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Sunday, December 21, 2014

The Best Biscuits

Southern biscuits finished with big green egg chicken 


We have continued to work on our biscuit recipe and this one is so different and so good that we decided to do it as an entirely different post rather than try and update the original. We also used our leftover beer can chicken that we cooked on the big green egg so let's incorporate that!

These are the ones you want to make. They are as good as any biscuit either of us have ever had. You deserve these biscuits, you really do.





Research:

While researching why our biscuits turned out bitter (self rising flour AND baking powder) we ran across another biscuit recipe. Check out The Teacher Cooks. We modified it slightly by adding lard from our farmer and reducing the butter to make up for it.

Plan:

Gather the following ingredients:




0.25 cup cold butter
0.25 cup cold lard
1.25 cups of cold buttermilk
2.25 cups of white lilly self rising flour
a little melted butter
a little all purpose flour


Preheat the oven to 450 and follow along. They cook in about 13-15 minutes.

Execution:

Cleverly plan this on the day after you made a lot of beer can chicken and have a little left over.

Cut the cold butter and lard into 1/4" slices


Sprinkle into the flour


and hand toss


Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry knife (use the knife, it is a must) - until they resemble small peas


Cover and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes

Then stir in the buttermilk. DON'T STIR TOO MUCH. work as little as possible.


Place dough on floured surface. Use the all purpose flour here to avoid bitterness.

Then knead 3 or 4 times and make 3/4" thick rectangle


Cut into squares with a pizza cutter


Then put it on a baking pan and place in the oven.


13 to 15 minutes later...


Then brush them with butter. Come on people. Melted butter.


Look at these! you can see that another key is to keep them together so that when they are done, they can be pulled apart and have soft sides.


Finally, heat up and add the left over chicken. Check out our beer can chicken recipe.



Verdict:

This was so good that we made it two days in a row just to be sure they really were that good and we could reproduce it. Run, don't walk to the store to buy these ingredients and make them.

Also, consider signing up for weight watchers and start running. You are going to need it.



Please help support our site, buy something you like on Amazon. Simply click through the links below and though you can pick anything, I suggest the thermometer and knives below:


So apparently Thermoworks doesn't sell through Amazon anymore. You must buy direct. Still the thermometer to have. Go here and order direct. 

Aaron Franklin's Favorite trimming knife:

Dexter-Russell (S131F-6PCP) - 6" Boning Knife - Sani-Safe Series

Aaron Franklin's Favorite Brisket cutting/serving knife:

Sani-Safe S140-12SC-PCP 12" Scalloped Roast Slicer

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Burgundian Gougeres

Tasty little cheese puffs straight from Burgundy --- France that is 


We spent some of our vacation time in Burgundy home of some of the finest wines in the world and the Romanée-Conti. Sacred Ground. It just so happens that one of our favorite Burgundians lives in Atlanta and gave us a great recipe for a cheese puff that is a speciality of the region. So enjoy these. Imagine a delightfully light, puffy and warm pastry that tastes like a cheez-it.





Research:

We are lucky to know the talented Adeline Borra-Aoust. Visit her on Facebook.

Plan:

Gather the following ingredients:

Butter for parchment paper
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 stick of salted butter
1 cup of all purpose flour
4 large eggs
3 oz grated Gruyere plus 3 tablespoons
1 cup of water

Makes about 20 or more if you make them small like we did.

Pour a glass of wine folks, get a white from Burgundy and then preheat the oven to 380F and lets follow along in execution.

Execution:

First, have a daughter and then let her age for 18 years. After that talk her into grating the cheese.


Go get a medium sauce pan. Both me and Julia Child recommends e.dehillerin. You can even check out Paris while you are there.

Then bring the water, butter and salt to a boil over high heat.


When the water is boiling remove the pan from the heat and add flour all at once and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon.


Very quickly and magically the mixture will get smooth and pull away from the sides of the pan to form a ball. This mixture is called the panade.


Continue beating over low heat to dry the mixture for about a minute


In a mixer pour in the panade and add the eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each egg is added.


Then beat in the cheese until the dough is shiny. It should look like mayonnaise.


Then use a pastry bag to form the Gougeres.


Spinkle a little cheese on top and bake until golden. About 25-30 minutes.

Remove one puff from the oven and let it cool for 45 seconds. If it remains crisp and doesn't deflate it is done. If not, return to oven and continue baking for a few minutes. Remove to a rack to cool and serve warm.




Verdict:

These are devilishly good and impossible to resist. Pair them with a white burgundy and close your eyes. You are almost here.

The Romanée-Conti



Please help support our site, buy something you like on Amazon. Simply click through the links below and though you can pick anything, I suggest the thermometer and knives below:


So apparently Thermoworks doesn't sell through Amazon anymore. You must buy direct. Still the thermometer to have. Go here and order direct. 

Aaron Franklin's Favorite trimming knife:

Dexter-Russell (S131F-6PCP) - 6" Boning Knife - Sani-Safe Series

Aaron Franklin's Favorite Brisket cutting/serving knife:

Sani-Safe S140-12SC-PCP 12" Scalloped Roast Slicer

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