When it comes to biscuits, there's no shame in shortcuts
There's no shame in taking a shortcut to biscuits — especially if the alternative is no biscuits at all.
Want to know how widespread it is? I recently spent the night at the home of a friend who is a legendary Southern cook. On Sunday morning, I came down to the kitchen to find her with a can of Pillsbury Grands in hand.
She shook it at me and made me promise not to tell. What's to tell? I had no problem with it: There were just two of us. She had gone to the trouble of warming up a lovely dish of thinly sliced country ham and put out two wheels of locally made cheeses.
There was no shame in enjoying that with warm biscuits, even if it took a can to get there.
While we lingered over coffee, we tossed around ideas for all the things you can do with canned biscuits. You can dip them in butter and sugar before baking and use them for shortcake. Flatten them and fold them over diced apples to make turnovers. Press them into mini-muffin tins to make crusts for little party quiches.
You'd be surprised at how many perfectly good pots of chicken and dumplings use canned biscuits. (Very surprised — many disappointed daughters have told me the secret to their mother's great dumplings turned out to be canned biscuits.)
Yes, biscuits from scratch are an art, and one worth mastering. But biscuits from scratch are a tough thing to face before breakfast.
If you really can't bring yourself to peel off the spiral label and pop open a can, you can take other shortcuts. In searching around for this story, I found a biscuit recipe with exactly two ingredients: Self-rising flour and sour cream. It makes biscuits that are crispy outside and soft inside with no more work than boxed biscuit mix and a lot better flavor.
And I've long been a fan of refrigerator biscuits. You stir the dough together and stick it in the refrigerator for up to a week. Anytime you need a few biscuits, you pull out some dough, pat it, cut it and bake it. Instant biscuits — no can.
When it comes to biscuit shortcuts, there's just no reason to be ashamed. It happens in the best kitchens.
