Buttermilk gives to southern baking (and cooking) what cream adds to French
and northern Italian cuisine:  a light sweetness and the rich flavor of
animal fat.  Much of the flavor in food, as I am told by a gifted medical
anthropologist, is derived from what kind of fat you use, how high you heat
it, and how you heat it.

It is important to remember that southern cuisine was created for a society
where most of its members burned 3,000-4,000 calories a day without benefit
of automobiles, washing machines, and air conditioning.  The high caloric
and high fat content of southern cooking was part of its appeal to the
average southerner in say 1900.

If I had eaten the dinner my Virginia-born grandfather took down into the
Pennsylvania coal pits six days a week for thirty years, I wouldn't be here
to write to you.  For my comparatively sedentary way of life, about half of
the pork chops, greens, and yams my grandfather ate, with perhaps a bit less
meat and more vegetables is suitable.  But I still want butter on my yams,
vinegar on my greens, and real pork with a thin slice of fat on the lean for
the flavor.

Harold S. Forsythe
----- Original Message -----
From: "Excalibur131" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 4:12 PM
Subject: Re: some recipes


> See my last post about what to do with southern biscuits. Yummy!
>
> Buttermilk is one of the key ingredients, perhaps the key ingredient, to
> great southern biscuits. I wonder how many people have ever had
> buttermilk,
> much less bought any? I wonder how many have ever cooked with it? I don't
> know what it is or how to describe it, but buttermilk gives southern
> biscuits something special. Maybe a twang? Maybe something in the texture?
> Maybe some taste that's there so faintly, yet is so wonderful? I don't
> know,
> but I sure love them.
>
> I've also been taught that when you say "knead lightly" that is exactly
> what
> you mean; none of this pounding and beating until the mixture turns into a
> big dough ball.
>
> Tom
> Eastern Shore & More Forum
> http://www.easternshoremore.com/forum/
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sunshine49" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 2:03 PM
> Subject: some recipes
>
>
>> All this food talk made me get out my old family recipes, so before
>> we run out of our allotted 50 posts for today:
>>
>> SOUTHERN BISCUIT RECIPE
>>
>> 2 c flour
>> 2/3 tsp. salt
>> 1/2 tsp soda
>> 3 Tblsp. shortening
>> 3/4 c buttermilk
>>
>> Combine flour, salt, and soda. Cut in shortening until it resembles
>> coarse crumbs (I use two table knives- it is important to get it
>> crumbly, this adds to the light texture- this is also the secret to
>> light pie crusts). Add buttermilk and stir till well blended. Turn
>> onto floured board and knead lightly, 3 or 4 times. Roll to 1/2"
>> thickness, cut with a 2" biscuit cutter, drinking glass, or small
>> juice glass. Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 450
>> for 12-15 minutes. Makes 1 dozen.
>
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