I made that!

Sometimes I just have these cravings…Southern cravings. They come on fast and hard and suddenly I just NEED to recreate something from my younger days. Yesterday I was entertaining friends for brunch. The night before, I was flipping through cookbooks, trying to find something complex and interesting to make. I was feeling particularly uninspired until I passed over a recipe for angel biscuits, which are basically biscuits leavened with yeast along with the more traditional baking powder. My mouth instantaneously started drooling as I recounted the feathery light biscuits the South is known for. And then there was nothing else I could possibly cook. There was no complicated quiche, no perfectly stacked benedict and certainly no fancy-pants pastry that could substitute for that biscuit. Thus, it was on.

And of course, where there’s biscuits, there’s bacon gravy.

But the biscuits. Did I mention they have yeast in them?

And of course, lard. Yes, I keep a block of lard in my freezer.

I rubbed the lard with some butter into my flour mixture.

And then poured in the yeast and some buttermilk.

I mixed (but just barely) that into a dough, pressed it out and stamped out my biscuits.

Then I let them rise by the fireplace until they were nice and puffed.

And then baked them until they had a nice crispy crust. And oh boy, they were yummy. Pretty much the perfect biscuit. So good that it almost seemed like a waste to pour gravy all over them. Not that that stopped me.

But could I stop with the biscuits and gravy? No. I wanted more. I wanted dirty. I wanted pimento cheese. Chances are that if you live on the wrong (or right) side of the mason-dixon line, you’ve never heard of such a thing. Let me tell you, it is kinda gross. And delicious. Think cheddar. Mixed with roasted peppers (In the South they have these jarred pimentos, I have no idea what makes those so special or why you can only get them there). And mayonnaise. Oh yes, I went there.

But since I DO have my limits, I at least made my own mayonnaise. Because that jarred stuff gives me the willies.

In a big bowl I threw in shredded cheddar, finely diced roasted red peppers, paprika, cayenne and some black pepper.

And stirred in my mayonnaise. Like I said, Dirty. It was not a brunch for the delicate eater, and I suspect I actually scarred Tessa (even though I totally caught her dipping a finger in the pimento cheese when she thought no one was looking), but it was worth the heartburn.

ANGEL BISCUITS RECIPE (adapted from Edna Lewis):

1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast

1/4 cup warm water

2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

5 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 TBSP salt

4 oz lard, cold

4 oz butter, cold

melted butter for brushing the biscuits

– Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in the room temperature buttermilk.

– Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt i a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Using your fingers, rub in the lard and butter, being careful to keep large flat pieces.

– Stir in the yeast and buttermilk and mix until just blended.

– Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times, to make smooth. Roll to a thickness of 1/2″ and stamp out biscuits.

– Place biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

– Brush tops with melted but and bake in a preheated 450 oven for about 12 minutes, until golden brown.