been cool enough for all that, but I’m allowed to romanticize my little corner of the universe. So far, we’re at two pots of chili, but the standard kind. We usually wait for the dead of winter to break out the big guns: a sweet potato and black bean chili. On Sunday, Dave was going through his roster of soup recipes…all three of them. It got me to thinking I don’t have a stellar soup roster, myself. Chickpea and spinach soup, roasted tomato bisque, creamy potato, taco, Brunswick stew. It’s at this point you can start to hear me trail off as I run out of recipes. Then again, this isn’t really soup country until it’s frigid; which is here and gone before you know it.
Sorry to get off on the soup tangent, which I’ve been meaning to save for a more appropriate issue. There, I’ll ask such questions as “What do you put in your chili, both in preparation and serving?” I’m particularly concerned with the serving part. Nonetheless, I’m here to share with you the recipe I based these pimiento cheese biscuits off of: The Lady & Sons Restaurant’s recipe. Yes, yes, we have a Savannah recipe this week. So, let me hush up and hop on over there for some cheese biscuits.
- Cheese Biscuits
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/3 cup shortening or lard
- 3/4 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 stick melted butter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together with a fork. Cut in the lard or shortening with the fork until it resembles cornmeal. Add in the cheese. Pour buttermilk in all at once and stir just until blended. Do not over stir.
Drop by Tablespoonfuls on to a greased baking pan. Brush dough with the melted butter. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Yields 16 to 20 biscuits.
Obviously, I halved this. Not that I doubt my capabilities to eat a pan of 16 to 20 biscuits, it’s just that my years of eating such volumes should be in the rearview mirror by now. If you’re wanting to do pimiento cheese biscuits like I did, I’d use a touch less lard and the same amount of pimiento cheese as is measured in the recipe. This may sound snobbish of me, but please use a nice pimiento cheese if it’s store-bought. Seems like everyone has caught on to Palmetto Cheese, which is one of the better exports from South Carolina in recent memory. Use that, or some other niche local brand or your own! As a matter of fact, I’ll always advocate for you to use your own pimiento cheese.
Paula Deen is one Southern cook whom I hesitate to admit has come to my rescue on a number of occasions. Back when I was a sophomore in high school, I had about three holiday parties in school to bring food for. One such party was for the yearbook staff, where my future English teacher, Mrs. Gibbs, brought tomato grits. I’d never heard of such a thing and promptly ate as much as was polite to in such a setting. A couple of years later, right before I was set to go to Montevallo in the fall, I’d ask Mrs. Gibbs to make me a pan of tomato grits one last time. It was when we were having dinner together that she revealed it was a Paula Deen recipe, one I could’ve collected and had to myself all along.
Then, of course, there’s the viral (in my opinion) Not Your Mama’s Banana Pudding that relies on French Vanilla flavored Jell-O and Chessmen cookies. She promises it’s a hit everywhere it goes and I don’t doubt that. Paula struck out once again whenever I was searching for a tomato gravy recipe last minute. Since then, I’ve come across more tomato gravy recipes than I can count in our existing recipe books, but that’s all hindsight.
Back to the biscuits. Brush ’em with herbed butter if you want that cheddar bay-style. Maybe this is just my sweet tooth talking, but some honey butter on these wouldn’t be so bad either. Not too sweet, but just a touch. Obviously if you have bacon grease on hand, that would be a divine fat to use in these savory creations. You know, I feel like somewhere along the way we got too spoiled for choice when it comes to quick foods. Used to be, if you wanted something filling and fast, you popped in a pan of biscuits and ate yourself silly. Now, you can just get a container of whatever out of the pantry and satisfy your cravings. Along the way, you lose the real value of a satisfying meal, however humble it may be. This is one argument I’ve been trying to make in favor of a homemade chicken pot pie, yet John still won’t budge on that front. One of these days, though, I’m gonna change his perspective! Chicken pot pie can be just as delicious as any other chicken dish! Til then, I know I can sweeten him up with some pimiento cheese biscuits.
