Kerry S

Buzzard

You need to do a little talkin about whats on your brain.....I know from one country boy to the next when something needs to be talked about but we're to damned stubborn to do so. You have so much to say for everyone else but yet your not talking about you very much. Throw it out here in the ring and let us haggle over it for awhile. Its good for the soul to release what ails ya.....and I still wanna sit down one day and have a large plate of bacon eggs and cathead biscuits and solve all the worlds problems.......Whats on your mind ?

Buzz

Kerry S

there is a bunch on my mind
Clift my friend, there is a bunch on my mind. I be thinking about it and will get back to you when I come to a conclusion. My problem is I lack the skill set to write it down.

This recurrence has really kicked me in the **** mentally. I did get a lot of damn good therapy brush hogging a few days back. I wish we could get rid of cancer as easy as cutting up the scrub brush. I will get more this weekend when my son and grandson come down to put up the deer stands.

Kerry

KathiM

Forgive me my ignorance....
What are cathead biscuits?

Hugs, Kathi

Buzzard

KathiM said:

Forgive me my ignorance....
What are cathead biscuits?

Hugs, Kathi

Here is an explanation as well as a recipe....
I remember my grandmother actually making them, lard and all, and also remember all of us eating breakfast at her table with catheads being spoken about on several occasions. It is a Southern saying that comes from the biscuits being the size of a cats head...Nonetheless, here you are dearie.....

Old Fashioned Cat Head Biscuits
This was taken from a post made in Mountain Laurel by Susan Thigpen in 2001.......

Biscuits are easy. You just have to know a few tricks handed down from our grandmothers.

When I was a little girl, I watched my grandmother make biscuits many, many times. She would go to her pantry where there was a huge flour bin and her bread making bowl - one of those earthenware big brown bowls with a stripe around the top that cost an arm and a leg in antique stores today. She never measured anything, but would scoop out flour with a big tin scoop into her flour sifter that was painted white with red cherries painted on the side. Then she would sprinkle a little baking soda into the flour and sift it into the bowl.

Then she would go to the spring house and get home churned buttermilk. She would sit these things on her kitchen table that was covered in a red checked oil cloth tablecloth. Then she would get out her bucket of lard and scoop out a hunk about the size of a walnut with her fingers. My grandmother would put this lump of lard in the middle of the flour, having first scooped a hole out in the center of the flour. She poured the buttermilk into this depression in the flour and worked it and the lard into the flour.

I remember my grandmother held the bowl under one arm and mixed the dough with a twisting motion of her fingers. She never used a spoon. When the dough was mixed, she would start pinching off big pieces of dough and rolling them in the palm of her hand. Then she would place the newly formed biscuit in a pan that was blackened from many years of use. the pan would always be full of biscuits, no spaces between and if there was a little dough left, she would make it into a tiny baby biscuit and tuck it away in a small hole between the other biscuits. This would be my special biscuit.

My grandmother made it look so easy. When she was finished, her bowl was clean, her hands were clean, there was no dough or flour on her, the bowl or the table. How she managed that, I have never figured out. It was magic and as far as I'm concerned, it still is! I make a pretty good biscuit, but I've never managed to come out clean as a whistle like she did. She would place the pan in her wood cook stove oven and remove it at just the right time so that the biscuits were golden brown, never burned. Those biscuits were always light, fluffy and huge - that's why they are called cat head biscuits - because they are as big as a cat's head!

Now, how do you reproduce those biscuits today? I will give you a recipe and some pointers.

2 cups self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
a lump of solid shortening the size of a walnut. This can be real butter, margarine, lard or solid vegetable shortening. This has to be at room temperature to blend smoothly into the dough. Do not, and I repeat, do not use a soft dairy spread - they contain so much water that they won't work for any baking purposes.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour. Most flours today do not need to be sifted. Push the flour to the sides of the bowl to form a depression in the center. Place the shortening and a little of the milk in the center and start stirring with a big spoon. When the shortening is blended, add the rest of the milk, mixing just until blended and the dough forms a ball. The dough will be a little on the moist side.

Place wax paper on a flat surface like your kitchen table and sprinkle flour on it. Roll the dough out on the wax paper. Do not handle the dough any more than you have to - it makes the biscuits tough. The less you handle it and the more moist the dough, the better your biscuits will be. Just pat the dough gently until it's about an inch and a half thick.

Then cut out the biscuits. Do you know what I use for a biscuit cutter? I use a tin can that I cut both the bottom and top out of and removed the label. A one pound vegetable can is a good size. Cut out your biscuits and place in a greased pan. The pan can be either glass or metal, but be sure it is small enough so that the biscuits are all close together, touching - Remember, you want the biscuits to rise up, not out to the side. Another reason for this is that when the biscuits bake with their sides touching, you can pull them apart easily, but those sides will be very soft and tender, not hard and brown. This is a very important part of making good biscuits.

Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees just until the biscuits are light brown, but you are sure the dough is done through and through. No one likes a biscuit that is still doughy, but neither does anyone like a hard crust either!

You can brush melted butter on the tops of the biscuits when they are done, or before you place them in the oven. This is also a hint to keep the biscuits soft and moist. This recipe will make around 8 to 10 biscuits, depending on the size of your tin can. A variation of this recipe is to use tomato juice instead of milk. the biscuits will be red and you will love the flavor if you eat them with a slice of country ham in them! They do not rise as much as buttermilk biscuits.

At this point, all you will need is to eat the biscuits - hot right out of the oven with butter, honey, home made strawberry jam or molasses. Gourmets - Eat your heart out, country cooking rules!

KathiM

Buzzard said:

Here is an explanation as well as a recipe....
I remember my grandmother actually making them, lard and all, and also remember all of us eating breakfast at her table with catheads being spoken about on several occasions. It is a Southern saying that comes from the biscuits being the size of a cats head...Nonetheless, here you are dearie.....

Old Fashioned Cat Head Biscuits
This was taken from a post made in Mountain Laurel by Susan Thigpen in 2001.......

Biscuits are easy. You just have to know a few tricks handed down from our grandmothers.

When I was a little girl, I watched my grandmother make biscuits many, many times. She would go to her pantry where there was a huge flour bin and her bread making bowl - one of those earthenware big brown bowls with a stripe around the top that cost an arm and a leg in antique stores today. She never measured anything, but would scoop out flour with a big tin scoop into her flour sifter that was painted white with red cherries painted on the side. Then she would sprinkle a little baking soda into the flour and sift it into the bowl.

Then she would go to the spring house and get home churned buttermilk. She would sit these things on her kitchen table that was covered in a red checked oil cloth tablecloth. Then she would get out her bucket of lard and scoop out a hunk about the size of a walnut with her fingers. My grandmother would put this lump of lard in the middle of the flour, having first scooped a hole out in the center of the flour. She poured the buttermilk into this depression in the flour and worked it and the lard into the flour.

I remember my grandmother held the bowl under one arm and mixed the dough with a twisting motion of her fingers. She never used a spoon. When the dough was mixed, she would start pinching off big pieces of dough and rolling them in the palm of her hand. Then she would place the newly formed biscuit in a pan that was blackened from many years of use. the pan would always be full of biscuits, no spaces between and if there was a little dough left, she would make it into a tiny baby biscuit and tuck it away in a small hole between the other biscuits. This would be my special biscuit.

My grandmother made it look so easy. When she was finished, her bowl was clean, her hands were clean, there was no dough or flour on her, the bowl or the table. How she managed that, I have never figured out. It was magic and as far as I'm concerned, it still is! I make a pretty good biscuit, but I've never managed to come out clean as a whistle like she did. She would place the pan in her wood cook stove oven and remove it at just the right time so that the biscuits were golden brown, never burned. Those biscuits were always light, fluffy and huge - that's why they are called cat head biscuits - because they are as big as a cat's head!

Now, how do you reproduce those biscuits today? I will give you a recipe and some pointers.

2 cups self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
a lump of solid shortening the size of a walnut. This can be real butter, margarine, lard or solid vegetable shortening. This has to be at room temperature to blend smoothly into the dough. Do not, and I repeat, do not use a soft dairy spread - they contain so much water that they won't work for any baking purposes.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour. Most flours today do not need to be sifted. Push the flour to the sides of the bowl to form a depression in the center. Place the shortening and a little of the milk in the center and start stirring with a big spoon. When the shortening is blended, add the rest of the milk, mixing just until blended and the dough forms a ball. The dough will be a little on the moist side.

Place wax paper on a flat surface like your kitchen table and sprinkle flour on it. Roll the dough out on the wax paper. Do not handle the dough any more than you have to - it makes the biscuits tough. The less you handle it and the more moist the dough, the better your biscuits will be. Just pat the dough gently until it's about an inch and a half thick.

Then cut out the biscuits. Do you know what I use for a biscuit cutter? I use a tin can that I cut both the bottom and top out of and removed the label. A one pound vegetable can is a good size. Cut out your biscuits and place in a greased pan. The pan can be either glass or metal, but be sure it is small enough so that the biscuits are all close together, touching - Remember, you want the biscuits to rise up, not out to the side. Another reason for this is that when the biscuits bake with their sides touching, you can pull them apart easily, but those sides will be very soft and tender, not hard and brown. This is a very important part of making good biscuits.

Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees just until the biscuits are light brown, but you are sure the dough is done through and through. No one likes a biscuit that is still doughy, but neither does anyone like a hard crust either!

You can brush melted butter on the tops of the biscuits when they are done, or before you place them in the oven. This is also a hint to keep the biscuits soft and moist. This recipe will make around 8 to 10 biscuits, depending on the size of your tin can. A variation of this recipe is to use tomato juice instead of milk. the biscuits will be red and you will love the flavor if you eat them with a slice of country ham in them! They do not rise as much as buttermilk biscuits.

At this point, all you will need is to eat the biscuits - hot right out of the oven with butter, honey, home made strawberry jam or molasses. Gourmets - Eat your heart out, country cooking rules!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
My mouth is watering!!!

I am a baker, so this I will try!!!! I have a recipe from my granny-in-law from Wisconsin...along similar lines...double rise yeast rolls...such good memories!!! Even tho she, her daughter, and her grandson are gone, I still make them with her great-granddaughter each Thanksgiving...they have the 'warm rising spot' in my heart!!!!

Thanks, Clift!

Hugs, Kathi

Buzzard

Buzzard said:

Here is an explanation as well as a recipe....
I remember my grandmother actually making them, lard and all, and also remember all of us eating breakfast at her table with catheads being spoken about on several occasions. It is a Southern saying that comes from the biscuits being the size of a cats head...Nonetheless, here you are dearie.....

Old Fashioned Cat Head Biscuits
This was taken from a post made in Mountain Laurel by Susan Thigpen in 2001.......

Biscuits are easy. You just have to know a few tricks handed down from our grandmothers.

When I was a little girl, I watched my grandmother make biscuits many, many times. She would go to her pantry where there was a huge flour bin and her bread making bowl - one of those earthenware big brown bowls with a stripe around the top that cost an arm and a leg in antique stores today. She never measured anything, but would scoop out flour with a big tin scoop into her flour sifter that was painted white with red cherries painted on the side. Then she would sprinkle a little baking soda into the flour and sift it into the bowl.

Then she would go to the spring house and get home churned buttermilk. She would sit these things on her kitchen table that was covered in a red checked oil cloth tablecloth. Then she would get out her bucket of lard and scoop out a hunk about the size of a walnut with her fingers. My grandmother would put this lump of lard in the middle of the flour, having first scooped a hole out in the center of the flour. She poured the buttermilk into this depression in the flour and worked it and the lard into the flour.

I remember my grandmother held the bowl under one arm and mixed the dough with a twisting motion of her fingers. She never used a spoon. When the dough was mixed, she would start pinching off big pieces of dough and rolling them in the palm of her hand. Then she would place the newly formed biscuit in a pan that was blackened from many years of use. the pan would always be full of biscuits, no spaces between and if there was a little dough left, she would make it into a tiny baby biscuit and tuck it away in a small hole between the other biscuits. This would be my special biscuit.

My grandmother made it look so easy. When she was finished, her bowl was clean, her hands were clean, there was no dough or flour on her, the bowl or the table. How she managed that, I have never figured out. It was magic and as far as I'm concerned, it still is! I make a pretty good biscuit, but I've never managed to come out clean as a whistle like she did. She would place the pan in her wood cook stove oven and remove it at just the right time so that the biscuits were golden brown, never burned. Those biscuits were always light, fluffy and huge - that's why they are called cat head biscuits - because they are as big as a cat's head!

Now, how do you reproduce those biscuits today? I will give you a recipe and some pointers.

2 cups self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
a lump of solid shortening the size of a walnut. This can be real butter, margarine, lard or solid vegetable shortening. This has to be at room temperature to blend smoothly into the dough. Do not, and I repeat, do not use a soft dairy spread - they contain so much water that they won't work for any baking purposes.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour. Most flours today do not need to be sifted. Push the flour to the sides of the bowl to form a depression in the center. Place the shortening and a little of the milk in the center and start stirring with a big spoon. When the shortening is blended, add the rest of the milk, mixing just until blended and the dough forms a ball. The dough will be a little on the moist side.

Place wax paper on a flat surface like your kitchen table and sprinkle flour on it. Roll the dough out on the wax paper. Do not handle the dough any more than you have to - it makes the biscuits tough. The less you handle it and the more moist the dough, the better your biscuits will be. Just pat the dough gently until it's about an inch and a half thick.

Then cut out the biscuits. Do you know what I use for a biscuit cutter? I use a tin can that I cut both the bottom and top out of and removed the label. A one pound vegetable can is a good size. Cut out your biscuits and place in a greased pan. The pan can be either glass or metal, but be sure it is small enough so that the biscuits are all close together, touching - Remember, you want the biscuits to rise up, not out to the side. Another reason for this is that when the biscuits bake with their sides touching, you can pull them apart easily, but those sides will be very soft and tender, not hard and brown. This is a very important part of making good biscuits.

Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees just until the biscuits are light brown, but you are sure the dough is done through and through. No one likes a biscuit that is still doughy, but neither does anyone like a hard crust either!

You can brush melted butter on the tops of the biscuits when they are done, or before you place them in the oven. This is also a hint to keep the biscuits soft and moist. This recipe will make around 8 to 10 biscuits, depending on the size of your tin can. A variation of this recipe is to use tomato juice instead of milk. the biscuits will be red and you will love the flavor if you eat them with a slice of country ham in them! They do not rise as much as buttermilk biscuits.

At this point, all you will need is to eat the biscuits - hot right out of the oven with butter, honey, home made strawberry jam or molasses. Gourmets - Eat your heart out, country cooking rules!

Kerry.......
Someday I'd like to come visit for half a morning or so just to chew the fat...I just got finished with my 2nd re occurence and now it seems that it never really happened. I dunno, I just feel like Im new again...but I really think we could solve all world problems and pretty much know that there would be a pretty good bullchit session in between.
Bud, this cancer chit has a strong way of getting to ya inside and out, the first thing ya gotta do is simply let it go and go on with life, however unnormal it is. Hell, what happens when a man gets his hand cut off. First thing Im gonna do is get everything that I can velcroed...or when he loses a leg...got a neighbor that runs a tractor with one leg and no prothesis...I ask him how he uses his brake to stop...his reply was "Thats what the bushhog is for"...he simply drops the plow, disk, bush hog, or whatever implement he is using at the time into the ground and instant brakes....
We're survivors bud, we're also entrepreneurs ( or field engineers) at the finest....able to accommodate any given situation to acquire what we need to come out on top. Forget you have cancer, nothing to do about that, but circumvent your thought process to work around what you can do, and when you think about it, you can do anything you did before cancer. You just gotta say "Piss on it" and move ahead...You owe it to yourself and your scary ole woman and the grandkids...Hell, we're all gonna die sooner or later, but face it, I got my tail sewn shut, I got a bag that makes pennies shine like brand new, I got 3 sexy scars on my left side that I connect the dots to so that it looks like a soccer ball, but most of all I get up ever morning, thank my Lord for giving me another day, then I tell cancer to kiss my tail, then coffee, then whatever comes along. I don't have any time left to worry. I'll let the Drs do all that, thats what they get paid for.....OK, enough babbling, I got some more coffee to drink before I do my days chores......."getting the boat ready to fish Friday" didn't go today, wind getting up. OK, enough for now, holler whenever ya get ready bud or simply PM me if ya want. If ya don't I understand, but venting , ranting, and raving sure makes me feel better.......Love ya ya Ole Coot..........LOL.......Buzz

Nana b

Buzzard said:

Kerry.......
Someday I'd like to come visit for half a morning or so just to chew the fat...I just got finished with my 2nd re occurence and now it seems that it never really happened. I dunno, I just feel like Im new again...but I really think we could solve all world problems and pretty much know that there would be a pretty good bullchit session in between.
Bud, this cancer chit has a strong way of getting to ya inside and out, the first thing ya gotta do is simply let it go and go on with life, however unnormal it is. Hell, what happens when a man gets his hand cut off. First thing Im gonna do is get everything that I can velcroed...or when he loses a leg...got a neighbor that runs a tractor with one leg and no prothesis...I ask him how he uses his brake to stop...his reply was "Thats what the bushhog is for"...he simply drops the plow, disk, bush hog, or whatever implement he is using at the time into the ground and instant brakes....
We're survivors bud, we're also entrepreneurs ( or field engineers) at the finest....able to accommodate any given situation to acquire what we need to come out on top. Forget you have cancer, nothing to do about that, but circumvent your thought process to work around what you can do, and when you think about it, you can do anything you did before cancer. You just gotta say "Piss on it" and move ahead...You owe it to yourself and your scary ole woman and the grandkids...Hell, we're all gonna die sooner or later, but face it, I got my tail sewn shut, I got a bag that makes pennies shine like brand new, I got 3 sexy scars on my left side that I connect the dots to so that it looks like a soccer ball, but most of all I get up ever morning, thank my Lord for giving me another day, then I tell cancer to kiss my tail, then coffee, then whatever comes along. I don't have any time left to worry. I'll let the Drs do all that, thats what they get paid for.....OK, enough babbling, I got some more coffee to drink before I do my days chores......."getting the boat ready to fish Friday" didn't go today, wind getting up. OK, enough for now, holler whenever ya get ready bud or simply PM me if ya want. If ya don't I understand, but venting , ranting, and raving sure makes me feel better.......Love ya ya Ole Coot..........LOL.......Buzz

Lov you guys! Can I come visit too!!
You know Kerry, no freaking way, dagconit, dagumit, dacomit........went a dun
it again will work too! (However that that saying goes! Abalmos Espanol tambien!

But take it a day at a time, you can get run over by deer tomorrow, you know the ones with the horns...lol and that would be it. I saw one laying on the side of the road one day, I thought a car had hit a horse.

Kerry S

Now that I can work with the tractor and such
Clift,
I think what has had me down is the long recovery time from being sliced and diced with the resection. Now that I can work with the tractor and such, the brain is thinking the good positive thoughts again. The bag is even not driving me nuts anymore. I only have another month to put up with it. Can’t wait until the first fart. Then comes cutting next year’s firewood in January. There is nothing like the smell of chain saw exhaust to get your heart going in the morning. It only takes me one hour to cut a Kubota load. That one hour saves me $80 worth of propane.

I had a blast this morning just cleaning my shop and the barn attic. You know woman should learn how to use a leaf blower to clean the house. Sure saves time getting the saw dust off your tools. Got the deer stands down from the barn attic and got the kayaks put up there for the winter. They aren’t that heavy with block & tackle.
I wish we lived a lot closer. I would enjoy your visit. Hell, Nana B could come to.

Kerry

Buzzard

Kerry S said:

Now that I can work with the tractor and such
Clift,
I think what has had me down is the long recovery time from being sliced and diced with the resection. Now that I can work with the tractor and such, the brain is thinking the good positive thoughts again. The bag is even not driving me nuts anymore. I only have another month to put up with it. Can’t wait until the first fart. Then comes cutting next year’s firewood in January. There is nothing like the smell of chain saw exhaust to get your heart going in the morning. It only takes me one hour to cut a Kubota load. That one hour saves me $80 worth of propane.

I had a blast this morning just cleaning my shop and the barn attic. You know woman should learn how to use a leaf blower to clean the house. Sure saves time getting the saw dust off your tools. Got the deer stands down from the barn attic and got the kayaks put up there for the winter. They aren’t that heavy with block & tackle.
I wish we lived a lot closer. I would enjoy your visit. Hell, Nana B could come to.

Kerry

Don't much matter how far it is long as ya got a place to eat at
I live in Paducah Ky,,,can't be to far, now Nana B's house may be a touch to far but I guess we could fly her down here for a bit.have a little tequila..and then really solve some problems...or create some...LOL...OK...talk to ya in a little while got to go finish my chores,(another half a cup of coffee)..man life shore is tuff....lol...... Buzz



Oh and fyi...be careful the first fart may be a shart.......don't be in Walmart or you may fill them bib overalls up..LMAO......Later, Buzz

Nana b

Buzzard said:

Don't much matter how far it is long as ya got a place to eat at
I live in Paducah Ky,,,can't be to far, now Nana B's house may be a touch to far but I guess we could fly her down here for a bit.have a little tequila..and then really solve some problems...or create some...LOL...OK...talk to ya in a little while got to go finish my chores,(another half a cup of coffee)..man life shore is tuff....lol...... Buzz



Oh and fyi...be careful the first fart may be a shart.......don't be in Walmart or you may fill them bib overalls up..LMAO......Later, Buzz

Laughing my Arse off LMAO
LMAO -- Kerry I have thought of using that blower for my house! I have a small electric one for the front porch. The German Shepard hair drives me INSANE!!

Asta el Cuervo!

Nana B

tootsie1

Buzzard said:

Here is an explanation as well as a recipe....
I remember my grandmother actually making them, lard and all, and also remember all of us eating breakfast at her table with catheads being spoken about on several occasions. It is a Southern saying that comes from the biscuits being the size of a cats head...Nonetheless, here you are dearie.....

Old Fashioned Cat Head Biscuits
This was taken from a post made in Mountain Laurel by Susan Thigpen in 2001.......

Biscuits are easy. You just have to know a few tricks handed down from our grandmothers.

When I was a little girl, I watched my grandmother make biscuits many, many times. She would go to her pantry where there was a huge flour bin and her bread making bowl - one of those earthenware big brown bowls with a stripe around the top that cost an arm and a leg in antique stores today. She never measured anything, but would scoop out flour with a big tin scoop into her flour sifter that was painted white with red cherries painted on the side. Then she would sprinkle a little baking soda into the flour and sift it into the bowl.

Then she would go to the spring house and get home churned buttermilk. She would sit these things on her kitchen table that was covered in a red checked oil cloth tablecloth. Then she would get out her bucket of lard and scoop out a hunk about the size of a walnut with her fingers. My grandmother would put this lump of lard in the middle of the flour, having first scooped a hole out in the center of the flour. She poured the buttermilk into this depression in the flour and worked it and the lard into the flour.

I remember my grandmother held the bowl under one arm and mixed the dough with a twisting motion of her fingers. She never used a spoon. When the dough was mixed, she would start pinching off big pieces of dough and rolling them in the palm of her hand. Then she would place the newly formed biscuit in a pan that was blackened from many years of use. the pan would always be full of biscuits, no spaces between and if there was a little dough left, she would make it into a tiny baby biscuit and tuck it away in a small hole between the other biscuits. This would be my special biscuit.

My grandmother made it look so easy. When she was finished, her bowl was clean, her hands were clean, there was no dough or flour on her, the bowl or the table. How she managed that, I have never figured out. It was magic and as far as I'm concerned, it still is! I make a pretty good biscuit, but I've never managed to come out clean as a whistle like she did. She would place the pan in her wood cook stove oven and remove it at just the right time so that the biscuits were golden brown, never burned. Those biscuits were always light, fluffy and huge - that's why they are called cat head biscuits - because they are as big as a cat's head!

Now, how do you reproduce those biscuits today? I will give you a recipe and some pointers.

2 cups self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
a lump of solid shortening the size of a walnut. This can be real butter, margarine, lard or solid vegetable shortening. This has to be at room temperature to blend smoothly into the dough. Do not, and I repeat, do not use a soft dairy spread - they contain so much water that they won't work for any baking purposes.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour. Most flours today do not need to be sifted. Push the flour to the sides of the bowl to form a depression in the center. Place the shortening and a little of the milk in the center and start stirring with a big spoon. When the shortening is blended, add the rest of the milk, mixing just until blended and the dough forms a ball. The dough will be a little on the moist side.

Place wax paper on a flat surface like your kitchen table and sprinkle flour on it. Roll the dough out on the wax paper. Do not handle the dough any more than you have to - it makes the biscuits tough. The less you handle it and the more moist the dough, the better your biscuits will be. Just pat the dough gently until it's about an inch and a half thick.

Then cut out the biscuits. Do you know what I use for a biscuit cutter? I use a tin can that I cut both the bottom and top out of and removed the label. A one pound vegetable can is a good size. Cut out your biscuits and place in a greased pan. The pan can be either glass or metal, but be sure it is small enough so that the biscuits are all close together, touching - Remember, you want the biscuits to rise up, not out to the side. Another reason for this is that when the biscuits bake with their sides touching, you can pull them apart easily, but those sides will be very soft and tender, not hard and brown. This is a very important part of making good biscuits.

Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees just until the biscuits are light brown, but you are sure the dough is done through and through. No one likes a biscuit that is still doughy, but neither does anyone like a hard crust either!

You can brush melted butter on the tops of the biscuits when they are done, or before you place them in the oven. This is also a hint to keep the biscuits soft and moist. This recipe will make around 8 to 10 biscuits, depending on the size of your tin can. A variation of this recipe is to use tomato juice instead of milk. the biscuits will be red and you will love the flavor if you eat them with a slice of country ham in them! They do not rise as much as buttermilk biscuits.

At this point, all you will need is to eat the biscuits - hot right out of the oven with butter, honey, home made strawberry jam or molasses. Gourmets - Eat your heart out, country cooking rules!

Took me back...
Oh, you brought back some memories with this one. My little grandmother (about 4'10" like me)was such a good biscuit maker! I loved to get off the school bus at her house and tell my siblings to go on home. I'd be along later. Grandma and I would work out a batch of biscuits, and then we'd share a cup of coffee. *grins* She always used canned milk in her coffee, and my cup was always about 1/4 coffee, 1/4 sugar, and 2/4 milk. I loved my grandma so much, and I'm missing her right now, just thinking about those days.

*hugs*
Gail

AnneCan

Buzzard said:

Here is an explanation as well as a recipe....
I remember my grandmother actually making them, lard and all, and also remember all of us eating breakfast at her table with catheads being spoken about on several occasions. It is a Southern saying that comes from the biscuits being the size of a cats head...Nonetheless, here you are dearie.....

Old Fashioned Cat Head Biscuits
This was taken from a post made in Mountain Laurel by Susan Thigpen in 2001.......

Biscuits are easy. You just have to know a few tricks handed down from our grandmothers.

When I was a little girl, I watched my grandmother make biscuits many, many times. She would go to her pantry where there was a huge flour bin and her bread making bowl - one of those earthenware big brown bowls with a stripe around the top that cost an arm and a leg in antique stores today. She never measured anything, but would scoop out flour with a big tin scoop into her flour sifter that was painted white with red cherries painted on the side. Then she would sprinkle a little baking soda into the flour and sift it into the bowl.

Then she would go to the spring house and get home churned buttermilk. She would sit these things on her kitchen table that was covered in a red checked oil cloth tablecloth. Then she would get out her bucket of lard and scoop out a hunk about the size of a walnut with her fingers. My grandmother would put this lump of lard in the middle of the flour, having first scooped a hole out in the center of the flour. She poured the buttermilk into this depression in the flour and worked it and the lard into the flour.

I remember my grandmother held the bowl under one arm and mixed the dough with a twisting motion of her fingers. She never used a spoon. When the dough was mixed, she would start pinching off big pieces of dough and rolling them in the palm of her hand. Then she would place the newly formed biscuit in a pan that was blackened from many years of use. the pan would always be full of biscuits, no spaces between and if there was a little dough left, she would make it into a tiny baby biscuit and tuck it away in a small hole between the other biscuits. This would be my special biscuit.

My grandmother made it look so easy. When she was finished, her bowl was clean, her hands were clean, there was no dough or flour on her, the bowl or the table. How she managed that, I have never figured out. It was magic and as far as I'm concerned, it still is! I make a pretty good biscuit, but I've never managed to come out clean as a whistle like she did. She would place the pan in her wood cook stove oven and remove it at just the right time so that the biscuits were golden brown, never burned. Those biscuits were always light, fluffy and huge - that's why they are called cat head biscuits - because they are as big as a cat's head!

Now, how do you reproduce those biscuits today? I will give you a recipe and some pointers.

2 cups self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
a lump of solid shortening the size of a walnut. This can be real butter, margarine, lard or solid vegetable shortening. This has to be at room temperature to blend smoothly into the dough. Do not, and I repeat, do not use a soft dairy spread - they contain so much water that they won't work for any baking purposes.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour. Most flours today do not need to be sifted. Push the flour to the sides of the bowl to form a depression in the center. Place the shortening and a little of the milk in the center and start stirring with a big spoon. When the shortening is blended, add the rest of the milk, mixing just until blended and the dough forms a ball. The dough will be a little on the moist side.

Place wax paper on a flat surface like your kitchen table and sprinkle flour on it. Roll the dough out on the wax paper. Do not handle the dough any more than you have to - it makes the biscuits tough. The less you handle it and the more moist the dough, the better your biscuits will be. Just pat the dough gently until it's about an inch and a half thick.

Then cut out the biscuits. Do you know what I use for a biscuit cutter? I use a tin can that I cut both the bottom and top out of and removed the label. A one pound vegetable can is a good size. Cut out your biscuits and place in a greased pan. The pan can be either glass or metal, but be sure it is small enough so that the biscuits are all close together, touching - Remember, you want the biscuits to rise up, not out to the side. Another reason for this is that when the biscuits bake with their sides touching, you can pull them apart easily, but those sides will be very soft and tender, not hard and brown. This is a very important part of making good biscuits.

Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees just until the biscuits are light brown, but you are sure the dough is done through and through. No one likes a biscuit that is still doughy, but neither does anyone like a hard crust either!

You can brush melted butter on the tops of the biscuits when they are done, or before you place them in the oven. This is also a hint to keep the biscuits soft and moist. This recipe will make around 8 to 10 biscuits, depending on the size of your tin can. A variation of this recipe is to use tomato juice instead of milk. the biscuits will be red and you will love the flavor if you eat them with a slice of country ham in them! They do not rise as much as buttermilk biscuits.

At this point, all you will need is to eat the biscuits - hot right out of the oven with butter, honey, home made strawberry jam or molasses. Gourmets - Eat your heart out, country cooking rules!

Buzz
When do you get your food network show? These biscuits sound yummy!

Buzzard

tootsie1 said:

Took me back...
Oh, you brought back some memories with this one. My little grandmother (about 4'10" like me)was such a good biscuit maker! I loved to get off the school bus at her house and tell my siblings to go on home. I'd be along later. Grandma and I would work out a batch of biscuits, and then we'd share a cup of coffee. *grins* She always used canned milk in her coffee, and my cup was always about 1/4 coffee, 1/4 sugar, and 2/4 milk. I loved my grandma so much, and I'm missing her right now, just thinking about those days.

*hugs*
Gail

Tootsie...I do the same with my 2 younguns...
The 6 yr old girl and 8 yr old boy like their morning 1/4 coffee 1/4 sugar and 1/2 canned cream..."coffeemilk"...with dad almost every morning Im at home.....carnation evaporated milk.....

Buzzard

AnneCan said:

Buzz
When do you get your food network show? These biscuits sound yummy!

As soon as Emeril runs out of "BAMS"....
Also we gotta get Martha Stewart and Rachael Raye some other type of work....Too many in the mix right now...Savin' up for the big break though.......

Kathryn_in_MN

Buzzard said:

Here is an explanation as well as a recipe....
I remember my grandmother actually making them, lard and all, and also remember all of us eating breakfast at her table with catheads being spoken about on several occasions. It is a Southern saying that comes from the biscuits being the size of a cats head...Nonetheless, here you are dearie.....

Old Fashioned Cat Head Biscuits
This was taken from a post made in Mountain Laurel by Susan Thigpen in 2001.......

Biscuits are easy. You just have to know a few tricks handed down from our grandmothers.

When I was a little girl, I watched my grandmother make biscuits many, many times. She would go to her pantry where there was a huge flour bin and her bread making bowl - one of those earthenware big brown bowls with a stripe around the top that cost an arm and a leg in antique stores today. She never measured anything, but would scoop out flour with a big tin scoop into her flour sifter that was painted white with red cherries painted on the side. Then she would sprinkle a little baking soda into the flour and sift it into the bowl.

Then she would go to the spring house and get home churned buttermilk. She would sit these things on her kitchen table that was covered in a red checked oil cloth tablecloth. Then she would get out her bucket of lard and scoop out a hunk about the size of a walnut with her fingers. My grandmother would put this lump of lard in the middle of the flour, having first scooped a hole out in the center of the flour. She poured the buttermilk into this depression in the flour and worked it and the lard into the flour.

I remember my grandmother held the bowl under one arm and mixed the dough with a twisting motion of her fingers. She never used a spoon. When the dough was mixed, she would start pinching off big pieces of dough and rolling them in the palm of her hand. Then she would place the newly formed biscuit in a pan that was blackened from many years of use. the pan would always be full of biscuits, no spaces between and if there was a little dough left, she would make it into a tiny baby biscuit and tuck it away in a small hole between the other biscuits. This would be my special biscuit.

My grandmother made it look so easy. When she was finished, her bowl was clean, her hands were clean, there was no dough or flour on her, the bowl or the table. How she managed that, I have never figured out. It was magic and as far as I'm concerned, it still is! I make a pretty good biscuit, but I've never managed to come out clean as a whistle like she did. She would place the pan in her wood cook stove oven and remove it at just the right time so that the biscuits were golden brown, never burned. Those biscuits were always light, fluffy and huge - that's why they are called cat head biscuits - because they are as big as a cat's head!

Now, how do you reproduce those biscuits today? I will give you a recipe and some pointers.

2 cups self rising flour
1 cup buttermilk
a lump of solid shortening the size of a walnut. This can be real butter, margarine, lard or solid vegetable shortening. This has to be at room temperature to blend smoothly into the dough. Do not, and I repeat, do not use a soft dairy spread - they contain so much water that they won't work for any baking purposes.

In a large mixing bowl, put the flour. Most flours today do not need to be sifted. Push the flour to the sides of the bowl to form a depression in the center. Place the shortening and a little of the milk in the center and start stirring with a big spoon. When the shortening is blended, add the rest of the milk, mixing just until blended and the dough forms a ball. The dough will be a little on the moist side.

Place wax paper on a flat surface like your kitchen table and sprinkle flour on it. Roll the dough out on the wax paper. Do not handle the dough any more than you have to - it makes the biscuits tough. The less you handle it and the more moist the dough, the better your biscuits will be. Just pat the dough gently until it's about an inch and a half thick.

Then cut out the biscuits. Do you know what I use for a biscuit cutter? I use a tin can that I cut both the bottom and top out of and removed the label. A one pound vegetable can is a good size. Cut out your biscuits and place in a greased pan. The pan can be either glass or metal, but be sure it is small enough so that the biscuits are all close together, touching - Remember, you want the biscuits to rise up, not out to the side. Another reason for this is that when the biscuits bake with their sides touching, you can pull them apart easily, but those sides will be very soft and tender, not hard and brown. This is a very important part of making good biscuits.

Bake in a hot oven 400 degrees just until the biscuits are light brown, but you are sure the dough is done through and through. No one likes a biscuit that is still doughy, but neither does anyone like a hard crust either!

You can brush melted butter on the tops of the biscuits when they are done, or before you place them in the oven. This is also a hint to keep the biscuits soft and moist. This recipe will make around 8 to 10 biscuits, depending on the size of your tin can. A variation of this recipe is to use tomato juice instead of milk. the biscuits will be red and you will love the flavor if you eat them with a slice of country ham in them! They do not rise as much as buttermilk biscuits.

At this point, all you will need is to eat the biscuits - hot right out of the oven with butter, honey, home made strawberry jam or molasses. Gourmets - Eat your heart out, country cooking rules!

OK - my excuse is chemo brain
Hooked up to #14...

I skipped a line and read "when I was a little girl." I thought there was something you hadn't told us about your life Clift!

They sound wonderful!

Kathryn_in_MN

Buzzard said:

Tootsie...I do the same with my 2 younguns...
The 6 yr old girl and 8 yr old boy like their morning 1/4 coffee 1/4 sugar and 1/2 canned cream..."coffeemilk"...with dad almost every morning Im at home.....carnation evaporated milk.....

Coffee in Mexico
Almost like our morning coffee in the Mexico house. I rarely drink coffee in the US - maybe two times per month. But down there I have it probably 4-5 times per week. Coffee, Kahlua (rather than the sugar), and evaporated milk. The milk situation there is different than ours. The evaporated is the safer way to go. Often I make it as iced coffee when it is really hot out - sometimes for an afternoon treat.