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plonqToday on "Cooking with Plonq":
When I was out shopping yesterday, I grabbed a carton of buttermilk because I haven't bought that in a very long time. Whenatara saw it in the fridge this morning, she reasonably asked what I planned to do with it.
So this morning, I showed her.
I started off by cutting two pieces of bacon into small bits and tossing them into a frying pan because that seemed like a reasonable thing to do. While that was rendering, I whisked together flour, salt and baking powder in a shallow bowl.
I chopped up half-a-stick of unsalted butter into ½ inch cubes and cut it into the flour with a pastry cutter (note to self: we need a new cutter). Once it had the right consistency, I put it in the fridge to stay cold, and I measured out just over ½ cup of buttermilk and put that back in the fridge.
When the bacon had rendered down into nice crispy bits, I scooped it out onto a paper towel and set it aside to cool while I dealt with the base biscuits. I took the flour out of the fridge and shredded a couple generous tablespoons of sharp cheddar into it, then stirred in the cooled bacon bits. I put it back in the fridge and set the toaster oven to 400° convection to preheat.
When the oven was up to temperature, I took everything out of the fridge and made a small well in the flour. I poured in the buttermilk, combining it all with a silicone spatula before pouring it out onto the counter. After folding it on itself a few times, I determined that it was a bit too dry, so I added another splash of buttermilk.
I folded it on itself in thirds a few more times until it had all come together, then pressed it out flat and used a round cookie cutter to carve out some biscuits. I managed to get half-a-dozen biscuits out of it in total.
I normally brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter or buttermilk before putting them in the oven, but given the nature of these ones, I decided to brush the tops with a bit of the residual bacon fat in the pan. The result was as good as I'd hoped - the tops browned up nicely, and the bacon flavour came through subtly.
Two thumbs up. Will keep this recipe on hand for future biscuits.
Sometimes I cook less ambitious things. This was a recent attempt at beans on toast.
When I was out shopping yesterday, I grabbed a carton of buttermilk because I haven't bought that in a very long time. When
atara saw it in the fridge this morning, she reasonably asked what I planned to do with it.So this morning, I showed her.
I started off by cutting two pieces of bacon into small bits and tossing them into a frying pan because that seemed like a reasonable thing to do. While that was rendering, I whisked together flour, salt and baking powder in a shallow bowl.
I chopped up half-a-stick of unsalted butter into ½ inch cubes and cut it into the flour with a pastry cutter (note to self: we need a new cutter). Once it had the right consistency, I put it in the fridge to stay cold, and I measured out just over ½ cup of buttermilk and put that back in the fridge.
When the bacon had rendered down into nice crispy bits, I scooped it out onto a paper towel and set it aside to cool while I dealt with the base biscuits. I took the flour out of the fridge and shredded a couple generous tablespoons of sharp cheddar into it, then stirred in the cooled bacon bits. I put it back in the fridge and set the toaster oven to 400° convection to preheat.
When the oven was up to temperature, I took everything out of the fridge and made a small well in the flour. I poured in the buttermilk, combining it all with a silicone spatula before pouring it out onto the counter. After folding it on itself a few times, I determined that it was a bit too dry, so I added another splash of buttermilk.
I folded it on itself in thirds a few more times until it had all come together, then pressed it out flat and used a round cookie cutter to carve out some biscuits. I managed to get half-a-dozen biscuits out of it in total.
I normally brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter or buttermilk before putting them in the oven, but given the nature of these ones, I decided to brush the tops with a bit of the residual bacon fat in the pan. The result was as good as I'd hoped - the tops browned up nicely, and the bacon flavour came through subtly.
Two thumbs up. Will keep this recipe on hand for future biscuits.
Sometimes I cook less ambitious things. This was a recent attempt at beans on toast.
