Although I’m a born-and-bred Atlanta girl, my mama was a Midwestern gal and while she knew how to make the world’s best fried chicken with white gravy, she wasn’t a traditional Southern cook. My home was a grits-free zone and the only biscuits we had came from a can.
I adore biscuits and have been on the hunt for great recipes. And the next best thing to learning how to cook Southern from your mama or Grandma is learning from some of the best Southern chefs and cooks in the country. And it was just one of the amazing aspects of last weekend’s Atlanta Food & Wine Festival that we were given the opportunity to do so.
Nathalie Dupree demonstrates biscuit making at the techniques lab at the Atlanta Food and Wine Festival
Friday morning I attended a techniques lab featuring Natalie Dupree and Cynthia Graubert, authors of Southern Biscuits, who gave us plenty of tips on biscuit-making while preparing their delicious two-ingredient biscuits.
Nathalie and Cynthia’s Two-Ingredient Biscuits
2 cups flour
1 cup whipping cream
First you have to start with the right kind of flour. Southern flour like White Lily Self Rising. Northern flours have higher protein and don’t work as well. “And in the South, we’re fragile,” said Natalie while Cynthia pointed to the flour and told all the Yankees in the group that they needed to take pack several pounds of White Lily in their suitcases for the trip back home.
Take your whisk and just fluff up the flour, right in the bag. Then very carefully measure out two cups of flour into a large shallow bowl. Fold in the whipping cream. “Don’t be afraid of wet dough,” said Nathalie. “You can always add more flour later.” Read the full post »
