Biscuits

I’ve done the whole thing including grating the frozen butter but I made these tonight and they knocked me out. I made a half batch and ate all of them. Yikes!

Sounds great. If you’ve eaten at Pine State Biscuits, how do they compare to those?

I haven’t, so I can’t help you. The line is always too long at the market.

My kids love those damn biscuits, so I wait in The Line from Hell.

I’ll try the recipe next weekend.

Oh, and the biscuit…

Wait. You actually GO to the Farmer’s Market? YOU? The person who once told me it was too far to drive?

Every weekend, at least while my PSU parking permit was valid. I mostly go for mushrooms because the PSU market is the only place other than Pastaworks where I ever find fresh porcini.

Thanks, I’ll have to give them a try this weekend. I’ve been happy with the effect of grating frozen butter but this sounds a lot easier. If they’re also better I’ll be in biscuit heaven (a place that even mediocre biscuits have been known to send me).

I thought of camping out at Pine State Biscuits this morning to snap a picture of you so I could prove to myself and others that you really exist but decided it was too much like stalking.

Frozen butter? You don’t use lard?

I’ve used lard in the past with good results. This recipe called for butter melted and whipped into the cold buttermilk to form little globules, so that’s what I did. They were great.

Okay, but FYI, I only do the biscuit thing if my kids are with me, which is rare. You’d have more success stalking or not stalking me over by the mushroom hunter.

You’d recognize me by my scarf. Or my middle finger.

OMFG LOL!

Melissa is really determined not to be seen.

In hopes of a Melissa sighting I abandoned the burbs and went to the PSU market again this morning. Failing in my primary mission of gazing upon The Elusive One on the first couple of passes, and not wishing to hang around the mushrooms all day, I discovered that for some odd reason (couldn’t have been the drizzle - Portlanders are immune to precipitation) there was no line to speak of at the above-referenced Pine State Biscuits. I stood in line and ordered one. No egg, no fried chicken, no sausage, no cheese, no gravy no butter and no jam. Just the biscuit.

For a place that gets rave reviews and has endless lines most Saturdays, I’d say the biscuit was edible and not much more than that. It looked good but it was a bit chewy, rubbery and, frankly, salty. No one else may think they’re salty but my year on a sodium-restricted diet has made me pretty sensitive to salt.

In any event, the biscuits I made from the recipe linked in the first post were far, far superior. They were light, fluffy and tender without resorting to any “tricks” such as ordering White Lily flour by mail. Just plain old Gold Medal unbleached flour with supermarket butter and buttermilk. I fear for my waistline if I get on a roll (ooh . . . bad pun) with these things and start making them with chives or rosemary or cheese, but maybe I’ll make some for breakfast tomorrow morning.

After the Big Disappointment with the biscuit I made one more pass by the mushrooms and failed once again to find The Scarved Redhead, so I settled for shopping: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, green beans, cherries and a jar of my favorite pickled beets from Zoe’s Favorites. It’s that time of year when an iceberg wedge with blue cheese dressing and pickled beets is perfect with a nice bloody steak.

Melissa McCall doesn’t exist. She’s the creation of a Portland based performance art collective. True story.

Damn fine biscuits. Just made them. Love the fact that my
Old
Drop biscuit standby-Bisquick-can forever be banished from my home. Especially after seeing the sodium content.

Nice find Woody.

Don’t knock Bisquick. As a kid, when I was just learning to cook, it was my standby for pancakes. Now . . . that said . . . Brother Fleming’s sodium count on these biscuits may be inflated or not, but it has to be lower than what you’d get from Bisquick. I’m wondering how these would turn out if you rolled the dough out and cut them into rounds, though they’re sure fine as drop biscuits.

Inquiring minds. I decided to put on my Mythbusters hat and check it out.

Source of nutritional information (other than Bisquick): USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Research, DRI Calculator for Healthcare Professionals | National Agricultural Library

Source of nutritional information for Bisquick baking mix: General Mills website, http://www.generalmills.com/Home/Brands/Baking_Products/Bisquick/Brand%20product%20list%20page.aspx

Cook’s Illustrated drop biscuit recipe (2-1/4" diameter biscuits)
Quantity / ingredient/ mg sodium

• 2 c (10 oz) / unbleached all-purpose flour / 4
• 2 tsp. / baking powder / 976
• 1/2 tsp / baking soda / 629
• 1 tsp / sugar / 0
• 3/4 tsp / salt / 1760
• 1 c / buttermilk / 257
• 8 Tbsp / unsalted butter / 12

Total for recipe: 3638 mg sodium
Total per biscuit (assuming 12 biscuits, based on post #11 in the “Speaking of salt…” thread): 303 mg sodium

Bisquick biscuits (recipe from the web, since I don’t have a box to consult - makes nine, 2-1/2" diameter biscuits)
Quantity / ingredient / mg sodium

• 2-1/4 c / Bisquick original baking mix / 2767
• 2/3 c / milk / 70

Total for recipe: 2837 mg sodium
Total per biscuit (9 biscuits): 315 mg sodium
Total per Cook’s Illustrated-equivalent biscuit, adjusted for difference in size (2.25" diameter for Cook’s Illustrated vs. 2.50" diameter for Bisquick): 255 mg sodium

BUSTED!