2 cup flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Stir together the flour, baking
powder, sugar, cream of tartar and salt. Cut in the shortening until
the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the center. Pour in the milk all at once. Stir just
until dough clings together; NO MORE.
Knead gently on a lightly floured surface for 10-12 strokes. Roll or
pat to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with a (about) 2 1/2-inch
biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter into flour before each cut.
Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in a 450 degrees F oven
for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.
Lots of cookbooks tell you to use two knives, or some such, to do the
cutting-in of the first step. Forks work fine for me (I'm a klutz.)
All of the trick to making light, fluffy biscuits is in how you handle
them: THE LESS, THE BETTER. You can make these as drop biscuits (skip
the rolling; drop batter by tablespoons, and bake); they're even
better for the lack of handling.
Outside North America you might not know what shortening is. Use
butter, margarine, copha or lard. Vegetable shortening really is
better for this recipe, but don't forget lots of butter to put *on*
them.... I make these for study breaks. They disappear at an
exponential rate....
NOTES:
* Simple, fluffy biscuits -- This originated in "The Better Homes and
Gardens Cookbook," which I consider basic equipment for genteel
middle-class living. Here "biscuits" is the North American meaning of
the word and not the Commonwealth meaning of the word. In England
these would be called "scones." Yield: makes 10-12.
: Difficulty: easy.
: Time: 10 minutes preparation, 10 minutes baking.
: Precision: measure the ingredients.
: Jean Marie Diaz
: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., USA
: Ambar@athena.mit.edu
: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust
Servings: 12 scones
Biscuits Supreme Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bread; Breads
The History of Recipes
Experts have proved the existance of recipes way back into antiquity, in truth as far back into recorded history as early Egypt, and possibly even further. However, mostly, these early cookbooks were just very basic hieroglyphic or cunieform recipes for food preparation.
Fascinatingly, the most ancient recipe found, according to food historians are some tablets in Sumerian which show the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making anyone who tried it feel wonderful. During the time of the Roman Empire a roman called Apicius compiled a number of documents which described recipes prepared by the Romans. In his publication, Apicius tells us how the meals were separated into hors d`oeuvre, main meal and dessert, a very modern way of dining. This early Roman chef tells us how the Roman chefs were skilled in the use of many aromatic flavors, including some that we all recognise for example bay, mint and asafoetida. As our culinary historical trip moves on a few more years there were two interesting cookery books which appeared in the 1300s ; a cookery book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these are unconnected to the curry that we all know today, but rather descriptions of the types of food on the menus of the rich and powerful of the period. In the fifteenth century, people returning from the crusades brought us many new foods and herbs from the Middle-East, including spices such as basil and coriander. These new herbs and spices caused an eruption in publications on food, most of which still exist in private collections. By the arrival of the 20th century, cookery books were increasing in popularity mostly as a result of increased literacy, more spare time and having more money to spend. Like it or not, the introduction of television brings us celebrity chefs and the demand for the accompanying recipe books. Which brings us neatly up to date and the invention of computers and the internet, allowing us all to access thousands of recipes like the ones you can find on sites such as this. |
We hope you enjoy this Biscuits Supreme recipe.
